Parents of woman found ‘melted’ to sofa ‘loved daughter to death’ | US News
The parents of a woman who was found fused to a couch and caked in her own feces claim they ‘loved her to death’.
Sheila and Clay Fletcher pleaded no contest to a reduced charge of manslaughter in the death of their daughter Lacey Fletcher, 36, who was discovered dead on their sofa in January 2022.
The couple’s lawyer in a Louisiana courthouse said they did not intend to hurt their daughter.
‘They were negligent, yes. It is clear they were negligent. They loved her to death – that is the true statement with the Fletchers,’ said attorney Steven Moore on Monday. ‘They loved their daughter to death.’
Moore continued: ‘When you look back at it, you wonder, why? How could this happen? It did happen.
‘But at no point did Sheila or Clay Fletcher ever have a single intent to harm their daughter. They loved their daughter to a fault.’
The couple ‘are completely remorseful’, Moore added.
‘Their life revolved around Lacey Fletcher… They lived for Lacey Fletcher.’
Lacey was found ‘melted’ into a maggot-infested sofa in her parents’ East Feliciana home. She was covered in sores and had ulcers on her bottom from sitting there for 12 years and weighed less than 100 pounds.
The parents said that Lacey – who suffered from a neurological disorder called locked-in syndrome and had social anxiety and Asperger’s syndrome – refused to leave the living room and had a ‘sound mind’. They said they provided her with meals and made a makeshift potty for her.
Moore argued that the Fletchers ‘are not criminals’ and are on bond because they are not and have never been a danger to the small community.
Sheila, 64, and Clay Fletcher, 65, did not attend the courthouse in Clinton, Louisiana, where District Attorney Sam D’Aquilla demanded the charge, which would mean mandatory life if convicted.
Lacey’s emaciated body was discovered partially naked, sitting upright and partly submerged in a hole in a couch covered from head to toe in urine, liquid feces, maggots and insect bites at her parents’ otherwise neat single family home in Slaughter on January 3.
Provider: East Feliciana Parish Sheriff’s Department
‘Anyone with handicapped children can tell you those things can happen. This is an extreme example of how that happens. They have taken responsibility. Now they look back, they can’t believe they got to the position they’re in,’ Moore said.
‘They are good people who have never been in trouble in their life. They are great members of this community, people came to support them, because that is not who they are.’
While some neighbors appeared in the courtroom to support the couple, prosecutors brought victim advocate Dana Lovett, who said that ‘nobody should have to have lived like (Lacey) did all these years’.
Sheila, 64, and Clay Fletcher, 65, did not attend the courthouse in Clinton, Louisiana, where District Attorney Sam D’Aquilla demanded the charge, which would mean mandatory life if convicted.
Lacey’s emaciated body was discovered partially naked, sitting upright and partly submerged in a hole in a couch covered from head to toe in urine, liquid feces, maggots and insect bites at her parents’ otherwise neat single family home in Slaughter on January 3.
Provider: East Feliciana Parish Sheriff’s Department
‘They had so many resources at their fingertips, especially Mrs Fletcher,’ said Lovett. ‘Why she didn’t utilize those resources when she was actually almost hand in hand with people that could help is beyond me.’
The couple initially faced second-degree murder charges before they were reduced.
Prosecutors are seeking a maximum sentence of 40 years for the parents. Their sentencing hearing has been scheduled for March 20.
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