Florida Woman Faces Charges for Neglect and Abuse of Elderly, Disabled Mother

A Florida woman faces serious charges following accusations from her children that she neglected and abused her 77-year-old mother, who suffers from dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Janet Edwards, 49, is charged with the neglect of an elderly or disabled adult and battery on a person 65 or older.

According to an arrest affidavit, Edwards allegedly admitted to witnessing her mother consume feces from her hands on at least five occasions without intervening, as reported by Law&Crime. She reportedly told her children that she refused to change her mother’s soiled diapers, saying, “she’s going to learn.”

The children also claimed they observed Edwards slapping their grandmother and abandoning her to manage alone at their shared home.

In a disturbing account from May 2025, Edwards allegedly told an adult son who visited their Hialeah residence, “She’s going to learn because she is always doing this,” as detailed in a report by WPLG.

“She’s going to learn because she is always doing this,” Edwards told an adult son in May 2025 when he stopped by the home in Hialeah to check on them, WPLG reported.

She made the comments after the son had opened his grandmother’s door and saw her with feces on her hands. He said he asked his mother to clean her up and she refused.

“The bedroom door was locked from the outside,” the affidavit said. “[The son] observed the victim laying on an air mattress and there was no electricity,” Law&Crime reported.

The affidavit said the elderly woman was locked in her room from the outside.

Edwards’ adult daughter reported similar instances of abuse and neglect and provided text messages she received from her mother that included photographs of her grandmother holding feces in her hands.

“[Edwards] wrote in the messages she smelled s*** and was going back to bed,” the affidavit said.

Edwards told police she refused to clean up her mother because she was the sole caregiver and “because she was upset or frustrated,” the affidavit said. She denied that she slapped or hit the elderly woman.

She was booked into jail and released on a $3,500 bond on Wednesday with an order to stay away from her mother, WTVJ reported. Her next court date is December 19.

It’s not clear where her mother is at this time.