Sisters Plead Not Guilty To Involuntary Manslaughter In Their Father's Death

Two Northbrook sisters who were charged with involuntary manslaughter in connection with their elderly father’s death pled not guilty in Skokie Circuit Court Wednesday. 

Police , 87-year-old Werner Berhard, lying on the floor at his daughter’s High Point Lane home in March. He was emaciated, dehydrated, and suffering from extreme dementia, according to Lisa Gordon, a spokesperson for the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office.  Emergency responders were called to the home because Werner’s 87-year-old wife had dialed 911 to request medical assistance for her husband. He had apparently been lying on the floor for a week, according to Gordon.

Paramedics took Werner to , and he remained under medical care until his death in July. His daughters, Lisa Bernhard, 57, and Susan Bernhard, 52, were arrested July 14, one day after their father died. According to court documents, Werner had been living with Lisa, while his wife lived with Susan Bernhard in a house on Beckwith Court, just down the street.

Reached in person in July, Susan Bernhard said she and her sister do not want to talk to the news media while charges are still pending.

On Sept. 19, Lisa and Susan were indicted on charges of involuntary manslaughter and criminal abuse or neglect of an elderly person.

Both sisters pled not guilty to each count at an arraignment Oct. 12. Their next court date is Nov. 14.

Werner Bernhard was one of the original employees at when the high school first opened in 1953. He worked there until 1997 and held a variety of positions, including industrial education teacher, coordinator of the school’s audiovisual department and, ultimately, administrative assistant for technology for the principal 

. It was clear that he loved working at , but he said little about his wife or daughters. 

“He was very private about his home life,” said Blaine Royer, who was assistant principal at the high school until his retirement in 2005. “His family, it seemed to me, was the people he worked with.”