Posted: Mar 08 2012 at 6:46pm | Views: 20457
A mentally-disabled Bronx man died of neglect inside his Parkchester apartment as the elderly father who cared for him lay dead in another room, police sources said Sunday.
Joseph Valerio Jr.'s sister knocked down his apartment door about 9:30 p.m. Saturday after not hearing from him or their 85-year-old father for a few days, sources said.
Inside the apartment on Beach Ave., she found Valerio, 46, dead in one room and their father, Joseph Valerio Sr., who had been in poor health, dead in another.
“She was yelling, ‘Oh my God, oh my God,’” neighbor Gray Maria, 22, said of the sister’s tragic discovery. “She was leaning forward and holding her stomach."
Investigators believe the father died after having a seizure.
The son, who has the mental capacity of a 4-year-old and is unable to care for himself, apparently died some time after his father's sudden death, police sources said.
Valerio Jr. is non-verbal and so wouldn’t have been able to call 911, neighbors said.
“He probably did not know what to do or what happened,” said neighbor Gloria Clancy. “It’s awful.”
“They were very close,” added Clancy, 66, who works with mentally disabled children. “They took care of each other.”
Father and son lived alone together since Valerio Sr.’s wife died about 20 years ago, neighbors said.
Neighbors last saw father and son on Ash Wednesday, when the pair went to church.
“They always went to church together,” Clancy said. “They did everything together. They never went anywhere alone.”
The city medical examiner will determine the causes of death.
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