Inset: Janet Edwards (Miami Dade Corrections & Rehabilitation Center). Background: The Florida home where Janet Edwards allegedly locked up her 77-year-old mother and neglected her (Google Maps).
In a troubling case emerging from Florida, a woman is facing serious accusations of neglecting her elderly mother, who suffers from dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. The woman, aged 49, allegedly confined her 77-year-old mother to her bedroom, neglecting to change her soiled diapers and subjecting her to deplorable conditions. According to law enforcement, the woman reportedly told her children that their grandmother needed to “learn” after several incidents of incontinence.
The arrest affidavit for Janet Edwards reveals chilling details, claiming that she witnessed her mother, hands covered in feces, on five separate occasions and even consuming it. Edwards faces charges of neglect of an elderly or disabled adult and battery on a person aged 65 or older. Her own children have accused her of physically abusing their grandmother and intentionally leaving her without care in the residence they shared in Hialeah.
In a particularly alarming instance from May 2025, Edwards allegedly told her adult son, who had come to check on the family, that his grandmother needed to “learn” from the situation. According to the affidavit, the son discovered his grandmother in her bedroom, wearing only a diaper, with feces in her hands. When he requested Edwards clean her, she refused, insisting that the victim had to learn a lesson from such occurrences.
The situation was further exacerbated by the fact that the bedroom was locked from the outside, with the elderly woman lying on an air mattress in a room without electricity, as reported by the police.
The son, whose identity remains undisclosed, has a history with child services, having been removed from Edwards’ care at the age of 14 following child abuse allegations. He was subsequently placed under the custody of his paternal grandparents, according to the affidavit.
Police report that the son, who has not been publicly identified, was taken away from Edwards when he was 14 years old “due to child abuse allegations” that were investigated by the Department of Children and Families. His paternal grandparents were given custody of him, the affidavit says.
Edwards’ adult daughter also reported instances of neglect and abuse to local authorities, with her listed as a witness to incidents in August and September, according to police.
The daughter provided text messages to cops that she received from Edwards, showing her grandmother holding feces. “[Edwards] wrote in the messages she smelled s— and was going back to bed.”
Edwards was taken into custody following an investigation and questioned about why she treated her mother this way, according to police. “The defendant said the victim is diagnosed with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease and that she does not recognize anyone anymore,” the affidavit alleges. “The defendant said she lives at the home with just the victim and she is the only caregiver.”
Asked why she would allegedly send messages and not clean her mom up, Edwards told cops it was “because she was upset or frustrated.” She gave this same excuse for why she told her son that the victim was “going to learn,” according to the affidavit.
“The defendant denied ever slapping or hitting the victim,” cops say.
Edwards was taken into custody and booked at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. She was released Wednesday and ordered to stay away from her mother as she awaits her next court date on Dec. 19.
