Her parents took her life (6 photos)

In early January 2022, Louisiana EMS received a call to 36-year-old Lacey Fletcher. The woman's parents, with whom she lived in the same house, called the service.





Lacy was sitting on the couch, and when the doctors came closer, they couldn’t believe what they were seeing for a long time: the girl was sitting in her own feces, having partially fallen into the hole in the couch. It felt like she simply hadn’t gotten up from it for months, if not years, and had simply grown into the sofa. Doctors pronounced her dead and, according to the examination, the woman died 24 to 48 hours ago.

The police, who arrived after the paramedics, realized that they would have a long conversation with the well-known Fletcher family in the city. Coroner Ewell Bickham later said that after meeting Lacy, he could not eat normally for a week and cried constantly. And this despite the fact that he has seen enough crime scenes in his time.



Clay and Sheila Fletcher

Lacey's parents are Clay and Sheila Fletcher, and their daughter was their desired and planned child, born in 1986. The girl grew up in the first years just like all other children, but later Lacey was diagnosed with autism. At the same time, she kept up with her classmates, played sports and was very intelligent and outgoing. Yes, she had few friends, after all, Lacey perceived the world a little differently, growing up a little later than her peers, but this did not prevent her from remaining an optimistic and cheerful child.

Sheila and Clay were very well-known and respected people in the town of Slaughter, where they lived. Sheila first worked as an assistant prosecutor, and then became the mayor of the city. Clay worked for a charity. The couple were particularly pious and therefore at first no one could even believe that it was the parents who brought Lacey to such a terrible state.





Lacey with the sports team

Again, there is another question. In these kinds of small towns, everyone usually knows each other, especially the neighbors. But no one, not even family relatives, noticed that Lacey had suddenly disappeared for many years, despite the fact that she was a member of the local religious community and everyone knew whose daughter she was. Yes, someone could ask something like “where is Lacey,” but everyone was satisfied with the laconic answer: “everything is fine, thank you.”



During interrogations, Sheila will begin to say that her daughter’s autism allegedly worsened and it was decided to transfer her to home schooling.

After graduating from high school, Lacey developed locked-in syndrome. A fairly rare form of neurological condition that results in almost complete paralysis. A person can only move his eyes, but mentally the person remains normal and perceives everything the same as before. That is, if Lacey really suffered from such a syndrome, then she spent more than 10 years in full awareness of her condition, without receiving any medical help in order to somehow make her life easier, being completely dependent on her parents.



The house-prison where the Fletchers lived

The Fletchers stubbornly did not admit their guilt, trying to prove that they helped Lacey as best they could. But there were no marks in the girl’s medical record - after 16 years there were only blank pages. That is, it turns out that the girl, supposedly with a severe form of autism, has not met with a single specialist in two decades. At 36 years old, she weighed only about 40 kg, her body was riddled with years of bedsores to the bones and ulcers. There were also testimonies from doctors, but in case you decide to read this story while eating, it’s better not to include them.

Dr. Ewell Bickham concluded that the cause of death was the following factors: acute starvation, osteomyelitis, immobility, acute ulceration, chronic malnutrition and sepsis. Lacey's parents did not provide any help at all for many years, and two days before her death she was completely alone, without food or water, while the Fletchers were visiting in another state.



The Fletchers were charged with second-degree murder. All evidence, including photos and videos, was presented to the jury and the court, and medical workers were on duty outside the doors the entire time the hearing lasted.Ray, if someone feels bad from what they see.

The district judge, to everyone's surprise, dropped the murder charges against Clay and Sheila. She stated that the wording of the charges was formal and the spouses were released on bail ($600 thousand for two). At the moment, the devout parents are still at large.