WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (WGHP) — Two people have been sentenced in connection to the 2020 death of their disabled relative in Winston-Salem, according to the Forsyth County District Attorney’s office.

The charges stem from the Nov. 2020 death of Larry Hawks when a medical examiner determined that Hawks, who suffered from Spina Bifida, had died due to homicide from neglect. Hawks had not been seen by a doctor in nearly 13 years, despite his disability. He was intellectually disabled and could not move on his own or advocate for his own health care.

Crystal Hawks, the victim’s sister, told investigators she had given him Tylenol for a headache the night before he died. Sandra Hawks, the victim’s mother, noticed he was not breathing the next afternoon. They began CPR and then called an ambulance, who arrived around ten minutes later and pronounced Larry Hawks dead.

Larry Hawks had been plagued by bedsores for “months” according to his sister, and she admitted that she had “ignored his deteriorating condition,” telling investigators he had only been out of bed once, briefly, within the month before his death.

She did not seek medical help for her brother. The medical examiner said that Larry Hawks died from complications as a result of sepsis, decubitus ulcers, thromboembolism due to immobility and brain malformations.

Ambien was found in his systems. While Larry Hawks did not have a prescription for Ambien and would be physically incapable of taking the medication on his own, Crystal Hawks did have a prescription for Ambien.

According to the release, Sandra and Crystal Hawks pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and neglect of a disabled adult inflicting serious injury on Fab. 27. On Sept. 1, they were both sentenced to 13 to 25 months.