Harrowing pictures of couch caked in feces where recluse, 36, died after ‘sitting on it for 12 years in neglect case’
HARROWING new pictures show the couch, sunken in and caked with feces, where 36-year-old Lacey Fletcher's body was found.
The recluse woman died, covered in urine and maggots, after the coroner says she sat on the living room couch for up to 12 years.
The East Feliciana Parish Coroner, Dr Ewell Dewitt Bickham III, called Lacey's death the worst case of neglect he's ever seen.
Her body was found fused to a sunken-in crater in the couch in Slaughter, Louisiana, on January 3.
Her parents, Clay and Sheila Fletcher, were charged with second-degree murder on Monday in relation to her death.
The parents are now out on a $300,000 bond after being released from East Feliciana Parish Jail.
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Some images of the couch that Lacey's body was found sunken into have been released to the public. The district attorney said other photos were withheld.
The reports that additional images show Lacey almost buried to her shoulders in the deep hole that her body wore into the couch over the years.
The outlet reported that to the right side of the couch was a neat pile of clothes.
Some of the photos in the case were so horrific that medical personnel were on standby outside the courtroom after the images were shown to a grand jury, the coroner said.
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A neighbor of the family, Robert Blades, shed new light this week on when he last saw Lacey. He claims it was 15 years ago, when he saw her exercising outside.
Blades claims that he asked Lacey’s father about her whereabouts five years ago, after noticing the young woman hadn’t been seen for years.
“I asked Clay because I hadn’t seen her in so long. I actually thought maybe she got married and moved on,” Blades said.
According to Blades, Clay Fletcher told him that Lacey still lived at home and that she was "fine."
“She appeared to be a happy girl, she liked fun things," Blades said of Lacey.
Local authorities shared that Lacey was diagnosed with autism and was homeschooled since the ninth grade.
Prior to homeschooling, Lacey was a student at the Brownsville Baptist Academy and a member of the volleyball team, Daily Mail reported.
“She was as smart as hell," Blades' son, also named Robert, told the publication.
"But I guess the best way to put it is that she wasn't as mature as us. She still liked children things, not teenage things."
Like his father, he claimed he didn't see Lacey for over a decade.
Local officials said that Lacey's parents should be arraigned likely within two months and a trial could get underway as early as October.
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Through their lawyer, Clay and Shelia Fletcher shared that they didn't want to "relive the pain of losing a child through the media."
“They have been through a lot of heartaches over the years,” the lawyer said.
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