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

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One article I read, can't recall where, said the parents brought her food. If she's has locked-in syndrome would she have been able to eat?

Also I believe I read that the rest of the home was tidy except for the living room and odor. I am like the rest of you all, wondering about extended family, surely she had a grand parent, aunt, uncle, cousin, someone that knew she existed besides her parents.
 
As an autistic adult who has suffered serious mental health issues, this breaks my heart. If you live in a house with someone they can see the symptoms, they can see you starting to not move from the sofa and they have a responsibility to support and access help for her. Horrific.
 
bestill said:
One article I read, can't recall where, said the parents brought her food. If she's has locked-in syndrome would she have been able to eat?

Also I believe I read that the rest of the home was tidy except for the living room and odor. I am like the rest of you all, wondering about extended family, surely she had a grand parent, aunt, uncle, cousin, someone that knew she existed besides her parents.
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I believe those with LIS must be tube-fed; they are unable to feed themselves. Locked In Syndrome - NORD (National Organization for Rare Disorders)
 
After 'horrific' death at home, parents of Louisiana woman may soon face murder charges

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.
(…)
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.
(…)
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.
 
dotr said:
This film provides excellent insight into'' locked in syndrome'' fwiw..
(16) The Diving Bell and the Butterfly | Official Trailer (HD) - Mathieu Amalric, Max von Sydow | MIRAMAX - YouTube
''The true story of Elle editor Jean-Dominique Bauby who suffered a stroke in 1995 that rendered him mute and almost completely paralyzed this adaptation is from Bauby's autobiography, which he dictated by blinking his left eye.''
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this is such an amazing and heartbreaking movie!
 
BayouBelle_LA said:
After 'horrific' death at home, parents of Louisiana woman may soon face murder charges

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.
(…)
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.
(…)
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.
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couple things...
-despite what DailyMail reported, her history does NOT sound like locked in syndrome, it sounds purely psychiatric, based on what parents are saying here. Especially when they say "seeking a commitment order". Perhaps family mentioned that she was 'locked in' in reference to severe catatonia and the press misinterpreted that as the physical medical diagnosis.
-the description of her diet on jan 2nd also doesnt match w LIS. I don't believe those w LIS are always tubefed because sufferers may improve and get some jaw/esophageal control back, but I'm guessing theyd be eating minced foods or small pieces, not a samwich.
-the coroner believed she'd been on the couch for as long as 12 years (based on idk?? maybe info from family?), and she apparently saw a doctor in 2010. What happened in 2010, why did she stop attending?
-She saw Lacey alive at 10pm, and awoke the next morning in the living room (is this woman completely noseblind?) to find her dead. But Lacey had been dead for 24-48hrs when PD showed up? Did they wait a whole day to call? I'm calling BS on the 'passing overnight' story.
 
I just don’t know what to say. At what point did these monsters decide to stop taking care of their daughter?

Two of my children are young adults with special needs and live with me. My hope for them is that they will be self sufficient and able to live on their own (probably with a roommate, maybe together).

I just don’t get how they decided (together???) that this was okay. Let’s say I went off my rocker and something like this started to happen. My husband would be like what the heck. He certainly wouldn’t ignore our children, leaving them to die on the couch, while leading a normal life outside the house. They decided this together. And I still don’t understand how the human mind works (or maybe doesn’t work).
 
How could you sit there and feed someone with poop on their face and maggots in their hair and be oblivious? And how did this poor woman even have the desire to eat with infected bedsores down to the bone and insects biting her? The last half of her life was pure torment.
 
Sounds to me like a case of not just neglect but also perhaps active abuse. Parents pulled her out of school at age 14 and completely isolated her from that point on. Sounds like she may have experienced some severe trauma that triggered the "severe social anxiety," perhaps in the form of domestic abuse by her parents. I wouldn't believe a word those horrible parents are saying. No trial needed; just put these people in prison for life.
 
ChatteringBirds said:
If there is a trial (as opposed to a less-just plea deal), the details should come to light, hopefully the full truth of what they did won't stay hidden, what they did will truly be heard and known.
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I hope that would be the case, but how? It appears no one knew anything about their daughter. Their parents (victim's grandparents) are probably deceased. It seems they knew what they were doing; they knew it was wrong and should be kept hidden.
 
scriabina said:
No trial needed; just put these people in prison for life.
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I totally understand. I hear these feelings expressed often in cases like these, so this isn’t singling you out. I always hope it’s just hyperbole. :) We all know that a trial is needed. But we sometimes forget when faced with a horrible crime, that a trial is a crucial part of our justice system. A trial is about facts and law, not emotions. I know Lacey’s manner of life and death breaks our hearts, and I’m sure comments like this come from that tender place and from the anger we all feel. Although our system of justice is imperfect, abandoning it just puts us back to the time of the Salem Witch Trials or makes us like the Taliban. A fair trial is a fundamental human right that benefits all of us and maintains the rule of law.

End of civics review. :)

That being said, it’s hard to imagine what defense these parents can offer, and I will be very interested in the trial, assuming they don’t end up with a plea deal. Even if they plead guilty, that usually includes the facts being laid out publicly in detail.
 
scriabina said:
Sounds to me like a case of not just neglect but also perhaps active abuse. Parents pulled her out of school at age 14 and completely isolated her from that point on. Sounds like she may have experienced some severe trauma that triggered the "severe social anxiety," perhaps in the form of domestic abuse by her parents. I wouldn't believe a word those horrible parents are saying. No trial needed; just put these people in prison for life.
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Exactly. All of this.
 
helpfulcharlie said:
I know someone in a family hoarder situation where the elder family member ended up bedridden and in decline, and the remaining family members did not have the capacity to administer proper care for a bedridden person, which may have been a contributing factor to the elder's eventual death. Fear of authorities seeing the living conditions and losing their home, etc. Hoarding is often a spiral situation. It's difficult to ask for help once it reaches a certain threshold.

I wonder if such a situation evolved here.
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I saw a mention that the rest of the house was well-maintained (but I don't know if that was outside, inside, or both).

I have similar thoughts to yours. While not "hoarding" per se, something about this case very much reminds me of a hoarding mindset (which is a classified mental illness).
Table 3.29, DSM-5 Hoarding Disorder - Impact of the DSM-IV to DSM-5 Changes on the National Survey on Drug Use and Health - NCBI Bookshelf

I am not defending the parents. I am trying to understand what happened.

MOO.
 
I totally agree with @bombardier. Usually LIS occurs abruptly (at least in the cases I've seen) as the result of trauma or stroke. This would have required lengthy hospitalization and rehab, with subsequent long-term case management and social security disability. The small community would be aware that the family had experienced a health crisis, as they would have inevitably known local health care personnel and other involved parties. Usually there is some kind of community fund-raiser or news of the locals coming together to help. This was completely silent.

If Lacey were mentally ill and progressed to catatonia (which I actually saw once during my career - it was fascinating to witness) it would have been easy for her to have fallen off of the radar. The whole thing is completely bizarre. If she progressed as far as to become catatonic, it would not have been difficult to have her involuntarily hospitalized for as long as necessary. It's kind of like the Fletchers just threw up their hands and said "oh well, she can just sit on the couch." Unfathomable.
 
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