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).
A Florida woman allegedly locked up her 77-year-old mother with dementia and Alzheimer's disease in her bedroom and refused to change her dirty Pampers, telling the senior's grandchildren that "she's going to learn" after the victim soiled herself on multiple occasions, cops say.
"The defendant said on five occasions she has seen the victim with feces in her hands and consuming it," Janet Edwards' arrest affidavit alleges. The 49-year-old is charged with neglect of an elderly or disabled adult and battery on a person 65 or older, with her own children accusing her of slapping their grandmother around and purposely leaving her to fend for herself at the home they shared in Hialeah.
"She's going to learn because she is always doing this," Edwards allegedly told her adult son after he stopped by their residence to check on them in May 2025, according to the affidavit.
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Police say the son had opened his grandmother's bedroom door and "saw her in Pampers with feces in both of her hands." The son allegedly asked Edwards to "clean her" and she told him "no" and that the victim needed to "learn" her lesson after repeated incidents like this, the affidavit states.
"The bedroom door was locked from the outside," according to police. "[The son] observed the victim laying on an air mattress and there was no electricity."
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."
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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.