Miami-Dade man sentenced for killing his father, state attorney says
A Miami-Dade man was sentenced Monday to 30 years in prison for killing his elderly father and initially trying to cover up the murder by saying his father fell, according to State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle.
David Buer, 55, admitted Monday “that he brutally murdered his 81-year-old father, Paul Buer, while Paul was lying helpless in bed,” Fernandez Rundle said in a statement.
“Sadly, anger about being disinherited appeared to have motivated David Buer’s deadly beating of his father,” the state attorney said.
Buer pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, aggravated elderly abuse and tampering with physical evidence in connection with the murder. He was initially accused of first-degree murder.
The Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office started investigating Buer after he called 911 on Aug. 17, 2024, to report his father was hurt in a fall, according to an arrest report. Buer was his father’s caretaker, and they shared a condo in the 9900 block of Northwest Sixth Lane in the Fontainebleau neighborhood.
Miami-Dade police and fire rescue paramedics responded shortly before 1 a.m. and found Paul Buer lying in bed, covered in bruises with cuts on both arms.
David Buer told police the wounds were from his efforts to get his father back into bed after he collapsed, but homicide detectives noticed several blood spatters and smears and blood-soaked paper towels throughout the home.
After an autopsy, the Medical Examiner’s Office concluded the cause of death was “homicidal violence, including strangulation” rather than a fall, according to the report.
David Buer maintained at the time that his father fell and struck his walker.
“The 30-year sentence for the murder and aggravated elderly abuse cannot undo this ugly crime,” Fernandez Rundle said in the statement. “It illustrates why we must remain perpetually vigilant over the care and safety of our older and vulnerable residents.”
