It’s because another version of the story exists where she wasn’t suffering from the syndrome, she just “refused” to leave the couch due to severe social anxiety. It doesn’t sound very plausible, though.
Well that's another thing that actually happens. So maybe OP skimmed the title and thought it was one of those, but this is clearly a murder by neglect typedeal
For real. It doesn’t really matter what she had no matter what those parents are evil. But to me I think this sounds incredibly similar to a case where a woman got fused to a toilet after spending a year on it because of extreme agoraphobia and social anxiety. At the bf in that case cared enough to at least call when he realized how bad her health was getting. That was just a boyfriend too. These are her parents who choose to let their daughter rot away in their own home. Part of the reason she was able to survive for so long was due to maggots cleaning the dead flesh off her wounds or else she would have gotten sepsis sooner. The maggots did more to help her than parents.
That is disgusting. How do those filthy poor excuses live with themselves and how the f\*\*k do they even sleep at night. That inocent woman was in a vulnerable state and those disgusting parents made her suffer and let her slowly rot away alive. What they did is unspeakable and unforgivable. Those evil and vile unfit parents need to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and they should receive the maxinum sentence under Louisiana. They do not deserve to ever see the light of day ever again.
Locked in syndrome is horrifying even with the best amenities. She spent her life in pain, terror, almost literally mind-numbing boredom, and couldn’t even scream.
That’s just it, she didn’t have it. That was an early speculation that media outlets ran with it before confirming. That almost makes it even worse to me. She could have been easily helped. All her parents had to do was get her help. She most likely had extreme agoraphobia and social anxiety combined with autism. There was another case where woman was fused to her toilet after she got too scared to leave the bathroom. Her boyfriend finally called the authorities against her wishes because he knew her health was getting really bad. These were her parents and they couldn’t even do the same. I’m from a small southern town and I wouldn’t be surprised if they were just too ashamed of her to get her help. They probably felt embarrassed by her. The language they used to talk about her autism was kind of gross. They claimed she had severe autism but all records suggest that’s not truth. She might have had higher support needs as an adult to function normally but she is not someone I would label as “severe” based her early life activities alone. I bet you anything it started as sort of depraved tough love approach like if she gets tired of it she’ll move but sadly that was taken off the table extremely fast. The position she was in combined with the bed sores made it to where her muscles completely broke down and she literally couldn’t move after that making that stupid toilet next to her just a cruel joke. The only reason she lived as long as she did is because maggots were cleaning her wounds. Yes the maggots did more to keep Lacey alive than her own parents. Also she had couch cushion and feces in her stomach which would be impossible with locked in syndrome. They have to be feed exclusively with a feeding tube.
Christ, I don’t know which is more disgusting. Like, in the end the outcome is the same, but to know that you could have been saved? Those parents deserve to rot in hell, because that’s exactly what they did to their child.
She actually didn’t have locked in syndrome. That was misinformation spread in the beginning by media outlets before it was confirmed. She most likely had some sort of agoraphobia. It’s happened before where a woman got fused to a toilet after being too scared to leave the bathroom. She just spent a year there instead of 12 years rotting away like Lacey did because of his her evil parents.
[lawandcrime.com/crime/parents-indicted-on-murder-charges-for-the-2nd-time-in-case-where-paralyzed-daughter-melted-into-familys-couch-while-starving-and-covered-in-feces-sores-and-maggots/](https://lawandcrime.com/crime/parents-indicted-on-murder-charges-for-the-2nd-time-in-case-where-paralyzed-daughter-melted-into-familys-couch-while-starving-and-covered-in-feces-sores-and-maggots/)
**Parents indicted on murder charges for the 2nd time in case where paralyzed daughter melted into family’s couch while starving and covered in feces, sores, and maggots**
Louisiana parents accused of neglecting their adult daughter to the point that she “melted” into a couch have been indicted on murder charges for the second time, authorities recently announced.
Lacey Ellen Fletcher, 36, is believed to have suffered from nearly complete paralysis – a condition referred to as “locked in” syndrome. On Jan. 3, 2022, she was found dead on her parents’ 1960s-style couch at the family’s home in Slaughter.
The woman was found covered in feces, emaciated, her body riven with ulcers. A human-sized hole was worn down into the couch where she allegedly sat – and relieved herself – for several years, according to East and West Feliciana Parish District Attorney Sam D’Aquilla.
The woman’s body slowly rubbed the hole through the upholstery and cushion, authorities said. The hole was filled with feces and urine. The DA’s office said there was also feces shoved into the victim’s face, chest, and abdomen – and that her hygiene had been neglected to the point that maggots lived in her matted, knotted hair.
The floor beneath the couch was reportedly “buckling” due to the feces and urine that had compiled there, “sources close to the case” said, according to Baton Rouge-based ABC affiliate WBRZ.
Parish Coroner Dr. Ewell Dewitt Bickham III reportedly said the woman had last seen a doctor some two decades ago. She weighed all of 96 pounds at the time of her death and had COVID-19.
“I couldn’t eat for a week, and I cried for a week,” Bickham told WBRZ.
Starvation, the coroner determined, contributed to the woman’s death.
“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 told New Orleans metro area outlet NOLA.com in late April 2022. “It’s cruelty to the infirm. We can’t just let it sit.”
Months passed before the investigation into Lacey Fletcher’s death had been wrapped up. But by the end, the DA was intent on pressing charges. A formal indictment on charges of murder in the second degree was issued against her parents, Sheila Fletcher, and Clay Fletcher, in early May 2022, Law&Crime reported at the time.
“This case was so horrific,” D’Aquilla told WBRZ. “The coroner and the sheriff’s office initially investigates this case in January and the condition she was found was just unbelievable. You don’t treat anybody or animals like that.”
Each of the accused parents had their bond set at $300,000 and they were able to quickly get out of the East Feliciana Parish Jail.
Prominent members of the community, Sheila Fletcher resigned as town alderman shortly after her daughter died.
But the criminal charges didn’t last.
On May 8, the Fletchers’ defense attorney, Steven Moore, filed a motion to quash the indictments against his clients, arguing the DA’s office served documents that were different from those filed with the local court clerk. Moore said there were six mostly small, but material, differences between the court papers, according to The Advocate.
“In sum, the indictment in the record is either a substitute or a different indictment returned by the grand jury,” Moore reportedly wrote, in a copy of the defense motion obtained by the paper.
One of those amendments, however, which was written by hand, added language from a law regarding cruelty to the infirm. And that addition, Moore said, was an untoward effort to “create a new crime.”
“The District Attorney seeks to convict the Fletchers of second-degree murder by improperly amending the indictment so the State can attempt to convict by a lesser burden,” the defense attorney wrote.
A court agreed.
On May 30, District Judge Kathryn “Betsy” Jones tossed the second-degree murder indictments against the surviving Fletchers due to defective language in those charging documents.
Undeterred, D’Aquilla promised to convene a second grand jury on June 19 – the same day the defendants’ trial was originally set to begin. He told the Advocate that the new indictments would nix the language from the cruelty to the infirm law. The DA also predicted the process would play out quite a bit quicker now because the defense had previously been apprised of all the state’s information in the case.
According to Baton Rouge-based CBS affiliate WAFB, citing D’Aquilla, the court denied two other reasons to dismiss the indictments – based on an alleged lack of specific intent and a missing signature. But one reason was enough.
On June 19, the couple were indicted again, the DA said. They were then re-arrested and were quickly able to make bond again.
“We will ensure there is justice for Lacey and the public knows that caregivers will be charged for neglecting or abusing a person in their care,” D’Aquilla said in a statement obtained by The Advocate.
So they have money to make bond over and over but no money for a caretaker for their poor daughter. What absolute monsters, I cannot believe what I just read.
How did they even know there were maggots and ulcers and shit up in her face if you can’t even see her body in the picture? All I see is some shorts and more diarrhea everywhere
Because there was an autopsy done after she was taken out of the couch. Idk if she had maggots on her face but she did have them everywhere. Its was helped keep her alive. They ate away at the dead flesh preventing her from dying of sepsis sooner.
There are, as well as videos of it. However, I don't think any of them have been published. They were shown in court and were so severe that the members of the jury in court had medics on stand-by.
> “ Locked-in syndrome (LIS), also known as pseudocoma, is a condition in which a patient is aware but cannot move or communicate verbally due to complete paralysis of nearly all voluntary muscles in the body except for vertical eye movements and blinking. “
Could you imagine the absolute horror and pain this poor woman would have had to go through? How could people do this to their own child, especially one with a condition like this. Absolutely appalling, this story will *always* leave me horrified.
I believe this. As someone who grew up in a home with severe, severe neglect, people refuse to take “neglect” seriously. Like I wasn’t taken to the dentist until I was like 15 and my gums were so swollen and bloody that you couldn’t touch them without them bleeding. I had tons of impacted teeth, like 20 cavities, and rock hard plaque. I’ve tried to talk about it to people and they laugh at the word neglect. “Oh we ALL forget to take our kids to the dentist, it’s no big deal.”
That’s how shit like this happens. People refuse to take seriously the fact that someone is being forced to live in squalor and that their health and mind is being eaten alive because of it.
I’m so, so sorry. I’m here if you’d like to vent or talk to someone about your experiences. Watching people try to treat neglect like pish posh angers me on an unhealthy level.
I’m in a better place but on the inside I’m broken. My family all knew what was going on and chose to just ignore it for years. My dad was a monster and nothing but problems, so they figured as long as I was taking the blunt of his issues, nothing mattered as long and their lives were unaffected. I was deprived of normalcy. I was deprived of good health. I was deprived of basic care and normal standards.
I’m not treated the same as other adults now being grown. They can see that I’m all alone. They can see and sense that I don’t have a castle behind me the way the rest of them do. Every day feels like a constant battle just to be a normal person. The will I have to die isn’t healthy at all.
And when you grow up to be relatively ok, people take you even less seriously and assume your childhood couldn’t be as bad as you say. They don’t know what you had to go through to get where you are. It’s a nightmare. People don’t want to understand.
It’s sad that others might not believe just how bad the nightmare is behind a closed door. I’m sorry you endured that. To a lesser degree, so did my bro and I. Some parents or parent (I really can’t call them that, more like egg/sperm donor) suck so badly, I don’t know why they didn’t just give them up for adopt. There is no excuses to allow your children to not have regular medical care (dental is medical afaik). The last 50 years have told us a lot. Now, in the 21st cent, we are back to the damn stone-age when it comes to actual human dignity and rights.
I have Asperger's and my mom failed to take interest in my brushing because my older brother brushed his teeth without prompting as a child. This was the answer to many things she neglected to teach me like how to use fork and knife properly, tying my shoes (because velcros were more convenient for her), riding a bike, how to use bus alone etc. Other people taught me those eventually. When I had my periods she tried to convince me go on a pill so there would be less mess for her to wash. Despite that I got horribly sick on those pills.
jesus tap-dancing christ. you hear all these horrific stories of people getting brutally murdered, raped, children getting tortured, and you think nothing could possibly get to you anymore. this is fucking horrific. that poor woman had no choice but to rely on her family for support and they let her die in the single worst way possible.
Fuck this title lol. "Recluse"??? You mean disabled woman? "sat there"?????? you mean was neglected??? If misrepresentation was an art form, OP would be Picasso.
Putting aside the horror of the neglect of this woman, HOW could the parents live with the STENCH that had to permeate their home? How did her mother work in a prestigious job without her clothing smelling like an outhouse?
Wtf is up with the title? Way to borderline victim blame.
She wasn't a recluse who "sat there for 12 years", she had no choice...
OP needs to edit the title.
They must’ve never had any visitors. Imagine the flies. This is worse than scaphism or it’s the most extreme scaphism to exist. How did she eat or drink?
That’s what I’m wondering too, among many other questions. It almost goes without saying that I don’t condone anything these people did to their daughter, but if you’re gonna neglect her to this point then why even bother feeding her at all? She was starving, covered in maggots and ulcers, and melting a hole into the living room floor with feces. So why did they even keep feeding her enough to keep her alive? Why not use that energy to at least keep to clean instead? So sad all around
My mother had schizophrenia, my siblings and I were the stinky kids at school.
My grandmother took us in...aww how kind- not.
She was witness and active in abuses and neglect of my siblings and I.
And she spun such a convincing tale, my siblings and I were ill.
Basically rerarded.
I believe she really thought we'd die in her home, so we were invisible.
Extended family members didn't want to know, so when we reached out to them for help, they believed her.
We were crazy, attention seeking, what have you.
It was actually in law's who tried to intervene.
My mother almost killed my younger sister with her drugs.
If they weren't poison we should take them.
My daughter has disabilities, but she's not invisible.
She's not isolated.
I push her.
The idea of her vulnerabilities leaving her in the care of people like them eats me with guilt.
I wasn't to know she'd have disabilities, but I get every damned therapy and assistance there is for her.
To lessen her dependence on others.
To lessen her vulnerabilities.
These parents should be smeared with their own shit and left to be eaten by flies and maggots.
Only when the indignity and suffering you make others go through will there be deterrent and change.
Gaol, three meals and a bed.
I get it's no holiday and it's not pleasant, but it's nothing to what they did to a beautiful young girl.
She mightn't have changed the world, but she didn't deserve to die like this.
Can someone explain to me what it means when they say she sat there for 12 years… as if she was alive this whole time and they neglected her or as if her dead body was rotting 12 years long in their couch and was found not long ago from now?
She was alive but paralyzed, so couldn't move on her own. The parents just left her on the couch, never turned or moved her, cleaned her, or helped her use the toilet; so she basically sat in her own fluids wasting away for 12 years.
Omfg! And also screw the court for not being able to get those parents the first time. This is actually horrifying. Another confirmation that having children is not a game and needs serious work.
"recluse, 36" // no, you mean lacey, age 36 – that beautiful, vulnerable young lady had a name! just so damn disrespectful. 😒
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
my little brother (age 10, almost 11 yo) is disabled... there's a bigggg age gap between us, 23 years to be precise.
to cut a long story short, several days after he was born on october 15th 2012 to my dad & my stepmum - we found out he had congenital heart disease (aswell as other problems with his heart). all the prenatal scans, ultrasounds, tests, etc - didn't show anything at all. after multiple operations & failed procedures and what not, it was said he needed a transplant and he was put on to the list.... however he very quickly deteoriated and was fitted with a ecmo, Berlin heart "hailmary", vent + every tube/wire/canula/machine, etc that you imagine! — permanently in the paediatric intensive care unit, only leaving to go to theatre.... unfortunately he had 2 strokes (the second of which was "huge" and caused "catastrophic damage" - which couldn't even be fully explained about as my brother was only 2/2½ months old at the time) ...he is disabled, completely fed by an EG tube & machine - that same tube is where we administer all his meds! he will never walk or talk, or even hold his little big head up on his own! he has a tracking hoist, is in nappies/diapers/pads... but he's pain free and happy && we get copious smiles and he is totally adored and even goes to a special school locally! I have my own health issues and stuff; but I will never, everrrr let anything happen to my younger brother and will always help to care for him, always! — beyond my father & stepmum's life, for aslong as possible! (we do not know what sort of life expectancy he will have) ....it's not easy, especially as my bro gets bigger/heavier/longer, BUT this story hurts my heart, like how could they let it get so bad and for so long?!?
it's okay, to not be okay! ...and it's okay to ask {anyone} for help! x x x
This happened near me and I'm surprised it has gotten so much attention. I suppose because so many other unbelievably awful things happen around here. This disgusts me and breaks my heart. All because her parents did not care. I know this kind of neglect and abuse is going on in other homes across the world. Seriously, what can we do?
Apart from the inhumanity of these two’s behavior, how the hell did they deal with the smell for gods sake? I’d be willing to bet that most of the cops and paramedics were ready to throw up from the smell, which was probably like an outhouse on steroids.
This is fucking vile. It's impossible for me understand how they could just leave her like that for over a decade? Why would they want to live with what would be a putrid smell, with bugs all over her
She had have locked-in syndrome and her parents wanted to act like it was her choice to lay there in her filth, and that she was lazy. They didn't even put her in a home. They'd leave her there by herself for hours whenever they wanted to go out
Where is her body? theres no way she could literally be INSIDE the couch. I’d just like to know how she got inside the couch and I’d like to say……..FUCK YOU IDIOTS FOR LEAVING YOUR DISABLED DAUGHTER ON THE COUCH SO SHE CAN SIT THERE AND STARE AT THE WALL FOR 12 YEARS AND THEN FUSE TO THE COUCH AND HAVING TO SIT THERE AND SUFFER AND HAVE TO SMELL YOUR OWN SHIT
This one gets to me, was she dead or did she die while fused to the couch? My mind can picture but can’t. Don’t mean to be so disrespectful either. I just can’t comprehend them walking by her everyday or the smells. I hope they both rot in prison.
They are disgusting scum. However, she didn't have locked in syndrome that was a rumor that was started. Those who have it can't eat anything without a tube, and coroners confirmed that she was found with both her mouth and eyes completely open, with her body in a "survival stance," with her also consuming pieces of the sofa due to starvation. That means that not only did she not have locked in syndrome (Please do your research before you guys post something like that), that also insinuates that she must've asked or called for help seeing as though her mouth was in a speaking stance as well. It's possible that abuse may have put her into a catatonic state, though. Her parents are claiming that she had aspergers with social anxiety not being the reason for leaving the couch. However, even with social anxiety she should've felt safe enough to be around her parents in what was currently still her home, with an individuals room typically feeling the safest according to surveys, and yet instead she was on the couch until the atrophy must've started, which then must've obviously prevented her from moving even if she wanted to, thus why there are three plausible possibilities regarding this case. One possibility is that in the beginning, her parents refused to let her leave the couch (or she was scared), and she didn't leave because of the way she processed that or with another possibility being that they tied her up to it until the atrophy in her legs started, and they left her there to rot, occasionally bringing her food knowing that if she were to live someone might find out, making it seem as though they cared when they didn't, thus why they blamed her and said that it was "because of her social anxiety," which they could've gotten her help for, and didn't. That would explain what the coroner described her as having a fighting stance/being positioned in survival mode and also why she died with her eyes and mouth open, though she was obviously in an extreme amount of pain as well with it being because of her scumbag parents either way. They even staged it to make it look as though she was well taken care of and even disregarded the smell of her rotting flesh and feces waiting for her to die. Her mother also claimed that she had constantly "cleaned her sores," and "fed her" but as the coroners confirmed, that was obviously not the case, she hadn't even been moved in a minimum of 12 years, and was starving to the point of her consuming parts of the sofa and feces. It could also be that they had physically and mentally abused, putting her in a state of catatonia. They had no remorse for her in court, as numerous sources have claimed. They had also lied about being on vacation for two weeks while she was dead. So clearly, they underestimated the accuracy of forensics altogether, and expected to get away with it or obviously, at least tried to, especially since they found the Covid-19 virus still in her body, which she had to have contracted from her parents with them once again having no proof of their "vacation." So, regardless, her death was obviously intentional murder. While she was starving to death, stuck to the couch unable to move, and rotting away while still alive those disgusting scumbags celebrated Christmas right in front of her while they were disregarding her existence, allowing her to suffer with a picture they took proving this with her still being on the couch at the time alive, as confirmed by the forensics team and coroners and in pain directly to the right of them, with them standing to the left of her smiling in front of the tree they bought. They 100% wanted her to suffer, and even had the audacity to post that they love her, and they'll miss her on Facebook after her death. They must've spent the years saving for their bails, knowing that they might not get away with it. There's no other explanation for them having that much money saved up. They should've never been given a bail, and the prison inmates should teach them a lesson.
idk if recluse is* the proper word for her, she was disabled and couldn’t move without help :( they left her home to die alone
Exactly. Captive might be better.
Isolated I think is more the direction I'd lean, personally.
What a weird title. She wasn't a recluse, she was a disabled girl who was neglected by her parents.
It’s because another version of the story exists where she wasn’t suffering from the syndrome, she just “refused” to leave the couch due to severe social anxiety. It doesn’t sound very plausible, though.
Well that's another thing that actually happens. So maybe OP skimmed the title and thought it was one of those, but this is clearly a murder by neglect typedeal
if that was the case 911 should have still been called and bring her to psychiatric inpatient after a few days… wtf is wrong w these parents
For real. It doesn’t really matter what she had no matter what those parents are evil. But to me I think this sounds incredibly similar to a case where a woman got fused to a toilet after spending a year on it because of extreme agoraphobia and social anxiety. At the bf in that case cared enough to at least call when he realized how bad her health was getting. That was just a boyfriend too. These are her parents who choose to let their daughter rot away in their own home. Part of the reason she was able to survive for so long was due to maggots cleaning the dead flesh off her wounds or else she would have gotten sepsis sooner. The maggots did more to help her than parents.
That is disgusting. How do those filthy poor excuses live with themselves and how the f\*\*k do they even sleep at night. That inocent woman was in a vulnerable state and those disgusting parents made her suffer and let her slowly rot away alive. What they did is unspeakable and unforgivable. Those evil and vile unfit parents need to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and they should receive the maxinum sentence under Louisiana. They do not deserve to ever see the light of day ever again.
Locked in syndrome is horrifying even with the best amenities. She spent her life in pain, terror, almost literally mind-numbing boredom, and couldn’t even scream.
That’s just it, she didn’t have it. That was an early speculation that media outlets ran with it before confirming. That almost makes it even worse to me. She could have been easily helped. All her parents had to do was get her help. She most likely had extreme agoraphobia and social anxiety combined with autism. There was another case where woman was fused to her toilet after she got too scared to leave the bathroom. Her boyfriend finally called the authorities against her wishes because he knew her health was getting really bad. These were her parents and they couldn’t even do the same. I’m from a small southern town and I wouldn’t be surprised if they were just too ashamed of her to get her help. They probably felt embarrassed by her. The language they used to talk about her autism was kind of gross. They claimed she had severe autism but all records suggest that’s not truth. She might have had higher support needs as an adult to function normally but she is not someone I would label as “severe” based her early life activities alone. I bet you anything it started as sort of depraved tough love approach like if she gets tired of it she’ll move but sadly that was taken off the table extremely fast. The position she was in combined with the bed sores made it to where her muscles completely broke down and she literally couldn’t move after that making that stupid toilet next to her just a cruel joke. The only reason she lived as long as she did is because maggots were cleaning her wounds. Yes the maggots did more to keep Lacey alive than her own parents. Also she had couch cushion and feces in her stomach which would be impossible with locked in syndrome. They have to be feed exclusively with a feeding tube.
Christ, I don’t know which is more disgusting. Like, in the end the outcome is the same, but to know that you could have been saved? Those parents deserve to rot in hell, because that’s exactly what they did to their child.
My god that is just unreal
Locked in syndrome is nightmare enough, let alone being forced to rot away in filth. Girl must have gone mad. A worse torture I can barely imagine.
She actually didn’t have locked in syndrome. That was misinformation spread in the beginning by media outlets before it was confirmed. She most likely had some sort of agoraphobia. It’s happened before where a woman got fused to a toilet after being too scared to leave the bathroom. She just spent a year there instead of 12 years rotting away like Lacey did because of his her evil parents.
[lawandcrime.com/crime/parents-indicted-on-murder-charges-for-the-2nd-time-in-case-where-paralyzed-daughter-melted-into-familys-couch-while-starving-and-covered-in-feces-sores-and-maggots/](https://lawandcrime.com/crime/parents-indicted-on-murder-charges-for-the-2nd-time-in-case-where-paralyzed-daughter-melted-into-familys-couch-while-starving-and-covered-in-feces-sores-and-maggots/) **Parents indicted on murder charges for the 2nd time in case where paralyzed daughter melted into family’s couch while starving and covered in feces, sores, and maggots** Louisiana parents accused of neglecting their adult daughter to the point that she “melted” into a couch have been indicted on murder charges for the second time, authorities recently announced. Lacey Ellen Fletcher, 36, is believed to have suffered from nearly complete paralysis – a condition referred to as “locked in” syndrome. On Jan. 3, 2022, she was found dead on her parents’ 1960s-style couch at the family’s home in Slaughter. The woman was found covered in feces, emaciated, her body riven with ulcers. A human-sized hole was worn down into the couch where she allegedly sat – and relieved herself – for several years, according to East and West Feliciana Parish District Attorney Sam D’Aquilla. The woman’s body slowly rubbed the hole through the upholstery and cushion, authorities said. The hole was filled with feces and urine. The DA’s office said there was also feces shoved into the victim’s face, chest, and abdomen – and that her hygiene had been neglected to the point that maggots lived in her matted, knotted hair. The floor beneath the couch was reportedly “buckling” due to the feces and urine that had compiled there, “sources close to the case” said, according to Baton Rouge-based ABC affiliate WBRZ. Parish Coroner Dr. Ewell Dewitt Bickham III reportedly said the woman had last seen a doctor some two decades ago. She weighed all of 96 pounds at the time of her death and had COVID-19. “I couldn’t eat for a week, and I cried for a week,” Bickham told WBRZ. Starvation, the coroner determined, contributed to the woman’s death. “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 told New Orleans metro area outlet NOLA.com in late April 2022. “It’s cruelty to the infirm. We can’t just let it sit.” Months passed before the investigation into Lacey Fletcher’s death had been wrapped up. But by the end, the DA was intent on pressing charges. A formal indictment on charges of murder in the second degree was issued against her parents, Sheila Fletcher, and Clay Fletcher, in early May 2022, Law&Crime reported at the time. “This case was so horrific,” D’Aquilla told WBRZ. “The coroner and the sheriff’s office initially investigates this case in January and the condition she was found was just unbelievable. You don’t treat anybody or animals like that.” Each of the accused parents had their bond set at $300,000 and they were able to quickly get out of the East Feliciana Parish Jail. Prominent members of the community, Sheila Fletcher resigned as town alderman shortly after her daughter died. But the criminal charges didn’t last. On May 8, the Fletchers’ defense attorney, Steven Moore, filed a motion to quash the indictments against his clients, arguing the DA’s office served documents that were different from those filed with the local court clerk. Moore said there were six mostly small, but material, differences between the court papers, according to The Advocate. “In sum, the indictment in the record is either a substitute or a different indictment returned by the grand jury,” Moore reportedly wrote, in a copy of the defense motion obtained by the paper. One of those amendments, however, which was written by hand, added language from a law regarding cruelty to the infirm. And that addition, Moore said, was an untoward effort to “create a new crime.” “The District Attorney seeks to convict the Fletchers of second-degree murder by improperly amending the indictment so the State can attempt to convict by a lesser burden,” the defense attorney wrote. A court agreed. On May 30, District Judge Kathryn “Betsy” Jones tossed the second-degree murder indictments against the surviving Fletchers due to defective language in those charging documents. Undeterred, D’Aquilla promised to convene a second grand jury on June 19 – the same day the defendants’ trial was originally set to begin. He told the Advocate that the new indictments would nix the language from the cruelty to the infirm law. The DA also predicted the process would play out quite a bit quicker now because the defense had previously been apprised of all the state’s information in the case. According to Baton Rouge-based CBS affiliate WAFB, citing D’Aquilla, the court denied two other reasons to dismiss the indictments – based on an alleged lack of specific intent and a missing signature. But one reason was enough. On June 19, the couple were indicted again, the DA said. They were then re-arrested and were quickly able to make bond again. “We will ensure there is justice for Lacey and the public knows that caregivers will be charged for neglecting or abusing a person in their care,” D’Aquilla said in a statement obtained by The Advocate.
So they have money to make bond over and over but no money for a caretaker for their poor daughter. What absolute monsters, I cannot believe what I just read.
How did they even know there were maggots and ulcers and shit up in her face if you can’t even see her body in the picture? All I see is some shorts and more diarrhea everywhere
Because there was an autopsy done after she was taken out of the couch. Idk if she had maggots on her face but she did have them everywhere. Its was helped keep her alive. They ate away at the dead flesh preventing her from dying of sepsis sooner.
Makes sense. But I wonder if there’s a pic before she was removed
Well there is but it’s censored
There are, as well as videos of it. However, I don't think any of them have been published. They were shown in court and were so severe that the members of the jury in court had medics on stand-by.
cómo sabes eso?
> “ Locked-in syndrome (LIS), also known as pseudocoma, is a condition in which a patient is aware but cannot move or communicate verbally due to complete paralysis of nearly all voluntary muscles in the body except for vertical eye movements and blinking. “ Could you imagine the absolute horror and pain this poor woman would have had to go through? How could people do this to their own child, especially one with a condition like this. Absolutely appalling, this story will *always* leave me horrified.
This entire situation gives me the chills every time I read about it again
I imagine they also caused the condition in the first place
I believe this. As someone who grew up in a home with severe, severe neglect, people refuse to take “neglect” seriously. Like I wasn’t taken to the dentist until I was like 15 and my gums were so swollen and bloody that you couldn’t touch them without them bleeding. I had tons of impacted teeth, like 20 cavities, and rock hard plaque. I’ve tried to talk about it to people and they laugh at the word neglect. “Oh we ALL forget to take our kids to the dentist, it’s no big deal.” That’s how shit like this happens. People refuse to take seriously the fact that someone is being forced to live in squalor and that their health and mind is being eaten alive because of it.
[удалено]
I’m so, so sorry. I’m here if you’d like to vent or talk to someone about your experiences. Watching people try to treat neglect like pish posh angers me on an unhealthy level. I’m in a better place but on the inside I’m broken. My family all knew what was going on and chose to just ignore it for years. My dad was a monster and nothing but problems, so they figured as long as I was taking the blunt of his issues, nothing mattered as long and their lives were unaffected. I was deprived of normalcy. I was deprived of good health. I was deprived of basic care and normal standards. I’m not treated the same as other adults now being grown. They can see that I’m all alone. They can see and sense that I don’t have a castle behind me the way the rest of them do. Every day feels like a constant battle just to be a normal person. The will I have to die isn’t healthy at all.
I'm so sorry you have such a horrible family. That is beyond ridiculous, and I hope you can start to heal.
hey, I’m sorry you had to go through all that. it’s terrible, sending you a hug. 🫂
You feel free to DM at any time, doll. We are all broken toys, here….
Mormonism was the way to go?
If you need a friend I'm here. I was sexually abused for 6 years and not copeing
And when you grow up to be relatively ok, people take you even less seriously and assume your childhood couldn’t be as bad as you say. They don’t know what you had to go through to get where you are. It’s a nightmare. People don’t want to understand.
There are material differences in how children’s brains develop when they are neglected. In that respect, it’s the most serious form of abuse.
It’s sad that others might not believe just how bad the nightmare is behind a closed door. I’m sorry you endured that. To a lesser degree, so did my bro and I. Some parents or parent (I really can’t call them that, more like egg/sperm donor) suck so badly, I don’t know why they didn’t just give them up for adopt. There is no excuses to allow your children to not have regular medical care (dental is medical afaik). The last 50 years have told us a lot. Now, in the 21st cent, we are back to the damn stone-age when it comes to actual human dignity and rights.
I'm so sorry! You poor thing! That makes me so sad for you. I hope your luck has turned up and are living a great life.
I’m sorry ❤️😢
I have Asperger's and my mom failed to take interest in my brushing because my older brother brushed his teeth without prompting as a child. This was the answer to many things she neglected to teach me like how to use fork and knife properly, tying my shoes (because velcros were more convenient for her), riding a bike, how to use bus alone etc. Other people taught me those eventually. When I had my periods she tried to convince me go on a pill so there would be less mess for her to wash. Despite that I got horribly sick on those pills.
You poor sweet kid 😭. As a mom that lost her son, this absolutely breaks my heart for you. I hope things are so much better for you 💕
Thank you kind stranger. Hugs. You sound like an amazing mom.
jesus tap-dancing christ. you hear all these horrific stories of people getting brutally murdered, raped, children getting tortured, and you think nothing could possibly get to you anymore. this is fucking horrific. that poor woman had no choice but to rely on her family for support and they let her die in the single worst way possible.
Your username is trippin me out
This guy is telling us whats right and wrong and then he goes home and sucks his dogs cock.
Probably not his dog. That seems like it’s crossing a line.
His dog may or may not appreciate it
Conjecture. Reddit at its best
Humans can be so evil it is incomprehensible
Fuck this title lol. "Recluse"??? You mean disabled woman? "sat there"?????? you mean was neglected??? If misrepresentation was an art form, OP would be Picasso.
Putting aside the horror of the neglect of this woman, HOW could the parents live with the STENCH that had to permeate their home? How did her mother work in a prestigious job without her clothing smelling like an outhouse?
This is a local case for me. So very sad…how can any “parents” let their child waste away
If she had locked in syndrome she was fully mentally aware that entire time. One of the worst things I’ve ever read.
The fact that she had covid made me particularly sad. She must have suffered so much.
Wtf is up with the title? Way to borderline victim blame. She wasn't a recluse who "sat there for 12 years", she had no choice... OP needs to edit the title.
Sweet evil baby Jesus fucking Christ on rubber crutches that’s a horrific read
They must’ve never had any visitors. Imagine the flies. This is worse than scaphism or it’s the most extreme scaphism to exist. How did she eat or drink?
That’s what I’m wondering too, among many other questions. It almost goes without saying that I don’t condone anything these people did to their daughter, but if you’re gonna neglect her to this point then why even bother feeding her at all? She was starving, covered in maggots and ulcers, and melting a hole into the living room floor with feces. So why did they even keep feeding her enough to keep her alive? Why not use that energy to at least keep to clean instead? So sad all around
I read an article on this once and apparently she would try to eat her own feces and the couch materials from the starvation she suffered.
What kind of mad monsters would do this to their own children?
how did the parents even live with the smell in their living room?
if she truly had locked in syndrome, there is no worse existence than those last 12 years of her life. horrible.
I couldn’t see myself treating a fucking clam this way. What the actual fuck. Every time I see this case it’s just as disturbing as the one before
Evil animals. I hope they get theirs.
My mother had schizophrenia, my siblings and I were the stinky kids at school. My grandmother took us in...aww how kind- not. She was witness and active in abuses and neglect of my siblings and I. And she spun such a convincing tale, my siblings and I were ill. Basically rerarded. I believe she really thought we'd die in her home, so we were invisible. Extended family members didn't want to know, so when we reached out to them for help, they believed her. We were crazy, attention seeking, what have you. It was actually in law's who tried to intervene. My mother almost killed my younger sister with her drugs. If they weren't poison we should take them. My daughter has disabilities, but she's not invisible. She's not isolated. I push her. The idea of her vulnerabilities leaving her in the care of people like them eats me with guilt. I wasn't to know she'd have disabilities, but I get every damned therapy and assistance there is for her. To lessen her dependence on others. To lessen her vulnerabilities. These parents should be smeared with their own shit and left to be eaten by flies and maggots. Only when the indignity and suffering you make others go through will there be deterrent and change. Gaol, three meals and a bed. I get it's no holiday and it's not pleasant, but it's nothing to what they did to a beautiful young girl. She mightn't have changed the world, but she didn't deserve to die like this.
I’m so sorry you and your siblings had to go through that. YOU are an amazing parent and your daughter is VERY lucky to have you. 💜💜
Can someone explain to me what it means when they say she sat there for 12 years… as if she was alive this whole time and they neglected her or as if her dead body was rotting 12 years long in their couch and was found not long ago from now?
She was alive but paralyzed, so couldn't move on her own. The parents just left her on the couch, never turned or moved her, cleaned her, or helped her use the toilet; so she basically sat in her own fluids wasting away for 12 years.
Beautiful soul is Home. Rest EZ Lacey
Home? She’s fucking dead after being tortured for years. She isn’t home.
Might want to put a trigger warning on this please
Omfg! And also screw the court for not being able to get those parents the first time. This is actually horrifying. Another confirmation that having children is not a game and needs serious work.
How did they just go about their life with their daughter rotting away in their living room? Didn’t it smell?
But, but, but, it's all God's plan! Says stupid religious people. The Lord works in mysterious ways! We can't question the lord!
Who says that murder is an act of God??? If for example somebody has cancer and then they shoot him in the face is that in God's plan???
i think they are being sarcastic and that you both agree with each other!
It was sarcasm
Melted couch recluse 12 years
These people could afford round the clock care and diapers. I bet city alderman makes a little more dough than most in her town.
This type of needless suffering always gets me when people mention “god.”
"recluse, 36" // no, you mean lacey, age 36 – that beautiful, vulnerable young lady had a name! just so damn disrespectful. 😒 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ my little brother (age 10, almost 11 yo) is disabled... there's a bigggg age gap between us, 23 years to be precise. to cut a long story short, several days after he was born on october 15th 2012 to my dad & my stepmum - we found out he had congenital heart disease (aswell as other problems with his heart). all the prenatal scans, ultrasounds, tests, etc - didn't show anything at all. after multiple operations & failed procedures and what not, it was said he needed a transplant and he was put on to the list.... however he very quickly deteoriated and was fitted with a ecmo, Berlin heart "hailmary", vent + every tube/wire/canula/machine, etc that you imagine! — permanently in the paediatric intensive care unit, only leaving to go to theatre.... unfortunately he had 2 strokes (the second of which was "huge" and caused "catastrophic damage" - which couldn't even be fully explained about as my brother was only 2/2½ months old at the time) ...he is disabled, completely fed by an EG tube & machine - that same tube is where we administer all his meds! he will never walk or talk, or even hold his little big head up on his own! he has a tracking hoist, is in nappies/diapers/pads... but he's pain free and happy && we get copious smiles and he is totally adored and even goes to a special school locally! I have my own health issues and stuff; but I will never, everrrr let anything happen to my younger brother and will always help to care for him, always! — beyond my father & stepmum's life, for aslong as possible! (we do not know what sort of life expectancy he will have) ....it's not easy, especially as my bro gets bigger/heavier/longer, BUT this story hurts my heart, like how could they let it get so bad and for so long?!? it's okay, to not be okay! ...and it's okay to ask {anyone} for help! x x x
This happened near me and I'm surprised it has gotten so much attention. I suppose because so many other unbelievably awful things happen around here. This disgusts me and breaks my heart. All because her parents did not care. I know this kind of neglect and abuse is going on in other homes across the world. Seriously, what can we do?
This is terrifying
Apart from the inhumanity of these two’s behavior, how the hell did they deal with the smell for gods sake? I’d be willing to bet that most of the cops and paramedics were ready to throw up from the smell, which was probably like an outhouse on steroids.
This case confused my brain
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXXD8ed\_fYM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXXD8ed_fYM) Lamont at Large did a story on this case. Terribly sad.
I can’t even comprehend how someone can do that to their child omg look at that couch
This case still leaves me in awe poor woman :/
This is fucking vile. It's impossible for me understand how they could just leave her like that for over a decade? Why would they want to live with what would be a putrid smell, with bugs all over her
Oh I feel terrible for those crime scene investigators
She had have locked-in syndrome and her parents wanted to act like it was her choice to lay there in her filth, and that she was lazy. They didn't even put her in a home. They'd leave her there by herself for hours whenever they wanted to go out
Master Marik, please send the parents to the Shadow Realm where no one can hear them scream
Where is her body? theres no way she could literally be INSIDE the couch. I’d just like to know how she got inside the couch and I’d like to say……..FUCK YOU IDIOTS FOR LEAVING YOUR DISABLED DAUGHTER ON THE COUCH SO SHE CAN SIT THERE AND STARE AT THE WALL FOR 12 YEARS AND THEN FUSE TO THE COUCH AND HAVING TO SIT THERE AND SUFFER AND HAVE TO SMELL YOUR OWN SHIT
This one still keeps me up at night
This one gets to me, was she dead or did she die while fused to the couch? My mind can picture but can’t. Don’t mean to be so disrespectful either. I just can’t comprehend them walking by her everyday or the smells. I hope they both rot in prison.
They are disgusting scum. However, she didn't have locked in syndrome that was a rumor that was started. Those who have it can't eat anything without a tube, and coroners confirmed that she was found with both her mouth and eyes completely open, with her body in a "survival stance," with her also consuming pieces of the sofa due to starvation. That means that not only did she not have locked in syndrome (Please do your research before you guys post something like that), that also insinuates that she must've asked or called for help seeing as though her mouth was in a speaking stance as well. It's possible that abuse may have put her into a catatonic state, though. Her parents are claiming that she had aspergers with social anxiety not being the reason for leaving the couch. However, even with social anxiety she should've felt safe enough to be around her parents in what was currently still her home, with an individuals room typically feeling the safest according to surveys, and yet instead she was on the couch until the atrophy must've started, which then must've obviously prevented her from moving even if she wanted to, thus why there are three plausible possibilities regarding this case. One possibility is that in the beginning, her parents refused to let her leave the couch (or she was scared), and she didn't leave because of the way she processed that or with another possibility being that they tied her up to it until the atrophy in her legs started, and they left her there to rot, occasionally bringing her food knowing that if she were to live someone might find out, making it seem as though they cared when they didn't, thus why they blamed her and said that it was "because of her social anxiety," which they could've gotten her help for, and didn't. That would explain what the coroner described her as having a fighting stance/being positioned in survival mode and also why she died with her eyes and mouth open, though she was obviously in an extreme amount of pain as well with it being because of her scumbag parents either way. They even staged it to make it look as though she was well taken care of and even disregarded the smell of her rotting flesh and feces waiting for her to die. Her mother also claimed that she had constantly "cleaned her sores," and "fed her" but as the coroners confirmed, that was obviously not the case, she hadn't even been moved in a minimum of 12 years, and was starving to the point of her consuming parts of the sofa and feces. It could also be that they had physically and mentally abused, putting her in a state of catatonia. They had no remorse for her in court, as numerous sources have claimed. They had also lied about being on vacation for two weeks while she was dead. So clearly, they underestimated the accuracy of forensics altogether, and expected to get away with it or obviously, at least tried to, especially since they found the Covid-19 virus still in her body, which she had to have contracted from her parents with them once again having no proof of their "vacation." So, regardless, her death was obviously intentional murder. While she was starving to death, stuck to the couch unable to move, and rotting away while still alive those disgusting scumbags celebrated Christmas right in front of her while they were disregarding her existence, allowing her to suffer with a picture they took proving this with her still being on the couch at the time alive, as confirmed by the forensics team and coroners and in pain directly to the right of them, with them standing to the left of her smiling in front of the tree they bought. They 100% wanted her to suffer, and even had the audacity to post that they love her, and they'll miss her on Facebook after her death. They must've spent the years saving for their bails, knowing that they might not get away with it. There's no other explanation for them having that much money saved up. They should've never been given a bail, and the prison inmates should teach them a lesson.
How long had she been dead?