A Jefferson County man was sentenced Monday to 10 years in prison for his role in the death of his mother, who was found in May 2024 lying on an air mattress in a garage suffering from hip fractures and bed sores.
Brian Seitz, 38, will also serve a mandatory three years on parole after his prison sentence, according to a news release from the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office. He pleaded guilty in September to negligent death of an at-risk person, admitting that he was responsible for his mother’s care and criminally negligent in his lack of care for her, including failure to treat bed sores, maintain hygiene and delaying necessary medical care.
His girlfriend, Laura Pratts, 55, pleaded guilty to negligent death of an at-risk person on Nov. 14, the news release stated. She will be sentenced at a later date.
Sheryl Seitz, 59, was found on April 29, 2024, in an Airbnb residence in Arvada after paramedics were called on a report that an adult woman needed urgent medical care. Paramedics found her lying on an air mattress in the garage and unable to speak, the district attorney’s news release stated.
Doctors at a hospital discovered extensive injuries, including hip fractures and advanced bedsores. Sheryl Seitz died 21 hours after arriving at the hospital.
Jefferson County forensic pathologist Dr. John Carver ruled Sheryl Seitz’s death a homicide with the cause being complications of neglect that stemmed from prolonged immobility due to rheumatoid arthritis and neck fractures, along with additional complications including decubitus ulcers, maggot infestation and burrowing, cellulitis and sepsis, according to the DA’s news release.
Sheryl Seitz suffered from severe arthritis and chronic pain and she required full assistance from others to move. Brian Seitz had been a paid caregiver through state funding for her since Nov. 1, 2017, and Pratts had been a paid caregiver since Sept. 1, 2019. Both were contracted through a home health agency to provide daily care. the district attorney’s news release stated.
The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office previously reported that the three had been living in an RV storage lot before moving Sheryl Seitz to the Airbnb and that Sheryl Seitz’s RV did not have running water or a bed and only a space heater for warmth.