Cops: Son Bludgeoned Beloved Father to Death

Neighbors on Winder Drive in Bristol Township were in shock Monday when they learned their neighbor, Orlando Bronner, 73, was found dead inside his well-maintained home. They milled near a police crime scene trailer, talked, cried and shared stories about the former prison guard who they said would do anything to help them.

As the neighbors continued to talk about Orlando Bronner Tuesday evening, Bristol Township police were busy charging Orlando Bronner’s 44-year-old son, Jazs Bronner, for killing his 73-year-old father. District Judge Joanne Kline told Bronner he was charged with criminal homicide and possessing an instrument of crime at a preliminary arraignment around 7 p.m.

Winder Drive resident Irma Boyd showed up just after constables left the courthouse to take Jazs Bronner to county jail, where he will be held without bail.

“He was such a sweet person,” Boyd said of the elder Bronner. She added he was retired from his job and “ready to begin his retirement and ready to live life.”

Other neighbors were haunted by what happened in the house where Orlando Bronner lived.

“I wonder what could have happened between those two,” said one Winder Drive resident. “Orlando was always nice and helping everybody. I can’t imagine why Jazs would kill him.”

According to court papers, police were dispatched to the light blue house at 1005 Winder Drive at 11:51 a.m. Monday for a victim with a head injury. Officers Thomas VanWinkle and Kurt Leacock arrived to discover Jazs Bronner and his mother in one of the home’s bedrooms. Just feet away, Orlando Bronner’s lifeless body laid there with a bloody head injury.

The Bucks County Rescue Squad arrived and transported the 73-year-old to Lower Bucks Hospital but a doctor declared Orlando Bronner dead at 12:30 p.m.

Jazs Bronner told the first-arriving officers he was in a physical altercation with his father and they both fell on the bedroom floor and the elder Bronner hit his head on a dumbbell. The 44-year-old said he then took his Toyota Corolla to his mother’s house in Trenton and brought her back to the Winder Drive home, according to court papers. The mother – Orlando Bronner’s former wife, neighbors say – then called 9-1-1.

Detectives then arrived to the Winder Drive home and continued the investigation.

Detective Tim Fuhrmann, according to court papers, observed blood spatter and blood smears on the walls of the bedroom and also saw a “large pool of blood on the carpet.” A gold, blood-stained 10 pound dumbbell was found on the bedroom floor near where Orland Bronner was found and the detective noted Orlando Bronner had a “gaping laceration to the base of the skull,” court documents say.

“The injuries did not appear to be consistent with falling on a dumbbell weight,” an affidavit of probable cause filed by Detective Douglas Slemmer reads.

Detectives Slemmer and Greg Beidler interviewed Jazs Bronner Monday and he the argument between the two started after the 44-year-old thought he heard his father call him. He then alleged Orlando Bronner then confronted his son and asked him if he was a “tough guy.” Jazs Bronner told detectives his father threw a “haymaker” at him with his right hand and he was able to duck. He then said he threw a left-handed punch back but was not sure if he hit his father. The two began tussling, Jazs Bronner said, and both fell to the bedroom floor like a “sack of potatoes” and his father became motionless and he said his father must have hit his head on the dumbbell, according to court papers.

Jazs next told police he panicked and tried to leave but the door was locked. He said he then went to the bedroom and rolled his father onto his back and looked for the key to the front door in the 73-year-old’s pant pockets. The key was eventually located on the bed and Jazs Bronner said he drove to Trenton to pick up his mother, court papers say.

An autopsy conducted Tuesday revealed Orlando Bronner died from blunt force trauma to the back of the heads. Forensic pathologist Dr. Ian Hood said the 73-year-old was bludgeoned at least four separate times and there was a metal or metallic paint transfer observed on skull bones, documents filed in court say.

Authorities were not able to arrest Jazs Bronner until Tuesday because they had to gather enough evidence to file a probable cause affidavit, police officials said.

“It’s one of these very sad cases where many of us wish we had our fathers back and this gentleman ends up killing him in a brutal, brutal manner,” Acting Chief of Police Lt. John Godzieba said.

Police said Jazs Bronner told them he has been living  at his father’s Winder Drive home for about four months. Lt. Terry Hughes said he was unclear if Jazs Bronner was currently employed.

LevittownNow.com spoke with several neighbors said Orlando Bronner was a “great neighbor” and the “all-around sweetest guy you’d ever want to meet.”

Boyd said he always drove neighbors to the store or work and even let some borrow some cash to help pay bills. “You just had to pay him back,” she said.

“His father didn’t want him here,” Boyd said Tuesday afternoon as she stood outside the Bronner residence. “It started with him staying a few nights but it was his son and he didn’t want to kick him out.”

“There was never problems there. You’d sometimes hear the radio, preachers, you know, coming through. He would listen to that and read the newspaper out front,” said one neighbor, who said he had known Orlando Bronner for years.

Bristol Township and Bucks County detectives remained at the crime scene from Monday morning into late Tuesday afternoon. Patrol officers kept watch on the crime scene overnight.