HUFFMAN, Texas – The Harris County Sheriff's Office is investigating the death of an 85-year-old man inside a Huffman home, investigators say the man's daughter told a neighbor that she killed him.
Deputies said the man's daughter, Janice Byrnes, was arrested Wednesday morning and has been charged with murder.
Deputies were called around 5 p.m. Tuesday to a home at Gum Tree Lane and Vanya Lane. Autopsy results determined that the victim died of blunt-force trauma and severe lacerations to the head, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors told KPRC 2 that Byrnes, 45, got into an argument with her father Sunday. Byrnes told investigators that she blacked out and pushed her father. She told her neighbor Tuesday that she had killed her father, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors: She said she blacked out, but remembered pushing him hard and he fell. She stayed with his body until July 26. @KPRC2
— KPRC Cathy Hernandez (@KPRC2Cathy) July 27, 2016
NEIGHBOR: Elderly man killed was well known on Gum Tree Ln in Huffman as a "nice guy." Neighbor said he'd seen officers at home in the past.
— Brandon Walker (@KPRC2Brandon) July 27, 2016
Neighbors said law enforcement has been by the house at least a dozen times within the last year.
"We just saw the police and the commotion and we just thought it was a another issue because it's common you know," Melanie Zwego said.
The Harris County medical examiner's office said the man's identity is not being released until his relatives are notified.
It's unclear when the father died. The argument reportedly happened on Sunday, and the 911 call came on Wednesday night.
Byrnes was arrested in April 2015 for assaulting her father.
Byrnes did not appear in court because she is on a medical hold.
Bond has been set at $50,000.