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Holding the family together
Home full of corpses
Why did Evanston woman, 90, live with dead siblings?
November 9, 2008
BY STEFANO ESPOSITO AND KARA SPAK Staff Reporters
Five years ago, when neighbors noticed elderly Frank Bernstorff had quit puttering around his Evanston garden, they asked one of his live-in sisters if anything was wrong.
No, Margaret Bernstorff said, there was nothing to be concerned about -- he'd gone to live with out-of-state relatives.
» Click to enlarge image
The bodies of three elderly siblings were discovered Friday in a home where a fourth sibling also lived in a quiet Evanston neighborhood.
(Scott Stewart/Sun-Times)
Last spring, when sibling Anita Bernstorff stopped coming out onto the porch, neighbors repeated the question.
Anita had become afraid to venture outside, Margaret Bernstorff said.
No one wanted to pry. Why should they? They had no reason to suspect anything strange had happened inside the large green-and-white house with the faded lace curtains and yellowing blinds.
Unseen since early '80s
On Saturday, the Bernstorffs' neighbors on historic Judson Avenue grappled with the news that the skeletons of Frank, Anita and a third sibling had been found inside the home a day earlier.
That third sibling -- identified by the Cook County medical examiner as Elaine B. Bernstorff -- had not been seen since the early 1980s, when she was believed to be in her 60s. She was born in 1916.
Anita Bernstorff was last seen alive in May 2008 at age 98 and her brother, Frank, was last seen in April 2003 at age 83, according to the medical examiner's office.
Investigators said all three died from natural causes, but that did little to unravel the mystery of why the remains were kept inside the Bernstorff home.
Halloween treats
"Some were partially clothed, some were wearing full clothes," said a source in the medical examiner's office. The bodies were covered when they were found, another source said.
Margaret Bernstorff has been placed in a senior care facility, officials said Friday. In recent months, Bernstorff had become increasingly frail and, at the urging of some of her neighbors, had sought help from an advocate for the elderly in Evanston. It was that relationship that led police to discover the bodies Friday, investigators said.
As a winter-like wind raked the fallen leaves along Judson Avenue on Saturday, neighbors stared at the yellow police tape around the Bernstorff home and spoke of Margaret Bernstorff as an an articulate, friendly and generous woman.
"She is just a sweet old lady, and we are all very fond of her," said one neighbor, tears welling in her eyes.
That was a common sentiment along Judson Avenue, a wide boulevard of elegant homes with deep front lawns.
Margaret Bernstorff frequently plucked flowers from her yard and delivered them to her neighbors. On Halloween, she handed out candies to the neighbors' kids.
'You didn't go inside'
Neighbors said the Bernstorffs had lived at the Evanston home at least since the 1920s. Neighbors recalled Margaret Bernstorff going to neighborhood Fourth of July parties and talking about her father, a professor of German at Northwestern University. Professor Frank Adolph Bernstorff had also written several German grammar textbooks.
But others noted that Margaret Bernstorff almost never invited neighbors into the house.
"You didn't go inside," said one neighbor. "You left things at the back door."
Al Redmond, 44, a local contractor, had made several outside repairs to the Bernstorff home during the last five years, and he also kept his vintage Buick in its garage, Redmond said.
Redmond said Margaret Bernstorff rarely let him or his workers inside. If Redmond asked to use the bathroom, she'd say there was something wrong with the toilet, he said.
But one occasion, Redmond had to open the attic windows because he'd just painted the exterior frames and didn't want them to get stuck.
The inside of the home was lined with stacks of old newspapers -- some as tall as him, he said. Redmond said he sometimes had to turn sideways to get by the newspapers.
And inside the attic, "it was like it hadn't been touched in 40 years," Redmond said.
But if there were bodies inside the home, Redmond never saw them, he said.
"She was very proud and private," said one neighbor. "No one wanted to pry. She had a real grace about her, and everyone wanted to respect that."
Why did Evanston woman, 90, live with dead siblings?
November 9, 2008
BY STEFANO ESPOSITO AND KARA SPAK Staff Reporters
Five years ago, when neighbors noticed elderly Frank Bernstorff had quit puttering around his Evanston garden, they asked one of his live-in sisters if anything was wrong.
No, Margaret Bernstorff said, there was nothing to be concerned about -- he'd gone to live with out-of-state relatives.
» Click to enlarge image
The bodies of three elderly siblings were discovered Friday in a home where a fourth sibling also lived in a quiet Evanston neighborhood.
(Scott Stewart/Sun-Times)
Last spring, when sibling Anita Bernstorff stopped coming out onto the porch, neighbors repeated the question.
Anita had become afraid to venture outside, Margaret Bernstorff said.
No one wanted to pry. Why should they? They had no reason to suspect anything strange had happened inside the large green-and-white house with the faded lace curtains and yellowing blinds.
Unseen since early '80s
On Saturday, the Bernstorffs' neighbors on historic Judson Avenue grappled with the news that the skeletons of Frank, Anita and a third sibling had been found inside the home a day earlier.
That third sibling -- identified by the Cook County medical examiner as Elaine B. Bernstorff -- had not been seen since the early 1980s, when she was believed to be in her 60s. She was born in 1916.
Anita Bernstorff was last seen alive in May 2008 at age 98 and her brother, Frank, was last seen in April 2003 at age 83, according to the medical examiner's office.
Investigators said all three died from natural causes, but that did little to unravel the mystery of why the remains were kept inside the Bernstorff home.
Halloween treats
"Some were partially clothed, some were wearing full clothes," said a source in the medical examiner's office. The bodies were covered when they were found, another source said.
Margaret Bernstorff has been placed in a senior care facility, officials said Friday. In recent months, Bernstorff had become increasingly frail and, at the urging of some of her neighbors, had sought help from an advocate for the elderly in Evanston. It was that relationship that led police to discover the bodies Friday, investigators said.
As a winter-like wind raked the fallen leaves along Judson Avenue on Saturday, neighbors stared at the yellow police tape around the Bernstorff home and spoke of Margaret Bernstorff as an an articulate, friendly and generous woman.
"She is just a sweet old lady, and we are all very fond of her," said one neighbor, tears welling in her eyes.
That was a common sentiment along Judson Avenue, a wide boulevard of elegant homes with deep front lawns.
Margaret Bernstorff frequently plucked flowers from her yard and delivered them to her neighbors. On Halloween, she handed out candies to the neighbors' kids.
'You didn't go inside'
Neighbors said the Bernstorffs had lived at the Evanston home at least since the 1920s. Neighbors recalled Margaret Bernstorff going to neighborhood Fourth of July parties and talking about her father, a professor of German at Northwestern University. Professor Frank Adolph Bernstorff had also written several German grammar textbooks.
But others noted that Margaret Bernstorff almost never invited neighbors into the house.
"You didn't go inside," said one neighbor. "You left things at the back door."
Al Redmond, 44, a local contractor, had made several outside repairs to the Bernstorff home during the last five years, and he also kept his vintage Buick in its garage, Redmond said.
Redmond said Margaret Bernstorff rarely let him or his workers inside. If Redmond asked to use the bathroom, she'd say there was something wrong with the toilet, he said.
But one occasion, Redmond had to open the attic windows because he'd just painted the exterior frames and didn't want them to get stuck.
The inside of the home was lined with stacks of old newspapers -- some as tall as him, he said. Redmond said he sometimes had to turn sideways to get by the newspapers.
And inside the attic, "it was like it hadn't been touched in 40 years," Redmond said.
But if there were bodies inside the home, Redmond never saw them, he said.
"She was very proud and private," said one neighbor. "No one wanted to pry. She had a real grace about her, and everyone wanted to respect that."
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