A Glenside man on trial for allowing his brother to ‘waste away’ is awaiting a judge’s verdict

The fate of a Glenside man who prosecutors say allowed his disabled brother to die alone, in squalor, is in the hands of a Montgomery County judge.

Harry Gramlich, 73, was charged with involuntary manslaughter and neglect of a care dependent person in 2020 after his youngest brother, Timothy, “wasted away” in the second-floor bedroom of a home they shared, according to prosecutors.

Timothy Gramlich, 52, had Down syndrome, and relied on his brother to bring him food and water twice a day, investigators said. Yet, at the end of his life, Gramlich barely spoke, weighed just 76 pounds, and had been sedentary for so long that the muscles and joints in his legs had deteriorated to the point where he could no longer walk.

After two days of testimony during a bench trial, Montgomery County Judge Virgil Walker adjourned the proceedings for the weekend late Friday. He said he needed time to review the evidence in the case, and pledged to issue his ruling later this week.

When officers were called to Gramlich’s home in October 2020, they found his mattress and bedroom floor saturated with urine and feces. Ian Hood, a forensic pathologist who conducted Gramlich’s autopsy, ruled that he died of urosepsis, an infection caused by an untreated urinary tract infection that could have been easily reversed by doctors.

» READ MORE: Montgomery County man charged with murder and neglect in the death of his disabled brother

Assistant District Attorney Gwendolyn Kull called Gramlich’s treatment “reckless and grossly negligent” and said that houseplants require more care.

“Without keeping a clean environment and without cleaning Timothy, it’s no wonder he died of an infection,” Kull said. “Had this defendant sought an intervention from anyone, including his siblings or a doctor, this death could’ve been prevented.”

Harry Gramlich’s lawyer, David Nenner, acknowledged that though his client was negligent in his care of his brother — especially when it came to his hygiene — he was “the only one who stepped up for him when no one else would.”

Nenner noted that at the time of his brother’s death, Harry Gramlich’s vision was heavily impaired by cataracts, to the point that he had lost all vision in his right eye.

“I don’t think he was in a position to assess the medical needs of someone who couldn’t talk,” Nenner said. “The question then becomes, did he willfully ignore something that he knew would kill his brother?”

In statements to investigators, Harry Gramlich said he felt he gave his brother the best care he could. His family, he explained, had long been “doctor-averse” — Timothy hadn’t seen a physician since the late 1990s.

He acknowledged that he rarely interacted with his brother, outside of leaving him food and water, and that his sister, Elizabeth, who also lived in the home, “didn’t have it in her” to help care for him. Despite his brother’s health challenges, Harry Gramlich said he didn’t want to place him in an assisted living facility because of a bad experience he had at one in his youth, and insisted to detectives that he “belonged at home.”

The younger Gramlich “shut himself off” after his mother and sister died within a few years of each other in the early 2000s, another brother, Edward, testified during the trial. He already had difficulty communicating and became practically nonverbal. He never left the home’s second floor, and left his bedroom only to use the bathroom across the hall.

Edward Gramlich hadn’t seen his brother for years, he told prosecutors, until August 2020, when he heard a bang while visiting his siblings and went to investigate the source of the noise. He said he was “shocked” by his younger brother’s gaunt appearance and the filth in which he lived.

Yet, the older Gramlich tearfully admitted that he didn’t act on that concern.

“I just wanted to get out of there,” he said.

Elizabeth Gramlich and Joseph Gramlich, another of the victim’s brothers, were also charged with neglect of a care dependent person for failing to help him. Joseph Gramlich, prosecutors said, was listed as the recipient of his brother’s Social Security benefits, and cut yearly checks for $3,500 to his sister to help pay for the meals she cooked for her brother.

Both pleaded guilty to the charge. She was sentenced to 10 years’ probation, while he is awaiting sentencing after his plea was entered in January.