I can’t unsee this, so I’m sharing the horror with you, too

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BoSoxGal
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I can’t unsee this, so I’m sharing the horror with you, too

Post by BoSoxGal »

After 'horrific' death at home, parents of Louisiana woman may soon face murder charges

36-year-old Lacey Fletcher died in her own excrement, DA says

Lacey Ellen Fletcher, 36, died on Jan. 3 at her home in Slaughter. Sam D'Aquilla, the district attorney for East Feliciana Parish, said he will ask a grand jury to charge her parents, Sheila and Clay Fletcher, with murder.

The scene that East Feliciana Parish deputies found on Jan. 3 at the home of a town alderman in Slaughter spelled untold misery.

Lacey Ellen Fletcher, a 36-year-old shut-in, was dead, her body sunken into a crater in the living-room couch, where she'd anchored herself. When she last left the spot was uncertain, said District Attorney Sam D'Aquilla this week. It might have been years ago.

“The caretakers just let her sit on the couch. She just urinated and used the bathroom on the couch,” D’Aquilla said. “It was so horrific.”

D'Aquilla said in an interview that he will ask a grand jury next week to bring second-degree murder charges against Fletcher's parents, Sheila and Clay Fletcher. He said Fletcher suffered prolonged neglect, possibly for years, before her death in the house near Hog Bayou.

Second-degree murder charges carry a mandatory life prison sentence with no parole for adults upon a conviction. D’Aquilla said it’s unclear when Lacey Fletcher last left the living room, or if anyone but her parents had laid eyes on her in the years before she died.

“On a murder, you have to have intent,” D’Aquilla said. “Did they want to kill her? I want to say yeah, they wanted to kill her.”

Sheila Fletcher called 911 that morning from the home on Tom Drive and deputies entered to a strong stench, said D’Aquilla, citing police and autopsy reports.

Lacey Fletcher's feet were crossed under her, sunk deep into the hole she’d worn through the upholstery and foam padding. The hole was filled with stool and urine. Severe ulcers covered her underside, which appeared “rotten to the bone” in photos, D’Aquilla said. Fecal matter was crushed into her face, chest and abdomen. Her hair was matted, knotted, and filled with maggots.

Following an autopsy, Dr. Ewell Bickham III, the parish coroner, ruled Fletcher’s death a homicide and pressed for an investigation, D'Aquilla said. Bickham declined to provide any information on the death, citing an ongoing investigation, and he did not respond to a public records request for the coroner’s report.

D’Aquilla, though, said the coroner found Fletcher died of “severe chronic neglect,” citing the ulcers, bacterial infections and other medical troubles. She weighed 96 pounds and also was positive for COVID-19, he said.

“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.”

Despite the allegation, authorities have yet to arrest either suspect. Reached by phone, the Fletchers declined to comment, referring questions to their lawyer, Steven Moore, who did not return phone and email messages.

Sheila Fletcher, 64, has worked as a police and court clerk in Baker and more recently as an assistant to the city prosecutor in Zachary, according to her LinkedIn page. A Slaughter official said she resigned her post on the town’s Board of Aldermen on Jan. 24, three weeks after Lacey Fletcher’s death. She served for four years, most recently as mayor pro tem.

State business filings show Clay Fletcher is an officer of the nonprofit Baton Rouge Civil War Roundtable, which has a mission “to educate and foster an appreciation for the sacrifices made by all during the Civil War.”

Condolences poured in when Sheila Fletcher posted a short message in January with an obituary for her daughter.

“Mom and Dad love you so much,” she wrote on Facebook.

The obituary was just as spare. There was a photo of Fletcher smiling wide, eyes bright, but no details to color in her abbreviated life. And while more than 400 people responded online with support and prayers, few shared memories of Fletcher, none of them recent.

Sheriff Jeff Travis said he recently turned over an investigative report to D’Aquilla's office. He referred questions about the case to the district attorney.

D’Aquilla and Travis said they agreed not to arrest the couple before the grand jury hears evidence in the case.

“If we have an outright murder, we arrest the people immediately. If we have a case like this, where the parents aren’t going anywhere, sometimes they’re not arrested,” D’Aquilla said. “We’re all of the consensus that we’re going to let the grand jury handle it.”

Travis said it was a “complex case that has specialty testimony” from doctors and others, and he wanted a grand jury to hear it first before making any arrests.

Unlike murder, lesser charges such as manslaughter or negligent homicide do not require a grand jury for a district attorney to prosecute. Grand juries can indict, decline to indict or punt criminal allegations. Some prosecutors have used them for cover, to bury a politically sensitive case.

In a Jan. 18 interview, the couple told detectives that their daughter was sound intellectually to the end. Autistic, she had developed “some degree of Asperger’s syndrome,” D’Aquilla said, citing reports.

The lifelong condition is part of a category called autism spectrum disorder. Symptoms include trouble with social skills and obsessive focus.

Fletcher attended Brownfields Baptist Academy in Baton Rouge through 9th grade before entering a home-school program. As a teen, she experienced severe social anxiety and met several times with a psychologist over three years. She saw a doctor years later, in 2010, while in her early 20’s, but never since, her parents said.

Her parents reported then that Fletcher had anchored herself in the living room and refused to leave. They brought her meals and set up a potty. Fletcher instead relieved herself into a towel or on the floor, afraid to leave the couch.

The Fletchers considered getting a commitment order to place their daughter in a medical facility, but she balked and it never happened, D’Aquilla said, citing a police report. The couple reported that Fletcher hadn’t seen a doctor in the past decade because she’d never been sick.

“I don’t think they (did) anything after that,” D’Aquilla said. “I think if somebody would have seen her that something would have been done.”

D’Aquilla said the couple was “adamant” that Lacey Fletcher was “of sound mind to make her own type of decisions.” The couple said Fletcher never complained of her sores and that Sheila Fletcher would routinely clean them.

Last fall, Fletcher began eating less, they told detectives. She ate half a sandwich and Cheetos on Jan. 2. Sheila Fletcher told detectives she last saw her daughter alive at 10 p.m. that night and awoke in a chair in the living room to find her dead.

D’Aquilla said he hopes the prosecution will serve as a warning.

“They lost a daughter. I have, not much, but I have a little compassion for them,” he said. “But I think we have to send a message. You need to take care of your people better than you do your animals. I just want people to recognize, if you have a situation like that you have to take action.”
Image


They sat in the living room with her and watched and SMELLED as she sat in a pile of feces and urine and rotted away!!

I feel like I could cheerfully murder them if given the chance.
For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
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Scooter
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Re: I can’t unsee this, so I’m sharing the horror with you, too

Post by Scooter »

When I first started reading I was imagining another one of those cases where someone was so obese that neither she nor anyone else could lift her off of the sofa. But 96 pounds, for cripes sake, lift her up and carry her to the fucking toilet, whether she agrees or goes kicking and screaming. Carry her to a car, shove her in, and get her to a hospital where they can determine whether her state of mind necessitated commitment, which it probably did.
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Crackpot
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Re: I can’t unsee this, so I’m sharing the horror with you, too

Post by Crackpot »

But what would the neighbors think?
Okay... There's all kinds of things wrong with what you just said.

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Re: I can’t unsee this, so I’m sharing the horror with you, too

Post by Burning Petard »

What would the neighbors smell? Both parents active in community affairs. Yet nobody noticed the contents of the living room. Another example of old-fashioned southern hospitality. I try to be a serious disciple of the itinerant carpenter from Nazareth.

Yet every once-in-a-while, I am reminded of why I have the sign above my bookshelf next to my computer: Dogs Welcome. People Tolerated.

snailgate

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BoSoxGal
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Re: I can’t unsee this, so I’m sharing the horror with you, too

Post by BoSoxGal »

Burning Petard wrote:
Fri Apr 29, 2022 12:23 pm
Dogs Welcome. People Tolerated.
The longer I live the more this is the mantra of my life.
For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
~ Carl Sagan

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Re: I can’t unsee this, so I’m sharing the horror with you, too

Post by ex-khobar Andy »

I have to think that there is a level of mental illness here from the parents.

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Scooter
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Re: I can’t unsee this, so I’m sharing the horror with you, too

Post by Scooter »

Ya think? How would they otherwise tolerate smelling years of accumulated shit and piss in their living room?
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Re: I can’t unsee this, so I’m sharing the horror with you, too

Post by BoSoxGal »

ex-khobar Andy wrote:
Fri Apr 29, 2022 5:51 pm
I have to think that there is a level of mental illness here from the parents.
That thought crossed my mind too - but no way is the level of mental illness meeting a standard of diminished responsibility. They were both active engaged members of the community and church, they worked, bathed and dressed appropriately, kept a very nice home and garden - if you search the story you’ll see lots of pictures.

Many people who knew them didn’t even know they had a daughter. That’s not diminished responsibility mental illness, that’s twisted pathology like narcissistic personality disorder or borderline personality disorder or similar which governs conduct and exhibits with near total lack of empathy except for self.

I hope they get indicted and convicted and die in prison. She died in a prison, totally needlessly and no doubt excruciatingly painfully, thanks to them.
For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
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Big RR
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Re: I can’t unsee this, so I’m sharing the horror with you, too

Post by Big RR »

My question here is what the responsibility of the parents was, and what alternatives did they have. They had a mentally ill daughter who was apparently defiant (or at least non compliant with nay suggestions) and who, for some manner, could not be (or at least was not) committed. Where does their responsibility under criminal law end; are we legally our brothers' keepers? I share the revulsion in how they acted and would love to see someone has their brains (what little of them they have) out, but absent a legal responsibility to care for her (and maybe they did assume this responsibility), I don't know what the basis is for criminal responsibility. Is it because of a familial relationship? They clearly are morally responsible, but are they criminally responsible? BSG, perhaps yu might know?

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Re: I can’t unsee this, so I’m sharing the horror with you, too

Post by BoSoxGal »

I’m gratified to report that the grand jury indicted this monstrous pair of breeders for second degree murder and they are sitting in jail as we speak.
The Fletchers were arrested Monday and then indicted on second-degree murder charges. A trial date has not yet been set.

Bickham told DailyMail.com Monday that the images of the conditions Lacey was found in were so horrific and upsetting that medics would be on standby for the members of the jury.

He added that the photos of the scene left those in the room speechless.

'The father was completely emotionless, the mother's head was lying down on, between her legs, she was weeping a little bit,' he added.

'When I was presenting the case and showed the pictures and gave the timeline the expressions of the grand jury was utter shock,' he said. 'Like the clock on the wall never moved again.'

'There was complete silence. Some jurors were gasping in horror. Some were staring in disbelief.'

Bickham also told the DailyMail.com that the case has been really hard on him personally and described Monday's grand jury proceedings as 'long emotional day.'

'Seeing those photos again and reliving this traumatic experience again was really hard.'

Sheriff says the conviction 'will bring justice' for Lacey Fletcher.

Outside the court, District Attorney D'Aquilla said: 'I believe justice was served here today. Lacey Fletcher didn't deserve the way she was treated.

'For this type of crime… second degree is the highest charge that could have been produced today.'

'Evidence wise, a minimum of 12 years,' he said. 'Could be before that. At least 12 years. A terribly long period of time.'

The coroner also revealed the full horrific cause of death.

He said: 'The cause of death stemmed from severe medical neglect, which led to chronic malnutrition, acute starvation, immobility, acute ulcer formation, osteomyelitis which is bone infection which led finally to sepsis.'

Dr Bickham also cleared up a misunderstanding about Lacey's actual condition, originally reported as 'Locked-In' Syndrome.

He said: 'I don't know where that term came from or what source it came from. In all my years as a practicing physician I have never heard of that term.

The only diagnoses that I know she did have was first, social anxiety, severe autism and that's it. Those are her only two diagnoses.

'The last time she saw a physician of any type or any kind was when she was 16 years old. That picture of her was when she was 16.'
They had her on that couch for TWELVE YEARS!! Doctors they consulted with told them years before she died that they needed to take her to the hospital. They did NOTHING.

I’m not sure how it’s hard for anyone to grasp how this rises to the level of criminal prosecution. Plenty of people have been successfully criminally prosecuted for neglecting the welfare of adults in their care - vulnerable adult children, parents, grandparents. When severe neglect results in death, second degree murder is a reasonable charge.

If the monsters didn’t want to take care of her, all they had to do was pick up the phone and call the state. Her life in the custody of Louisiana may not have been perfect, but she would likely still be alive and very possibly with intervention for her mental health issues and autism she might be thriving today in a group home supervised by people who wouldn’t treat her worse than you’d treat a stray dog.
For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
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Re: I can’t unsee this, so I’m sharing the horror with you, too

Post by Big RR »

Perhaps BSG, but then we don't knwo the story. The accoutn suggests they tries to have her removed/committed, but were unable to do so because she objected. I have seen people saddled with the care of an adult because the state would not step in to assume responsibility, and that might well be the case here, I don't know. I think these people are slime for neglecting her, I just don't know if they are criminal slime. They may well be, but I really do not know.

ETA: I've seen the same thing with minor children; the parents obviously have an obligation to care for them (an obligation that generally does not extend to adult children), but there are times where the parents can no longer provide appropriate care or supervision and the state refuses to step in. When something happens the press and locals usually scream "hang the parents", conveniently forgetting that the state was of no help (even if the parent had the means to provide for the necessary care). I recall a client I had who had a troubled adolescent who refused to attend school; my client was a widower who had to work and could not be home all day--he would drop him off at school in the morning and the kid would just leave. He sought help, even custodial care, but could get no cooperation from the child study team (which just threatened to prosecute him for neglect). We ultimately had to go to court to get the town to agree to alternative educational opportunities, but it cost him a lot (with the attorneys fees and experts required) and most people have neither the time of resources to take this on--this guy drained some of his 401K for this.

I'm all for holding people criminally responsible for their actions, but not if the state waffles on its own. Sure, they have a moral obligation to care for her, but then so does the state have a moral obligation to care for those incapable of caring for themselves.

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Re: I can’t unsee this, so I’m sharing the horror with you, too

Post by BoSoxGal »

You are speculating in a big way. I understand the points you are making but the bottom line is, these pieces of excrement never picked up the phone to request an adult protective worker visit the home. I am certain that if they would have called, especially if the parents had asked the doctor they consulted to verify to APS that there were serious medical/psychological issues in play, a worker would have visited. I’m also certain that had any adult protective worker seen her condition - even just six months after she started refusing to leave the couch and began sitting in her own feces and urine and general bodily filth - she would have been taken in on a psych hold and gotten some form of the treatment she needed.

They were more worried about appearances re: neighbors and fellow church congregants than they were about the life of their own child.
For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
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Big RR
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Re: I can’t unsee this, so I’m sharing the horror with you, too

Post by Big RR »

You may well be correct; I'm just not as certain as you are. I have seen it not work as cleanly as you have suggested. Sure I am speculating, but the system often doesn't work in a world of budget cuts; it happens all the time.

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Re: I can’t unsee this, so I’m sharing the horror with you, too

Post by BoSoxGal »

THEY NEVER EVEN TRIED! So THEY ALONE must answer for the extreme neglect. SHE HAD NOBODY ELSE.
For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
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Big RR
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Re: I can’t unsee this, so I’m sharing the horror with you, too

Post by Big RR »

The Fletchers considered getting a commitment order to place their daughter in a medical facility, but she balked and it never happened,
From the initial post; I agree it's not very informative--did they just think they might try to get a commitment order and stop because she objected, or did they try and not get it? Neither alternative is that sensible--if one is considering commitment, they are looking at something that is involuntary, and her opinion of it would/should have very little bearing on it; if they tried to get such an order, a denial would make little sense, but it would make more sense than the first alternative.

We really don't know what happened, but I'd guess they contacted someone to get such an order and it was either denied by the court or rebuffed by some authority before it every got to that level. I know I would have kept on pushing for it (just as my client sought his son's remedies), but I also know that not everyone is as diligent and/or willing to challenge authority (even a low level authority). In any event, even if such is not the case here, I am always concerned because it does happen in some cases. I assume they will get their day in court and get to show what they did to help their daughter, and they may well be found guilty (or they may accept a pela bargain) , but until I know the entire story I am not so quick to say they are criminally liable, even though they are clearly morally culpable.

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Re: I can’t unsee this, so I’m sharing the horror with you, too

Post by BoSoxGal »

Why are you stretching to speculate so heavily in their favor? Nothing went to court - they never went past asking their seriously mentally ill daughter if she would agree to a commitment. That’s the whole case, that they never got outside of the house with her issues despite clear medical advice that they needed to get her hospitalized.

And for pity’s sake these are not babes in the woods - the mother worked for the police and district attorneys office! She had access to all the free legal advice about navigating the process that she could have needed.

They were ashamed of their seriously mentally ill and autistic daughter so they left to her to sit in her own shit for TWELVE YEARS UNTIL SHE ROTTED TO DEATH rather than endure the shame of their community learning of the existence of their defective offspring.
For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
~ Carl Sagan

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