Details revealed in case of decomposing body found at Canton Township home
The case involving the Canton Township couple living with a man’s decomposing dead body for more than four months inside their tiny two-bedroom home took a strange twist as details were revealed during a preliminary hearing Tuesday.
Debbie Bebout, who is accused of knowing for months that her brother-in-law, Michael Bebout, died around Labor Day in 2024 and was left lying in bed for months in order to cash his Social Security checks, accepted a tentative plea deal that could have her out of jail by next week.
But her husband, James Bebout, who claims he knew nothing about his brother’s death and called 911 when he discovered the body Jan. 16, challenged the charges against him during his preliminary hearing, but was ordered to stand trial and could remain jailed for months while his case is adjudicated.
Both Bebouts appeared by video from the Washington County jail for their preliminary hearings Tuesday afternoon before District Judge John Bruner. Debbie Bebout, 64, agreed to waive charges of theft, criminal conspiracy and abuse of a corpse in order to take a “fast-track” hearing Tuesday at the Washington County Courthouse in which she is expected to plead guilty to one felony count of theft with an expected sentence of time served of 27 days in jail.
James Bebout, 68, was apparently offered a similar deal, but declined it and instead decided to have evidence and testimony presented at the hearing, which at times was macabre.
“I can’t agree to something I didn’t do,” Bebout told his public defender, Kristin Fiori, before the hearing.
Greene-Washington Regional police Cpl. Adrian Poux testified that he was called to 500 Hayes Ave. in Canton Township the morning of Jan. 16 for the report of a dead body. When he entered the house and greeted James Bebout, he said he immediately noticed an extreme hoarding situation and it “smelled like death” inside.
“It was such an overwhelming smell,” Poux said. “It was an olfactory deluge.”
James Bebout led the police officer to a bedroom, where only a curtain hung in the doorway between the living room and where Michael Bebout’s skeletal remains laid in bed under a blanket.
“It was a horror show, for a lack of a better word,” Poux said. “I figured I’d see a body that was 24 to 48 hours old.”
An autopsy determined that Michael Bebout likely died in late August 2024 near Labor Day, although no foul play is suspected. James Bebout said he discovered the body when he went to serve his brother breakfast that morning because Debbie Bebout, who served as caretaker, was jailed the night before on a bench warrant, online court records show.
“I told him there was no way he didn’t know what was going on,” Poux said. “He was dazed.”
Upon further investigation, police learned that Debbie Bebout had been continuing to cash Michael Bebout’s Social Security checks, Poux testified. They also continued to live in the house, which online tax records show was owned by Michael Bebout until it was sold three months ago. Poux said Debbie Bebout admitted to taking the money and cashing $6,189 worth of checks, although the officer did not have her written confession available during Tuesday’s hearing.
“She knew he passed away and she was the primary caretaker and they were living off their Social Security and the defendant’s Social Security,” Poux said.
Fiori questioned Poux whether Debbie Bebout ever implicated her husband or indicated he even knew of the alleged theft, and the officer admitted that she never accused James Bebout of taking any money.
“She spent all of it,” Poux said, adding Debbie Bebout used the money to pay for kerosene to heat the home, along with groceries and other living expenses.
“But we’re sitting here because of your accusations about James’ involvement,” Fiori said.
In arguing that Bruner should dismiss all charges against her client, Fiori said there was no proof that James Bebout played any role in the theft or was even aware his brother was dead.
“This is a highly unusual situation. I’ll acknowledge that,” Fiori said. “Unfortunate things happen. They’re not always crimes.”
But Assistant District Attorney Robert West argued there were “common sense factors” at play, such as the “immediate smells” that greeted police officers and the mere linen that separated the bedroom from the living room, where the couple slept each night on couches for four months just a few feet from the dead body.
“Inaction is action when it comes to the desecration of a body,” West said. “I believe that’s what happened here.”
After hearing nearly an hour of testimony, Bruner dismissed the felony theft charge, but ordered James Bebout to stand trial on one felony count of conspiracy to commit theft and a misdemeanor charge of abuse of a corpse.
“Living at the same address as the body negates (the claim) that the defendant wasn’t aware,” Bruner said.
Greene-Washington Regional police filed charges against both Bebouts on Dec. 9, and they were arrested two days later.
James Bebout is being held at the Washington County jail on $6,000 cash bond while he awaits his formal arraignment at 9 a.m. Jan. 27.
Debbie Bebout, who is being held at the jail on $25,000 cash bond, is expected to appear for her “fast-track” hearing Tuesday before President Judge Valarie Costanzo, according to her defense attorney Jake Miholov, who negotiated the plea deal with West before the preliminary hearing. As part of the tentative plea deal, she will also be required to pay court costs and restitution.