Man arrested in death of brother in South Windsor
Police say victim was struck in head with bolt
Police on Tuesday arrested a man in the 2017 death of his brother in South Windsor, saying he struck him on the head with a 12-inch bolt, dislocating his neck.
Daniel Epstein,
29, whose last known address was on Brian
Road in South
Windsor, was charged with first-degree manslaughter upon his release from Connecticut Valley Hospital in Middletown, police said. He was in custody on $1 million bail Tuesday morning and was scheduled to appear in Superior Court in Manchester later in the day.
Both he and his 31-year-old brother, Marc Epstein, had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, paranoid type, and substance abuse, the arrest warrant said, and both had been involuntarily committed because of delusions and combative behavior. In the weeks before the attack, Daniel Epstein had increasingly reported hearing voices in his head.
According to the warrant, on Aug. 19, 2017, a visiting nurse called 911 after she went to the brothers’ home at 178 Palmer Drive to administer medication and neither of the brothers responded to her calls. She told police the brothers are territorial — Marc Epstein had pulled a knife on a visiting nurse earlier in the year — so aides were instructed not to leave the kitchen.
Officers arrived and found Marc Epstein’s body in Daniel’s bedroom. The room was in disarray, with trash and cut hair on the floor. He was lying partially on a bed frame from which the mattress and box spring had become separated. He had two head wounds, unevenly cut hair, and there was a pair of scissors with what looked like blood on them near his body.
There also was a 12-inch, metal bolt nearby. Police later learned that both Marc’s and Daniel’s DNA was on the smooth end of the bolt, and that Marc Epstein’s neck had been dislocated. He also suffered a rib fracture, the warrant said.
The cause of death was blunt impact injury of the head and neck, according to the state medical examiner’s office, but the manner was undetermined.
Officers found Daniel Epstein at his mother’s house on Brian Road, where he was disheveled, wearing an inside-out shirt backward, the warrant said. He was taken to a hospital for a mental health evaluation and has been confined to hospitals ever since. Police said they never were able to interview him.
No more arrests are expected, they said.
Christine Dempsey can be reached at cdempsey@courant.com.