Trial ordered in starvation death
Overturning a decision from last week, a magistrate Thursday ordered a Shaler woman accused in the starvation death of her quadriplegic brother to stand trial for first-degree murder.
The Allegheny County District Attorney's Office refiled the charge against Kimberly Loebig, 36, after Deputy Coroner Timothy Uhrich rejected it last Friday, saying the evidence was insufficient. Shaler District Justice Robert Dzvonick reversed that decision at a preliminary hearing yesterday.
Loebig's lips quivered as she was led out of the courtroom after the ruling yesterday.
Conviction of first-degree murder can result in a life sentence or the death penalty. The district attorney's office would not say if it will seek the death penalty.
New evidence presented by prosecutors included bank records, which showed that last September, Loebig began depositing $2,253 in monthly checks for her brother, Scott Thomas Olsen, 29, into an account for her and her husband, Timothy.
The 6-foot Olsen weighed 112 pounds at his last medical checkup in September, then lost 49 pounds over 89 days until his death Dec. 7 in the Crestwood Drive home where he lived with Loebig.
Olsen's deterioration and the financial transactions were evidence enough to back the first-degree murder charge, Dzvonick said.
"Every day you (Loebig) walk in that room and see the emaciated body, and everything else -- in my opinion, it is enough to show that it was premeditated," the magistrate said after the hearing.
Loebig was the sole caregiver for Olsen, who became a quadriplegic after he huffed butane fumes in 1990. The family filed a lawsuit against Thrift Drug, where a friend of Olsen's had bought canisters of the fuel. The family reached a $367,413 settlement with the company in 1996.
The money -- $1,224.71 a month for 25 years, after an up-front cash payment of $75,000 -- was to be used by Loebig for the care for Olsen.
All payments, including a $1,029 monthly Social Security check for Olsen, were to be deposited in a Mellon bank account in his and Loebig's names.
That's exactly what Loebig did -- until September, according to testimony from Allegheny County police Officer Henry Siemianowski.
"Could the transfer of funds be because ... he's that close to death's door?" Dzvonick wondered in court.
Defense attorney Paul Boas said Olsen's death meant Loebig would stop getting his monthly Social Security checks.
"Financially, the benefit (for Loebig) was to keep him alive," Boas said.
Assistant District Attorney Edward Borkowski said his office still is investigating the financial situation -- including what will or would have happened to the nearly $250,000 that Olsen is still due from the settlement. Borkowski declined to speculate what role the money might have played in a motive.
A cousin of Loebig's has said that in the event of Olsen's death Loebig was to split that money with her brother and sister.
Boas argued that although Loebig might have neglected to care for her brother adequately, she had proved herself a loving sister and good caregiver over the years.
"There was no malice. There was no intent to kill," he said.
John McDermitt, Loebig's uncle by marriage, testified that Loebig was hysterical when he went to her home after Olsen's body was discovered. The home was messy, and there was a beer keg in the kitchen, he said.
Loebig didn't allow McDermitt to call 911 for several hours until the home was cleaned. She was worried that social workers would take her children away, he testified.
Loebig was a devoted caregiver who never complained about caring for her brother, McDermitt testified.
She also was held for trial yesterday on charges of neglect of a care-dependent person.
Shaler paramedic Sunshine Sill, the first emergency responder to arrive at the scene, described Olsen's room as "very dirty."
"There were bugs literally crawling on his face," Sill said.
