Together They Lived, Died

The neighbors agreed he was the most dedicated son they had ever seen. He pushed his mother daily in her wheelchair to recreational therapy, then at night cooked her dinner and washed her silver hair.

They rarely saw one without the other.

Monday morning, they were found dead together. Authorities discovered them on the living room floor of the two-bedroom home they shared at the Heritage Plaza Apartments for seniors in Brea.

Police say it was not a murder-suicide, and there were no signs of foul play.

“We’re convinced they died of natural causes,” Brea Police Sgt. Les Mesa said. “I know how unusual that sounds: Two found dead at the same time. It’s rare indeed.”

The mother, identified as Frances Sagall, was 78. A neighbor said her 56-year-old son’s name was Michael, but Orange County coroner’s officials had not yet confirmed that Monday night.

One of them, more than likely Michael, had been dead more than a week, police said. Frances Sagall may have died within 24 hours of that, possibly because she was unable to get around without her son’s help. Police are awaiting toxicology reports before speculating further what might have happened.

The two were discovered by apartment managers. After hearing neighbors’ concerns, manager Hajira Ahmed took a maintenance supervisor with her to check Monday morning. The maintenance supervisor took off the front screen door of the corner apartment with blue trim, locked from the inside, and Ahmed used a passkey to enter. After seeing the bodies, they immediately called police just after 10:30 a.m.

Neighbors Remember Pair

The deaths quickly became the talk of the 160-unit senior apartment complex at 220 W. Central St., where residents were startled to see several police cars, yellow crime-scene tape and helicopters overhead.

Mesa said police wrongly assumed at first it was a double homicide because two deaths were involved.

A next-door neighbor, Bertha Parker, said she could see the bodies from the doorway.

“They were next to each other but lying in different directions,” she said. “It was so sad, my worst fears.”

Parker, who spoke with the Sagalls almost daily, said she was surprised to see that they had not removed a new telephone directory that had been placed against the screen door. No one could have gone in or out without removing it, she said.

“That was a week ago Thursday,” she said. “I began to get worried because I hadn’t seen them at all since then.”

Others said they found it unusual that the family’s car had not been moved. And the manager, Parker said, commented that it was the first time that the two had not paid their rent on time.

Ahmed would say little about the pair except that “they were very nice, very good tenants. They always paid their rent; they were never a problem, never needed much.”

Many neighbors had observed that Frances and Michael Sagall fell into a daily routine: He would push her wheelchair to their car about 10 a.m., patiently help her inside it, then place her wheelchair in the trunk. They would return about 3 or 4 in the afternoon. Parker said Frances Sagall told her many times that her son took her to recreational therapy because exercise was good for her.

“A year or so ago she had to go to the hospital for quite a few weeks,” Parker said. “But when he finally brought her home, I’d see them go back to their routine.”

Vivian Hart, who lives in the same complex, called him “the perfect son. You just can’t believe how devoted he was to her.”

Gene Garthwait, another neighbor, said everyone noticed how beautiful Frances Sagall’s hair always looked.

“It was always so perfectly kept,” Garthwait said. “And he always dressed well.”

Though the Sagalls were friendly to others, always with a wave to everyone, they did not mix a great deal with the neighbors. They did attend a Christmas event in the clubhouse to see all the decorations, neighbors said. But most nights, the two stayed in their corner apartment.

Happy in Their Routines

“He was a wonderful cook,” Parker said. “He’d go rent videos for them to watch. And they enjoyed TV a lot. Mostly just being together seemed to keep them happy.”

Each Wednesday, Parker said, she would care for her own great-grandson, Cameron, and Frances Sagall would make a point to visit them.

“She was really taken with my great-grandchild,” Parker said. “That always brought her such joy.”

Neighbors did not know if Frances Sagall had other children or grandchildren. If she did, Parker said, she never said so.

Police confirmed that Frances Sagall was in failing health and said her son may have had health problems too.

Resident Laquita Aday said, “We’re used to seeing people die here because it’s a place for seniors. But this, no one could expect something so tragic.”