A 50-year-old Pennsylvania woman faces involuntary manslaughter and other charges after authorities say she neglected her severely disabled 18-year-old daughter to death. Christina Harvey allegedly allowed Brandy Harvey to live in filth, denying her basic care while spending the teen's benefits on herself. The Lackawanna County District Attorney's Office announced the charges following an investigation into the December 2025 death.
Police in Dickson City responded to Christina Harvey's home in the 700 block of Carmalt Street on December 10, 2025, for a report of an unresponsive woman. Officers found the residence overwhelmed by filth and the stench of human waste, with Brandy Harvey on a urine-soaked couch amid smeared feces on the walls. Emergency personnel rushed her to a hospital, but she died the next day from neglect, ruled a homicide by autopsy, which revealed bedsores, ulcers, rotted teeth, necrotic skin, bruising, and severe malnutrition. The teen, nonverbal and legally blind since a major medical event in infancy, required full-time care and had not attended school for months prior to her death, according to investigators from the Lackawanna County District Attorney's Office and Dickson City Police Department. Prosecutors allege Harvey, who managed her daughter's Social Security and survivor's benefits as financial payee, used tens of thousands of dollars for personal and residential expenses instead of care. She faces charges including involuntary manslaughter, neglect of a dependent, and unlawful restraint. District Attorney Brian Gallagher stated, 'To abandon that duty and allow a special-needs person to suffer, deteriorate, and ultimately die under such deplorable conditions is as disturbing as it is criminal.' Harvey reportedly told investigators, 'She was my whole world... I tried my very best every day with her.' She remains held without bond at Lackawanna County Prison, with a preliminary hearing set for April 29.