Fayette woman accused of chaining daughter to bed, denying access to water

A Fayette County woman is accused of chaining her mentally handicapped daughter to a bed in her home with no mattress to sleep on for five days without giving her any water.

Marylou DeWitt, 53, of Stauffer Street, Upper Tyrone, is accused by state police at Belle Vernon of inflicting a litany of abuses upon her daughter, including not permitting her to shower since February or to brush her teeth.

Police said DeWitt gave her daughter sandwiches but allegedly refused her access to her medications, thus placing her at risk of suffering a seizure, according to the criminal complaint Trooper Cody Stemrich filed against DeWitt.

Police said Faryn L. DeWitt alerted them about 1:50 a.m. Wednesday of her sister’s plight, after coming home at 12:30 a.m. and hearing her sister scream from an upstairs bedroom. Faryn DeWitt said she found the keys and unlocked the chains that were wrapped around her sister’s waist, neck and hands, according to the criminal complaint. A T-shirt was wrapped around the chain around her neck and a bicycle chain was wrapped around her waist, police said.

Before police arrived on the scene, Marylou DeWitt returned home and took the chains and locks Faryn DeWitt had placed in a box, police said. Marylou DeWitt also attempted to clean the room that smelled of urine, placing a mattress back on the bed, police said.

The victim, whom police said suffers from bipolar disorder, told police she had been denied the opportunity to use the bathroom since May 24.

State police said they were able to contact the fleeing Marylou DeWitt, but she would not return to the scene. Using cellphone pings, police said, they tracked DeWitt from Monroeville to Pittsburgh but she refused to stop the vehicle she was driving. State police in Pittsburgh joined in the pursuit, and DeWitt was eventually persuaded in discussions with state police to stop near the Fort Pitt Bridge.

DeWitt was arraigned before Upper Tyrone District Judge Richard Kasunic II on felony charges of neglecting to care for a dependent person and endangering the welfare of a dependent person for whom they are responsible.

DeWitt also faces misdemeanor counts of neglecting the care of a dependent person, simple assault, false imprisonment, unlawful restraint and harassment.

She was placed in the Fayette County Jail without any bond set, pending a preliminary hearing before Kasunic on June 12.