Goldhawk Fights Back: Elder abuse and the people who turn it into profit

Robert died in the hospital on May 28, 2008 after a five-year battle with Alzheimer's disease. He was 83. Several years earlier, his wife had died after suffering from Alzheimer's for more than a decade. There were few golden years for this loving couple.

When Robert died, he was married to a woman 25 years younger than him but most likely did not know it. The woman had met him while Robert was spending many hours a day in hospital caring for his wife.

After his wife's death, Robert rented out the basement in his home to the woman. Then she moved quickly.

She took him to his lawyer and had her name added to his will as beneficiary and executor. When his son Ted and his wife Mary found out, they asked Robert about it. Robert had no memory of the visit and only said the woman would never so such a thing.

In his vulnerable state, Robert signed over all banking authority to the woman. She wrote all the cheques and controlled all of Robert's pension payments and investments. She changed the locks on the house and refused to give keys to Ted and Mary.

Robert's doctor began treating his for Alzheimer's disease, and in a note in Robert's medical file, the doctor said, “Robert has brighter moments when he remembers incidents and locations.” The doctor made a further note that he would increase the dementia medication in Robert's next visit.

Two days after that notation was made in Robert's medical file, the woman took Robert to City Hall. The woman and Robert got married.

A year later, documents show that Robert took out a $160,000 mortgage on his debt-free home -- a home Robert built with his father's help, back in the 1950s.