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

[TheLoadedGoat]

Parents Indicted On Murder Charges After Disabled Daughter Was Found Fused Into Couch For 12 Years
After Fletcher was discovered, Dr. Bickham was brought in and he described the experience, saying, “When I first walked in the house, it smelled of feces, fecal material, however you want to put that politely, it stunk, and when I got to the body, the individual was basically sitting in a hole, filled with liquid stool and urine.”
The scene was so horrid that even the coroner, a person whose job it is to look and deal with dead bodies, was severely affected by the state that he found Fletcher in, “I couldn't eat for a week, and I cried for a week.”

Dr. Bickham, the coroner, states she had been sitting in that hole for at least 12 years. I have never heard about them leaving food for her. But her mother said they just let her go to the bathroom where she was because she preferred that. The mother claims she cleaned her wounds I'm sorry evilwise, but I do not care what they are charged with. They are guilty, guilty, guilty and should have life in prison. Why did they not seek help for her? How did they see this ending? She was FUSED TO THE DAMN SOFA!

 

[Emerald1328]

Parents Indicted On Murder Charges After Disabled Daughter Was Found Fused Into Couch For 12 Years
After Fletcher was discovered, Dr. Bickham was brought in and he described the experience, saying, “When I first walked in the house, it smelled of feces, fecal material, however you want to put that politely, it stunk, and when I got to the body, the individual was basically sitting in a hole, filled with liquid stool and urine.”
The scene was so horrid that even the coroner, a person whose job it is to look and deal with dead bodies, was severely affected by the state that he found Fletcher in, “I couldn't eat for a week, and I cried for a week.”

Dr. Bickham, the coroner, states she had been sitting in that hole for at least 12 years. I have never heard about them leaving food for her. But her mother said they just let her go to the bathroom where she was because she preferred that. The mother claims she cleaned her wounds I'm sorry evilwise, but I do not care what they are charged with. They are guilty, guilty, guilty and should have life in prison. Why did they not seek help for her? How did they see this ending? She was FUSED TO THE DAMN SOFA!

They didn’t even have the “decency” to put something like a plastic sheet underneath her so that they could occasionally hose off her waste so she wouldn’t be sitting in it for years. Parents learn quickly that you change your baby’s diapers on a waterproof pad because of the mess that can be made if they go to the bathroom in those few seconds they have nothing on. You can’t tell me they couldn’t have forced her off the couch every once in a while to do that for her. Not that if they had done that it would make it even a bit better but at least it may have shown that they had been trying to take care of her, just a little bit. IMO.

 

[ilovewings]

They didn’t even have the “decency” to put something like a plastic sheet underneath her so that they could occasionally hose off her waste so she wouldn’t be sitting in it for years. Parents learn quickly that you change your baby’s diapers on a waterproof pad because of the mess that can be made if they go to the bathroom in those few seconds they have nothing on. You can’t tell me they couldn’t have forced her off the couch every once in a while to do that for her. Not that if they had done that it would make it even a bit better but at least it may have shown that they had been trying to take care of her, just a little bit. IMO.

At some point if your child/offspring will not move off the couch to go to bathroom- you might question why? is she in pain? is she having a mental breakdown? you can see and smell what is going on so the logical thing to do is call for help-- call the police, call social services- say my child will not get off the couch and she is pooping all over it- Instead they give the ludicrous excuse she wouldn't get off the couch. The parents should have reached out: please come and help us-- instead she let's her lie there and fuse with the couch for 12 YEARS-- Instead you let her lie there for 12 years infected with feces and other infectious organisms and you (so called parents) go about your lives. Despicable does not even get it. They should be locked up for life. Those people who found her on the couch, fused with it, will never ever get over what they saw and smelled. However, the parents were ok with it.

 

[Emerald1328]

At some point if your child/offspring will not move off the couch to go to bathroom- you might question why? is she in pain? is she having a mental breakdown? you can see and smell what is going on so the logical thing to do is call for help-- call the police, call social services- say my child will not get off the couch and she is pooping all over it- Instead they give the ludicrous excuse she wouldn't get off the couch. The parents should have reached out: please come and help us-- instead she let's her lie there and fuse with the couch for 12 YEARS-- Instead you let her lie there for 12 years infected with feces and other infectious organisms and you (so called parents) go about your lives. Despicable does not even get it. They should be locked up for life. Those people who found her on the couch, fused with it, will never ever get over what they saw and smelled. However, the parents were ok with it.

I understand that it is almost impossible to get doctors/social services/courts to force adults to get help for mental health issues. I just have a hard time believing that the parents didn’t have any avenues to get Lacey help, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, if her condition made her almost catatonic. The fact that they’re basically said and acted as if they lost all hope in being able to get her better is ridiculous. There was still hope - she was clearly still eating and drinking enough to keep her alive for several years. There was some kind of survival instinct inside of her.

I’ve been thinking of what I would do if I truly didn’t have any option to get my child intense, rehabilitative help or if they were so combative/uncooperative that they refused to move off of a sofa. Obviously after doing everything I could to do that - including going to the news, staging protests, screaming from the top of my lungs that my daughter wouldn’t even move off of the sofa and no one would help her. I think I would’ve, at the very least, gotten some kind of sleep aid at the the store that I could crush into her food or drink (since she was still eating and drinking). At least then she would be pliant enough that I could move her off of the sofa daily and clean her up, clean off a plastic sheet that was under her, brush her hair, etc. I’m sure that’s illegal and maybe immoral to some, but for me as a parent, the cliche that desperate times call for desperate measures would absolutely apply in this situation.

 

[ilovewings]

I understand that it is almost impossible to get doctors/social services/courts to force adults to get help for mental health issues. I just have a hard time believing that the parents didn’t have any avenues to get Lacey help, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, if her condition made her almost catatonic. The fact that they’re basically said and acted as if they lost all hope in being able to get her better is ridiculous. There was still hope - she was clearly still eating and drinking enough to keep her alive for several years. There was some kind of survival instinct inside of her.

I’ve been thinking of what I would do if I truly didn’t have any option to get my child intense, rehabilitative help or if they were so combative/uncooperative that they refused to move off of a sofa. Obviously after doing everything I could to do that - including going to the news, staging protests, screaming from the top of my lungs that my daughter wouldn’t even move off of the sofa and no one would help her. I think I would’ve, at the very least, gotten some kind of sleep aid at the the store that I could crush into her food or drink (since she was still eating and drinking). At least then she would be pliant enough that I could move her off of the sofa daily and clean her up, clean off a plastic sheet that was under her, brush her hair, etc. I’m sure that’s illegal and maybe immoral to some, but for me as a parent, the cliche that desperate times call for desperate measures would absolutely apply in this situation.

You are thinking like a normal caring person: What you suggest you would do would be actions that would be taken by normal parents who cared about their child. Those so-called parents IMO are not normal caring parents. Who knows what motivated them to allow Lacey to lay on a couch and fuse with it for 12 years, watching her suffer. That takes a special kind of abnormal set of parents. They need to pay for what they did. I hope they don't get a slap on the wrist----

You make a good point: they took away her dignity as well as her life.

 

[ilovewings]

Louisiana parents charged in daughter's death get new trial date

SLAUGHTER, La. (BRPROUD) — The trial date for a husband and wife charged with the murder of their 36-year-old daughter who was found dead on a couch has been moved to June. The trial for Clay…

www.brproud.com

Don't know if you all are aware of the trial date: 6/19/23-

Their defense: they had medical conditions that hindered their ability to care for their daughter.
Did they have a mental condition that hindered their ability to make some phone calls to get her help?

 

[evilwise]

Parents Indicted On Murder Charges After Disabled Daughter Was Found Fused Into Couch For 12 Years
After Fletcher was discovered, Dr. Bickham was brought in and he described the experience, saying, “When I first walked in the house, it smelled of feces, fecal material, however you want to put that politely, it stunk, and when I got to the body, the individual was basically sitting in a hole, filled with liquid stool and urine.”
The scene was so horrid that even the coroner, a person whose job it is to look and deal with dead bodies, was severely affected by the state that he found Fletcher in, “I couldn't eat for a week, and I cried for a week.”

Dr. Bickham, the coroner, states she had been sitting in that hole for at least 12 years. I have never heard about them leaving food for her. But her mother said they just let her go to the bathroom where she was because she preferred that. The mother claims she cleaned her wounds I'm sorry evilwise, but I do not care what they are charged with. They are guilty, guilty, guilty and should have life in prison. Why did they not seek help for her? How did they see this ending? She was FUSED TO THE DAMN SOFA!

With all due respect I think that the media circus surrounding this tragedy is a result of, in the current virtue signaling cancel culture, the coroner stepping far beyond the duties of her job to make emotionally charged statements and speculate on data that I don't just believe is beyond her ability to determine through medical examination but that is demonstrably impossible. If this goes to trial and the parents can afford good representation the defense attorneys are going to rip Dr Bickham to shreds.

Again, I do believe Lacey's parents failed her and society needs something to be done about it but this is not how Justice is meant to work.

 

[TheLoadedGoat]

With all due respect I think that the media circus surrounding this tragedy is a result of, in the current virtue signaling cancel culture, the coroner stepping far beyond the duties of her job to make emotionally charged statements and speculate on data that I don't just believe is beyond her ability to determine through medical examination but that is demonstrably impossible. If this goes to trial and the parents can afford good representation the defense attorneys are going to rip Dr Bickham to shreds.

Again, I do believe Lacey's parents failed her and society needs something to be done about it but this is not how Justice is meant to work.

I do agree to some extent, however this situation is so ridiculous that I cannot fault Dr. Bickham for their emotion. This is unconscionable and unfathomable and no one was prepared in the least for what they found. What is even more confounding is that two parents are involved. Two people participated in this. At some point, one of them surely thought that the situation was getting out of control and they needed to take action, but perhaps were talked out of it. Evilwise, I do respect your thoughts on how justice should be served, but I am not sure our system was prepared for this treatment of a human being by another entrusted to their care. I truly cannot believe this will go to trial. There is no defense. Whatever they think they can hit Dr. Bickham with will be overshadowed by everything the parents failed to do. JMO

 

[ilovewings]

I do agree to some extent, however this situation is so ridiculous that I cannot fault Dr. Bickham for their emotion. This is unconscionable and unfathomable and no one was prepared in the least for what they found. What is even more confounding is that two parents are involved. Two people participated in this. At some point, one of them surely thought that the situation was getting out of control and they needed to take action, but perhaps were talked out of it. Evilwise, I do respect your thoughts on how justice should be served, but I am not sure our system was prepared for this treatment of a human being by another entrusted to their care. I truly cannot believe this will go to trial. There is no defense. Whatever they think they can hit Dr. Bickham with will be overshadowed by everything the parents failed to do. JMO

Totally agree--- My guess is that Dr. Bickham was unprepared for what he came upon and will never get over what he experienced.

 

[ChatteringBirds]

If this goes to trial and the parents can afford good representation the defense attorneys are going to rip Dr Bickham to shreds.

What did he say that you think they would "rip to shreds?"

 

[UrsulaWrenn]

I haven't followed this story at all, but watched a short video about it a couple of days ago that left me with questions.

I'll try to read the thread in the next few days, but in the meantime if someone could just summarize a couple of points, I would appreciate it.

1) Do we know if she sat there (initially) because she had a physical problem that made it difficult or impossible to get up, or because she had a mental health issue like OCD or an anxiety disorder?

2) Could Lacey talk?

If she could talk surely she would've told her parents the problem she was having and asked them to take her to a doctor? At the very least sitting there with bedsores to the bone had to hurt, and I can't imagine she would not have said so -loudly and often.

If she could not talk, how did she eat and drink?
She apparently sat there for years, so she must have been able to at least drink something. I can speculate they gave her some kind of liquid meals, but would they have sustained her for so long?

 

[Shamrock1]

I haven't followed this story at all, but watched a short video about it a couple of days ago that left me with questions.

I'll try to read the thread in the next few days, but in the meantime if someone could just summarize a couple of points, I would appreciate it.

1) Do we know if she sat there (initially) because she had a physical problem that made it difficult or impossible to get up, or because she had a mental health issue like OCD or an anxiety disorder?

2) Could Lacey talk?

If she could talk surely she would've told her parents the problem she was having and asked them to take her to a doctor? At the very least sitting there with bedsores to the bone had to hurt, and I can't imagine she would not have said so -loudly and often.

If she could not talk, how did she eat and drink?
She apparently sat there for years, so she must have been able to at least drink something. I can speculate they gave her some kind of liquid meals, but would they have sustained her for so long?

The mother told LE that her last meal was half a sandwich and Cheetos.

Lacey was obviously sedentary for many years and weighed 96lbs when found. A sandwich and chips would likely suffice for survival.

I don’t believe there’s been anything verified as to a diagnosis. The parents told LE she had anxiety and was autistic. Early on, there were some classmates who mentioned anxiety in her early teens. The neighbor stated he assumed Lacey had moved out years ago; it doesn’t sound like anyone saw/heard her (and I’ve seen nothing about her emailing/phoning anyone).

After 'horrific' death at home, parents of Louisiana woman may soon face murder charges | Crime/Police | nola.com

 

[UrsulaWrenn]

Thanks, Shamrock1.

If she ate a sandwich and Cheetos, I cannot believe she was unable to communicate well enough to say "Help".

I can understand a little better (but not much better) if they asked "Do you want to go to the hospital?" and she said "No".

It seems to me the next step for any caring parent would be to seek outside help right away. Even if they just called the local hospital and spoke to a duty nurse, I think they would've learned help was available and probably received a list of people to call.

 

[TheLoadedGoat]

Thanks, Shamrock1.

If she ate a sandwich and Cheetos, I cannot believe she was unable to communicate well enough to say "Help".

I can understand a little better (but not much better) if they asked "Do you want to go to the hospital?" and she said "No".

It seems to me the next step for any caring parent would be to seek outside help right away. Even if they just called the local hospital and spoke to a duty nurse, I think they would've learned help was available and probably received a list of people to call.

Welcome UrsulaWrenn! There have been a few of us trying to keep this case alive and in the forefront of peoples'
minds although the defendants and family are not saying a word. I am sure in hopes that Lacey will be forgotten. But you will see that while we disagree about the charges, we all put all the blame squarely on the parents. There is NO, NONE, NADA, ZIP, ZILCH reason for Lacey to have been left to rot to death, which is what her parents allowed to happen. It does not matter AT ALL what Lacey's abilities, or disabilities were, whether she could speak or not. Whether her mind was sound or not. If a blind person that could not communicate was found in her condition in a bed, anyone could see the neglect. But because she was sitting upright, people somehow think she had more agency. And maybe by keeping her there in that position, on the couch, made them rationalize that "it isn't so bad." But the first responders have all been deeply affected by this case. These people both worked fulltime jobs in the public eye. These people had resources. They were not poor and overstressed with too many kids that she was overlooked. She was their only child. Lacey wasn't a forgotten 80-year-old gramma that lived alone and did not have regular contact or access to the outside world. Her access to help was Clay and Sheila Fletcher and they did NOTHING...for 12 years or more. They are crazy to take this to trial. Can you imagine the parade of first responders, including the coroner who could not eat for a week (and he has seen some bad stuff) testifying about her having "insects all over her body and was covered in feces from head to toe." There is no defense. There is nothing that can make this make sense. You make your kids brush their teeth because you know the consequences of them not brushing their teeth. WHATEVER Lacey did or did not do or say, the parents failed to get her help at the beginning of this tragedy. And then failed her every single day as they fed her, walked past her, gave her something to drink. This case speaks to failing the most vulnerable among us. If those people who were solely entrusted with her care could do this, what hope is there for the rest of us?

 

[tlcya]

Louisiana parents charged in daughter's death get new trial date

SLAUGHTER, La. (BRPROUD) — The trial date for a husband and wife charged with the murder of their 36-year-old daughter who was found dead on a couch has been moved to June. The trial for Clay…

www.brproud.com

Don't know if you all are aware of the trial date: 6/19/23-

Their defense: they had medical conditions that hindered their ability to care for their daughter.
Did they have a mental condition that hindered their ability to make some phone calls to get her help?

medical conditions that did not interfere with Sheila holding the position of alderwoman in the town, or him from sitting on the board of a non-profit devoted to making sure people don't forget the sacrifices of the civil war, or travel (taking a weekend trip the weekend Lacey died in her own filth). Got it (insert HUGE eyeroll)

 

[tlcya]

this girl last saw a dr. when she was sixteen years old. So, even if anyone buys that whole "couldn't make her get off the couch couldn't force her to see a Dr." bullcrap what was their excuse for the two years between age 16 and 18?

 

[UrsulaWrenn]

Welcome UrsulaWrenn! There have been a few of us trying to keep this case alive and in the forefront of peoples' (snipped for brevity)
If those people who were solely entrusted with her care could do this, what hope is there for the rest of us?

I agree. I just wanted to establish that my perceptions were correct -she was, somehow, eating and drinking. She was probably able to talk; so what were they doing to keep her from reaching out for help -or even just screaming until someone insisted on knowing what was going on?

She wasn't being fed through a tube and forgotten in a back room by her family. Mind, that would not have been any better, but might've been a little bit more understandable. As it is, I can't fathom what was going through their heads? What was the motivation behind this years-long torture campaign?

 

[SusanDonim]

"...virtue signaling cancel culture..."

What on earth does this (whatever it means) have to do with this tragedy?!?

 

[ilovewings]

Welcome UrsulaWrenn! There have been a few of us trying to keep this case alive and in the forefront of peoples'
minds although the defendants and family are not saying a word. I am sure in hopes that Lacey will be forgotten. But you will see that while we disagree about the charges, we all put all the blame squarely on the parents. There is NO, NONE, NADA, ZIP, ZILCH reason for Lacey to have been left to rot to death, which is what her parents allowed to happen. It does not matter AT ALL what Lacey's abilities, or disabilities were, whether she could speak or not. Whether her mind was sound or not. If a blind person that could not communicate was found in her condition in a bed, anyone could see the neglect. But because she was sitting upright, people somehow think she had more agency. And maybe by keeping her there in that position, on the couch, made them rationalize that "it isn't so bad." But the first responders have all been deeply affected by this case. These people both worked fulltime jobs in the public eye. These people had resources. They were not poor and overstressed with too many kids that she was overlooked. She was their only child. Lacey wasn't a forgotten 80-year-old gramma that lived alone and did not have regular contact or access to the outside world. Her access to help was Clay and Sheila Fletcher and they did NOTHING...for 12 years or more. They are crazy to take this to trial. Can you imagine the parade of first responders, including the coroner who could not eat for a week (and he has seen some bad stuff) testifying about her having "insects all over her body and was covered in feces from head to toe." There is no defense. There is nothing that can make this make sense. You make your kids brush their teeth because you know the consequences of them not brushing their teeth. WHATEVER Lacey did or did not do or say, the parents failed to get her help at the beginning of this tragedy. And then failed her every single day as they fed her, walked past her, gave her something to drink. This case speaks to failing the most vulnerable among us. If those people who were solely entrusted with her care could do this, what hope is there for the rest of us?

Well said and so true!

 

[evilwise]

What on earth does this (whatever it means) have to do with this tragedy?!?

When everyone in the world is either a completely innocent victim or a completely responsible victimizer it becomes impossible to understand the real reasons that tragedies like this and many others occur.