A hoarder watched his wife of 40 years fall out of her wheelchair in their North Carolina home — then left her on the ground for up to eight months to die in “a pile of trash.”
Louis Kornhaber, 70, was sentenced to seven to 10 years in prison after being found guilty of second-degree murder and neglect of his 66-year-old wife Bonnie Kornhaber, the Mecklenburg County District Attorney’s office said.
The Charlotte couple had come home in from a hospital visit in October 2021 when Bonnie Kornhaber “slipped out of the chair onto the floor,” the DA said.
She remained there for six to eight months — and her husband never called for help because he was “embarrassed by the conditions inside” their “hoarder house.”
Some eight months into the ordeal, Bonnie Kornhaber told her husband she was having trouble breathing — and he “went into the den to watch television for several hours” rather than calling for help, the DA said.
He finally called 911 when he emerged and found her unresponsive, the DA said — with first responders finding her dead “lying on a pile of trash, surrounded by spoiled food.”
“She was covered in her own waste, suffering from extensive sores, with insect activity present in
many of the open bed sores on her body,” the DA said of the shocking abuse.
A jury found Louis Kornhaber guilty of second-degree murder and neglect of a disabled or elder adult resulting in serious physical injury.
He was sentenced to 94 to 125 months, or between about seven to 10 years.
