In Pennsylvania, a woman named Debbie Bebout is set to enter a plea agreement after keeping her deceased brother-in-law’s body in her home for several months to continue collecting his Social Security benefits.

Debbie Bebout, aged 64, plans to plead guilty to a felony theft charge under a “fast track” arrangement. According to the Herald-Standard, she and her husband, 68-year-old James Bebout, attended a preliminary hearing via video link on December 26. The charges against them include theft, criminal conspiracy, and corpse abuse. Law&Crime previously noted that James Bebout discovered his brother, 64-year-old Michael Bebout, deceased on the morning of January 16 when he brought him breakfast.

By the time authorities arrived, they found only skeletal remains, indicating that Michael Bebout had been dead for a considerable period.

During the preliminary hearing on December 26, Corporal Adrian Poux of the Greene-Washington Regional Police recounted the disturbing scene they found at the Bebouts’ Canton Township residence on January 16. He described the home as having a “smell of death” so intense it was an “olfactory deluge.”

Greene Washington Regional Police Chief Will DeForte, at the time of the body’s discovery, remarked on the appalling condition of the home. He characterized it as “one of the most atrocious and horrific conditions we’ve ever found a decedent.” The residence was littered with dog feces, resembling a hoarder’s environment, making navigation difficult, and the stench was exceptionally offensive.

Poux testified that the home looked like a “horror show,” and he and his colleagues were expecting “a body that was 24 to 48 hours old.” An autopsy determined that Michael Bebout likely died sometime in August 2024. Authorities did not suspect foul play in his death.

James Bebout told police that Debbie Bebout was acting as his brother’s primary caregiver. On the morning of Jan. 16, Debbie Bebout was in jail on a bench warrant, so James Bebout took on the role. When he found his brother that morning, he told police he was “stiff as a board.”

During his testimony, Poux said he told James Bebout, “there was no way he didn’t know what was going on,” adding, “He was dazed.”

Further investigation revealed that Debbie Bebout had been “pretending to take care of” Michael Bebout for months so she could cash his Social Security checks totaling $6,189. Poux testified that Debbie Bebout never implicated her husband in her scheme. She spent the money on groceries, kerosene to heat the home, and other living expenses.

While Debbie Bebout agreed to plead guilty to a felony count of theft, James Bebout maintained that he had nothing to do with the plan to cash his late brother’s Social Security checks, nor did he realize his brother was dead until he brought him breakfast that January morning. The Herald-Standard reported that he told his public defender, “I can’t agree to something I didn’t do.”

While James Bebout’s public defender noted that his wife did not implicate her husband, Assistant District Attorney Robert West countered that there was no way he did not know there was a dead body decomposing in his two-bedroom home. West cited the “immediate smells” that police described upon entering the house and the fact that Michael Bebout’s body was in a bedroom mere feet from the living room where the living Bebouts slept on couches.

“Inaction is action when it comes to the desecration of a body,” West said. The judge agreed, saying, “Living at the same address as the body negates [the claim] that the defendant wasn’t aware.”

Debbie Bebout is expected to be sentenced to time served. James Bebout is set to go on trial for conspiracy to commit theft and a misdemeanor charge of abuse of a corpse after the judge dismissed one charge of felony theft. He is in custody at the Washington County Jail, where he is being held on $6,000 cash bond. His arraignment is scheduled for Jan. 27, 2026.