Police say Marcia Burkwit died of a broken neck. Prosecutors have charged her son with manslaughter. “We didn’t charge him with murder or that he intentionally killed her,” says Wayne County District Attorney Rick Healy. “We charged that his conduct was reckless. During the altercation she was pushed and fell and died of a broken neck.”
Burkwit is also charged with harassing the neighbor who called 911. There are indications from the jailhouse informant some of those alleged threats were written down.
“He was worried because some of the ‘creative writing’ on the computer talks about hurting other people,” Walsh told police. The computer was seized as evidence.
Burkwit repeatedly expressed remorse at his mother’s death. He also expressed fear at going to prison. He is being held without bail.
Dan Burkwit has had some past run-ins with the law. He's been to state prison four times between 1997 and 2009. He has three convictions for driving while intoxicated and a conviction for possession of a forged instrument.
