A Louisiana couple has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for neglecting their disabled adult daughter to the extent that she became practically fused to the family’s couch.
Lacey Ellen Fletcher, a 36-year-old woman, found herself in a state of immobility. Afflicted with a condition known as “locked-in” syndrome, she was rendered unable to move. Consequently, she became dependent on her parents for all her care and attention.
Lacey Fletcher was found dead and sunk into a couch from the 1960s on January 3, 2022, at her home in Slaughter, a small town of less than 100 people about 40 minutes northeast of Baton Rouge. She was covered in poop, very thin, and had sores all over her body. East and West Feliciana Parish District Attorney Sam D’Aquilla says that she sat on the couch and went to the bathroom for several years, making a hole about the size of a person.
In early February, Sheila Fletcher and Clay Fletcher, both 66, expressed their love for their daughter “to death” in a statement issued by their defense attorney after pleading no contest to manslaughter.
D’Aquilla expressed disbelief at the assertion, emphasizing that the woman’s skin was deteriorating, and pledged to seek justice for what is considered one of the most extreme cases of human neglect in the Parish.
The prosecutors argued for the harshest possible sentence following the plea, which was officially given during the sentencing hearing. Both parents received a 40-year prison sentence, with 20 years of their sentences suspended. This information was reported by Baton Rouge-based CBS affiliate WAFB.
Once released from prison, the couple will be placed under five years of supervised probation.
The prosecutor expressed their disbelief and outrage during an interview with the TV station on Wednesday, stating, “You know, you wouldn’t treat your animals like that. If you had a horse in the stall behind your house and discovered that its flesh was completely gone, exposing its bones… I mean, you wouldn’t even treat your animal in such a cruel manner.”
According to Parish Coroner Dr. Ewell Dewitt Bickham III, the woman had not seen a doctor in decades. At the time of her death, she weighed only 96 pounds and had been diagnosed with COVID-19.
“I couldn’t eat for a whole week, and I cried nonstop,” Bickham shared with Baton Rouge-based ABC affiliate WBRZ in June 2023.
In the summer of last year, the woman’s parents faced a second indictment for their daughter’s murder.
“How could they, as caretakers living in the house with her, let her condition deteriorate like that?” D’Aquilla expressed in a conversation with NOLA.com, a prominent news outlet in the New Orleans metro area, in late April 2022. “It’s a cruel neglect of the infirm. We cannot simply ignore the situation.”
After several months, the investigation into Lacey Fletcher’s death finally concluded. The district attorney, determined to seek justice, decided to press charges. In early May 2022, Lacey’s parents were formally indicted on second-degree murder charges.
The judge dismissed the first indictment because of a procedural issue with the language used in the charging documents. However, this issue was quickly addressed and amended.
In 2022, D’Aquilla expressed his shock and horror at the horrific nature of this case. He mentioned in an interview with WBRZ that both the coroner and the sheriff’s office conducted an initial investigation in January. The condition in which the victim was found was described as truly unbelievable.
Lacey Fletcher’s death was determined to have been contributed by starvation, according to the coroner. Additionally, Bickham revealed that she had likely passed away two or three days prior to being discovered by her mother.
