Margaret Rog was 75 years old and shared a home with the man who had been her husband for decades.
He was 76, had advanced dementia and Alzheimer’s, and was legally blind. On August 20, in Morgantown, West Virginia, he went to the bathroom around 3 in the afternoon. He was unable to get up from the toilet on his own. According to court documents, Rog heard him moaning in pain for hours. She did not call anyone. She went to sleep while he remained trapped, without food, water, or his medications.
Nineteen hours passed before a speech therapist arrived at the house for a routine visit and found him unconscious. An ambulance took him to the hospital, but the damage had already been done: he died on August 31. Monongalia County authorities stated that the injuries he suffered during those hours were a determining factor in his death. Rog was arrested for the abuse or neglect of an incapacitated adult, and according to police, she herself acknowledged that she knew her husband needed help.
