The parents of an autistic woman who was with her own excrement has been charged with second-degree murder.
The grand jury selected in Clinton, Louisiana, on Monday indicted Clay Fletcher, 65, and Shiela Fletcher, 64, over the death of their daughter Lacey Ellen Fletcher, 36.
If convicted, the couple would face life sentences in prison, according to .
Coroner Dr Ewell Dewitt Bickham III found that Lacey died at her parents’ home in Slaughter on January 3.
The grand jury’s decision came as East Feliciana Sheriff Jeffery Travis told the that ‘intervention should have happened a long time before this tragedy’.
‘You can’t just let someone rot away,’ Travis said at his courthouse office near Clinton.
‘It is difficult to imagine how someone could get in that condition without family or friends stepping in. Believe me, there would have been help available.’
Lacey suffered from locked-in syndrome, a rare neurological condition that prevented her from moving her muscles. She was found sitting upright, partially and submerged in a hole in the 1960s-style couch with feces, urine and insects around her.
Graphic images showed Lacey with bed sores down to the bone, on the furniture that she may have been stuck to for a dozen years.
Travis said that ‘the parents could have contacted authorities and had Lacey committed where she could have been assisted’.
The 12-person jury also considered charges of manslaughter and negligent homicide.
Neighbors of the father and mother said they were not aware that the couple had a daughter.
The Fletchers were reportedly respected and seen as pillars of the community. They initially were not arrested because they were not considered at risk of fleeing.
They did not appear in court on Monday and have not been seen since news of their daughter’s death broke last week.
Medics were on hand in the courtroom on Monday due to the distressing nature of the images and details presented to the jurors.
Their trial date has not been set yet.
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