Name: Lacey Fletcher.
Died: January 3, 2022.
Age at death: 36.
Cause of death: Neglect (Starvation, pressure sores).
Location: Slaughter, Louisiana, USA.
Details:
Lacey lived with her parents. She attended school until the ninth grade, and then was home-schooled.
Her parents say that she refused to leave the couch and had severe anxiety; but she had her last medical appointment more than a decade before she died. Her parents say they considered getting a commitment order, but nothing was ever done to help her.
Lacey’s body was found sitting on a filthy couch at home. She had multiple pressure sores and infections, was underweight, and tested positive for Covid-19. According to the coroner who ruled her death a homicide, she had suffered “at least a decade of neglect”.
After pleading guilty to manslaughter, Lacey’s parents were each sentenced to 40 years, with 20 years suspended.
Editor’s note: What happened to Lacey? Initially mobile and able to attend school without an aide, she was found on a couch she hadn’t moved from in–possibly–years. That she died of neglect is obvious, but why she wasn’t able to move from the couch is not. Some articles claim that Lacey had “locked-in syndrome”, but her story doesn’t match that. Locked-in syndrome is total paralysis, usually caused by damage to the brain stem. Unable to eat normally, locked-in patients require a lot of nursing care; a locked-in patient neglected like Lacey was would have died in a matter of weeks, not years.
There is, however, a condition that does match Lacey’s symptoms. It’s called autistic catatonia, and it’s somewhat rare–but on the spectrum, it’s not that unusual. Catatonia is a movement disorder in which someone is unable to voluntarily start moving, or unable to stop repetitive, involuntary movements. (This is different from stimming, which is voluntary, but suppression causes distress. It’s also different from tics, which are involuntary movements, but are brief and don’t affect the ability to start and stop other movements.) Catatonia can range from mild, occasional “freezes” while under stress, to lack of access to voluntary movement for hours and days at a time. If Lacey had autistic catatonia and was unable to leave that couch, then her parents’ refusal to find help for her would have left her trapped, unable to initiate movement–but completely conscious and aware of what was happening to her.
Autistic catatonia isn’t well-researched, but there are established treatments, ranging from behavioral assistance to medication to ECT, which is a last resort treatment that deliberately induces seizures to try to reset the brain. In mild cases where short episodes of catatonia are primarily associated with stress, therapy to manage stress can be helpful. Of course, an autistic person with severe catatonia may also need nursing support to make sure they stay fed, clean, and hydrated. Lacey’s parents could have asked for help; instead, they let Lacey decline and die.
References:
Parents of Woman With Autism Found Dead and ‘Melted’ Into Sofa Sentenced
Parents of autistic woman found dead in own waste, sentenced to 20 years
Louisiana parents accused of letting autistic daughter die plead no contest to manslaughter
Parents expected to plea to manslaughter after daughter died on couch
Parents re-indicted for murder of daughter found ‘melted’ to couch.
Charges against parents accused of letting daughter die on fetid couch thrown out — for now
Photos expose Lacey Ellen Fletcher’s AGONY, despite parents’ home stocked with cleaning products
Pictured: Parents of neglected daughter found dead and fused to family sofa
Parents to be hit with murder charges after daughter ‘melted into couch’
Grand jury to decide parents’ fate after coroner finds daughter’s body sitting on couch with feces around it
After ‘horrific’ death at home, parents of Louisiana woman may soon face murder charges
‘Worst case of neglect’: Parents face murder charges after neglect of disabled child
‘Something you make HORROR movies about’: Parents face murder charges after disabled daughter’s gruesome death
Woman, 36, with Locked-in Syndrome was found dead FUSED to a living room couch | Daily Mail Online
Neglected woman who died on parents’ sofa starved to death, had not seen doctor in 20 years
Autism Memorial 