Mother Tells Police That Son Beat, Held Her Captive

A Burbank man who took an overdose of Valium early Wednesday was arrested after his 73-year-old mother told police investigating the incident that she had been held captive and beaten by her son, authorities said.

Deborah Barzilai told officers her son, Sheldon Gossmann, 43, had recently twisted her arm and broken it. On other occasions, she told police, he struck her in the chest with a club and grabbed her head and held a Bowie knife to her throat, Sgt. Don Goldberg said.

She said Gossmann also threatened to chop off her hands with a hatchet, stole her $1,200 savings, forced her to sign over her Social Security checks to him and denied her adequate food, Goldberg said.

Barzilai told police the alleged abuses started in July after her son “lured” her in a series of letters to move from her residence in the Mt. Shasta area to live with him at his residence in the 800 block of Reese Place, Goldberg said.

Officers later found a hatchet, a club and a Bowie knife in the man’s residence, Goldberg said.

A doctor at St. Joseph Medical Center who examined Barzilai after her son’s arrest confirmed that she had a broken arm and had been beaten, Goldberg said. The physician said she had severe bruises on her back, face, chest, legs and arms, according to Goldberg. Barzilai was released from the hospital after the examination, he said.

Barzilai told officers about the alleged abuses while they were in the residence about 1:30 a.m. taking a report on her son’s overdose.

Gossmann reportedly had taken 55 tablets of Valium and was lying semiconscious on the living room floor when the officers arrived, Goldberg said.

It was not known whether Gossmann or his mother called for assistance, police said.

Bail for Gossmann, who was being held on suspicion of elder abuse in the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center jail ward, has been set at $40,000, Goldberg said.

He is scheduled to be arraigned Friday in Burbank Municipal Court.