A Port Orange man accused of neglecting his 78-year-old mother and letting her die on a bathroom floor is facing aggravated manslaughter charges.

  • Andrew Kovacs facing aggravated manslaughter charges
  • Port Orange man accused of letting mom die in squalid home
  • Judge granted mental evaluation for Kovacs

Police said Andrew Kovacs, 53, was stealing his parents' pension checks while working a part-time computer job.

His mother, Carol, was found in June 2016, lying on the floor, dead for possibly a week inside the home, where several rooms were covered in feces.

Frank Saracina and his neighbor Martha Andrews said they can't believe this could happen to one of their neighbors.

"Shocked, shocked. I didn't think, I didn't think he was mistreating her," Andrews said.

According to a charging affidavit, when police arrived to the Kovacs' Port Orange home June 8, 2016, officers found feces all over the living room and bathroom floor, and a bathrobe next to Carol Kovacs' nude body.

When asked how long she'd been lying there, Andrew Kovacs told investigators that she'd been there about a week.

Based on medical records, police think the woman suffered from Alzheimer's disease.

During a first appearance before a judge Wednesday, Kovacs' attorney requested and was granted a mental evaluation for Kovacs.

Saracina said that a couple of weeks ago, he heard arguing going on behind closed doors. Then, suddenly, he said he heard nothing, and it was only Kovacs who came out to retrieve his mail.

".. But we never interfered," Saracina said. "And whatever he done after that, God only knows."

Kovacs told police he drank about a six pack of beer every day. Investigators determined that Kovacs was using his mother's pension and Social Security money to buy cigarettes, beer and would dine out at restaurants.

Meanwhile, when questioned, he could not remember the last time his mother had something to eat.

Investigators also learned that Kovacs stood to make more than $19,000 from his mother's life insurance policy after her death.

Kovacs is charged with aggravated manslaughter of an elderly or disabled person and exploitation of the elderly. He is being held on no bond at the Volusia County Branch Jail.