A Valparaiso woman is charged with two felony counts of neglect of a dependent after her mother died of infection from severe bedsores in a debris-filled home without water, according to court records.
Sandra Antolick, 62, is being held in Porter County Jail on Level 3 and Level 5 felony counts of neglect of a dependent. She also faces a Class C misdemeanor charge of resisting arrest; an initial hearing had not been scheduled as of Monday afternoon.
Antolick’s mother, Joanne, 93, died Sept. 15, 2025, according to charging documents. Valparaiso Police arrived at the residence around 1:40 p.m. that day after receiving a call from Antolick that her mother was deceased.
“Immediately upon entering the residence, there was a malodorous smell from rotting food, trash and mildew,” charging documents state.
Police found Antolick’s mother deceased in a recliner in the living room, where she was “nude and was covered with absorbent bed pads,” records state.
Because of the clutter and debris in the home, Antolick slept on the floor in the living room while her mother slept in the chair, charges state. A second floor wasn’t accessible because of the clutter, and the refrigerator didn’t work and was filled with rotting food.
Antolick told officials she had been her mother’s sole caregiver for several years. The two had lived in a small studio apartment next door because their residence didn’t have water, but had been evicted from the apartment.
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Antolick told police her mother hadn’t seen a doctor for five or six years and was unable to walk, but “did not have any problems or complaints other than not being able to walk,” documents state, and she said her mother “ate and drank every day.”
Antolick told police her mother had vomited late that morning and “then stopped responding and passed away.” She called a funeral home, which told her to call police. Court records allege that Antolick’s mother had been deceased for several hours before she called authorities, and that she had talked to a co-worker by phone around 8:30 a.m. and said her mother had died.
An autopsy showed that Joanne Antolick had severe bedsores all over her body and some were so deep that they reached bone. A forensic pathologist told police the sores would have been causing her “a great deal of pain.” She died of “complications from extensive ulcerative wounds, resulting in infection,” charges state.