LA - Lacey Fletcher 36, GRAPHIC, disabled, found dead, on couch for years, Jan'22 *Parents arrested*

[LouLou74]

Lacey suffered from a disability and was found dead in her parents home.


Grand jury to decide parents’ fate after coroner finds daughter’s body sitting on couch with feces around it

 

[dalsglen]

Poor Lacey. That photo of the sofa is horrendous.

 

[dotr]

Coroner found woman 'melted' into couch after she disappeared for a decade; grand jury weighing charges for her parents (wbrz.com)
''SLAUGHTER, La. – A grand jury will meet Monday to determine if a woman’s parents should be held accountable for her death, Sam D’Aquilla, the district attorney for the 20th Judicial District, said.

The body of 36-year old Lacey Fletcher was found rotting and melted into a couch of her parents' home back in January. Fletcher only weighed 96 pounds, and sources said it's one of the worst cases of neglect they have ever seen.

Dr. Ewell Bickham, coroner of East Feliciana Parish, was very limited in what he could say due to the pending grand jury hearing, but told the WBRZ Investigative Unit in his 30 years as a practicing physician he's never seen anything like it.

"I couldn't eat for a week, and I cried for a week," Dr. Bickham said.

Fletcher's parents, Sheila and Clay Fletcher, are longtime residents of Slaughter. Shelia was a town alderman who recently resigned her post in February.

The East Feliciana Parish coroner ruled Lacey's death a homicide after she died Jan. 3 in her parents’ home. The coroner’s office notified the district attorney and sheriff’s office of its findings, leading to the criminal investigation.

Sources told the WBRZ Investigative Unit she had insects all over her body and was covered in feces from head to toe. The couch was a "latrine" and her body had melted through the padding of the sofa. It's unclear when she was last mobile, but sources estimate she had been sitting in the same place for years.''

 

[moonriverfarm]

I need more info because HOW could this be??????? Was she handicapped? Sick?

 

[FlossyMay]

Wasn't there another case like this involving a teenaged boy with autism? I can't remember names.

I can't understand how things get to this point. I mean if she won't get up, call an ambulance and have her treated. If you can't take care of her on your own, reach out to someone. This doesn't make any sense to me.

 

[Shamrock1]

Obituary: Obituary for Lacey Ellen Fletcher | Baker Funeral Home

 

[dotr]

rbbm.
Lacey Fletcher: Parents could face charges after recluse daughter’s body found decomposing into couch | The Independent
''The woman, who had been homeschooled since high school and suffered social anxiety as a teen, had worn through the sofa’s upholstery, the district attorney said.

Fletcher’s death has been ruled a homicide and the “cause behind her death stems from at least a decade of medical neglect”, Dr Bickham said.

While her parents Sheila and Clay Fletcher have not been arrested or charged with any crimes so far, the district attorney is slated to bring second-degree charges on them with help of a grand jury. The hearing is expected to take place next week, on 2 May.

Calling it a horrific episode, Mr D’Aquilla said: “The caretakers just let her sit on the couch. She just urinated and used the bathroom on the couch.”

Additionally, the parents can be charged with manslaughter, cruelty to the infirmed, or negligent homicide, Mr D’Aquilla said, according to the report.''

Grand jury to decide parents’ fate after coroner finds daughter’s body sitting on couch with feces around it (ksla.com)
“I’ve never seen anything like this, that literally turned my stomach as bad as it did. It literally got me emotional, and I’m a strong person,” said Dr. Bickham. “This is the worst case of neglect I’ve ever seen,” said Bickham.

District Attorney D’Aquilla says a Grand Jury will decide Monday, May 2 if her parents could be charged in the case. Those potential charges include second-degree murder, manslaughter, cruelty to the infirmed, negligent homicide, or none.''

 

[moonriverfarm]

HOW could her parents live in the home and allow this? The smell alone had to be horrific. There is mental illness all around this story.

 

[dotr]

HOW could her parents live in the home and allow this? The smell alone had to be horrific. There is mental illness all around this story.

Recluse Daughter Dies in Parents’ Living Room With Severe Sores and Maggot-Filled Hair – Crime Online - 247 News Around The World
rbbm.
“The question on everybody’s mind is, how could they be caretakers living in the house with her and have her get in a condition like that?” D’Aquilla said. “It’s cruelty to the infirm. We can’t just let it sit.”

It wasn’t clear, he said, how long it had been since Lacey left the living room or since the last time anyone other than her parents had seen her.

Fletcher’s parents — 64-year-old former Zachary city alderman Sheila Fletcher and Clay Fletcher — said in an interview about two weeks after their daughter’s death that she was autistic and had “some degree of Asperger’s syndrome” but had been “of sound mind to make her own type of decisions” until she died, D’Aquila said.''

 

[tlcya]

D'Aquilla said it is unclear if anyone but Lacey's parents saw her in the years leading up to her death.

Lacey Fletcher suffered from a disability, her parents said in an interview with detectives on January 18.

Lacey was home schooled from the time she was in high school and experienced severe social anxiety as a teen, her parents said.

The Fletchers also stated that their daughter refused to leave the living room couch.

They claim to have brought Lacey her meals, even saying that she would urinate and defecate in towels or on the floor, as she was afraid to leave the couch.

The Fletchers also claim that Lacey had not seen a doctor in 10 years because she had not been ill.
Recluse's body found 'in couch crater' as caretaker parents may face charges

good grief. I don't even know what to say. They lived there with her basically slowing rotting to death on that couch? Like, how??? I mean not to be flippant but how can someone be that "nose blind" as to be able to do that? These parents . . . What on earth?

 

[passionflower]

Oh my this is the worse case of neglect! The smells alone! How could anyone live like this! Poor Lacey! Where was the help! Especially mental help too!

 

[legalmomma]

I think is is a perfect example how homeschooling a child with a disability can turn into adult abuse. The child is forgotten after high school (probably once homeschooling started?) and no adult transition services are put into place thus no oversight. Just tragic.

 

[Vail]

D'Aquilla said it is unclear if anyone but Lacey's parents saw her in the years leading up to her death.

Lacey Fletcher suffered from a disability, her parents said in an interview with detectives on January 18.

Lacey was home schooled from the time she was in high school and experienced severe social anxiety as a teen, her parents said.

The Fletchers also stated that their daughter refused to leave the living room couch.

They claim to have brought Lacey her meals, even saying that she would urinate and defecate in towels or on the floor, as she was afraid to leave the couch.

The Fletchers also claim that Lacey had not seen a doctor in 10 years because she had not been ill.
Recluse's body found 'in couch crater' as caretaker parents may face charges

good grief. I don't even know what to say. They lived there with her basically slowing rotting to death on that couch? Like, how??? I mean not to be flippant but how can someone be that "nose blind" as to be able to do that? These parents . . . What on earth?

Because it is likely they are lying and she suffered terrible abuse from one or both parents. No one of a sound mind chooses to live and die like that.

 

[MimosaMornings]

D'Aquilla said it is unclear if anyone but Lacey's parents saw her in the years leading up to her death.

Lacey Fletcher suffered from a disability, her parents said in an interview with detectives on January 18.

Lacey was home schooled from the time she was in high school and experienced severe social anxiety as a teen, her parents said.

The Fletchers also stated that their daughter refused to leave the living room couch.

They claim to have brought Lacey her meals, even saying that she would urinate and defecate in towels or on the floor, as she was afraid to leave the couch.

The Fletchers also claim that Lacey had not seen a doctor in 10 years because she had not been ill.
Recluse's body found 'in couch crater' as caretaker parents may face charges

good grief. I don't even know what to say. They lived there with her basically slowing rotting to death on that couch? Like, how??? I mean not to be flippant but how can someone be that "nose blind" as to be able to do that? These parents . . . What on earth?

What?!? I’m at a loss for words.
Horrific

 

[bestill]

Were her parents living with her? How can that be?

In the obituary posted above there was a "public viewing" scheduled.

 

[Sprockett7701]

Nuh uh…not doing this one. I’d say unbelievable but this is WS, nothing surprises me anymore…

 

[FlossyMay]

I hope there was a tox screen. I can't imagine having bedsores down to the bone in any circumstance, but especially if the person was able to move. What on earth?

 

[Shamrock1]

The house’s exterior looks maintained. Neighbor stated that the parents attended religious services on the weekends - I wonder if the parents’ clothing had a foul odor.

“Neighbors the WBRZ Investigative Unit spoke to did not even know Lacey had died until we told them.

‘I asked him one day a couple of years ago because I hadn't seen her,’ Robert Blades said. ‘Yeah, she still stays here.’

Blades said he used to see Lacey outside, but that stopped about five or six years ago. Blades was in disbelief that her parents could have kept such an awful secret.

‘They go to church every weekend... and do anything for anybody,’ Blades said.”
Coroner found woman 'melted' into couch after she disappeared for a decade; grand jury weighing charges for her parents

 

[Mind your biscuits]

Omg how terrible. Both my kids would scream like banshee's when they had a minor diaper rash. I feel ill at how this poor young woman suffered. I can't imagine why a parent would let this situation get so out of hand. Moo.

 

[moonriverfarm]

Mental illness abounds in this family - for this to have happened.