CHICAGO (FOX 32 News) -
A Brookfield man stands accused of abusing his wife for five years before her death last summer.
Joseph Duffy, 70, is charged with two counts of criminal abuse of an elderly person with a disability.
Police said his wife, 61-year-old Mary Jane, was found in the fetal position, no longer able to see or communicate before her death. The Illinois Department of Aging and Brookfield police were alerted after a hospice representative found her while on an August visit.
Mary Jane began suffering from dementia in 2006 and in the five years before her death in 2011, was treated at several hospitals and nursing homes where Joseph Duffy allegedly mistreated nurses, the release said. He also is said to have mistreated home-care nurses, allegedly denying one entry into his home because of her ethnicity.
According to the release, Duffy was also seen being verbally abusive toward his wife and some of her caregivers suspected injuries Duffy said were caused by falls had actually been caused by him.
Mary Jane was removed from the home in the 8800 block of 45th Street on August 23, and died Sept. 1. She had bruising, fractured bones and missing teeth, and was in the late stages of dementia, the release said.
Investigators said Joseph Duffy was more concerned about losing his wife's benefits than he was caring for her.
On Dec. 22, the Medical Examiner's office ruled her death a homicide, the release said. Duffy was arrested and charged Wednesday after the investigation was completed.
"Different people probably should have taken different actions and we are definitely looking at that," Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart said. "You had a woman who was 60 years old when she died, who weighed 56 pounds and had bedsores all over her body that were in such nature that they got down to the muscle into the bone."
Cook County Sheriff's police spokesman Frank Bilecki said the investigation was thorough and involved several state agencies, which is why it took several months to bring charges against Duffy.
The sheriff's office was originally called in to help Brookfield police, he said, adding that investigators also were careful to avoid alerting Duffy to the investigation.
He is scheduled to appear in bond court at the Fourth District Bond Court in Maywood at 9 a.m.
The Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.
