Background: News footage of the Bebouts' home in Canton Township, Pa. (WTAE). Insets (left to right): James and Debbie Bebout (Greene Washington Regional Police Department).
A Pennsylvania woman who kept her late brother-in-law's dead body in her home for several months so she could cash his Social Security checks is taking a plea deal.
Debbie Bebout, 64, is expected to plead guilty to one count of felony theft as part of a "fast track" deal. Local news outlet Herald-Standard reported that Bebout and her husband, 68-year-old James Bebout, appeared remotely for a preliminary hearing on Dec. 26 in connection with charges of theft, criminal conspiracy, and abuse of a corpse. As Law&Crime previously reported, James Bebout reported that he found his brother, 64-year-old Michael Bebout, dead when he brought him breakfast on the morning of Jan. 16.
When police arrived, they found nothing but skeletal remains. Michael Bebout had been dead for several months.
During the Dec. 26 preliminary hearing, Greene-Washington Regional Police Corporal Adrian Poux testified about the scene he and his colleagues encountered when they entered the Bebouts' home in Canton Township, Pennsylvania, on Jan. 16. Poux said the home "smelled of death," and the extreme odor was so "overwhelming" that it was "an olfactory deluge."
At the time of the discovery, Greene Washington Regional Police Chief Will DeForte described the home as "one of the most atrocious and horrific conditions we've ever found a decedent." He added, "There was wall-to-wall dog feces. The situation looked like a hoarder had lived there, very difficult to traverse through the residence, and the odor was extraordinarily unpleasant."
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.