Police Find Neglected Louisiana Woman ‘Melted’ Into Couch of Her Parents’ Home

A Louisiana couple is under severe scrutiny after their daughter was found dead in their home, her body so emaciated that she was described by investigators as having “melted” into a couch. Lacey Fletcher, 36, was severely autistic and non-verbal, WBRZ reports. According to local investigators, her parents, Sheila and Clay Fletcher, had not taken her to a doctor in a decade, and neighbors claimed years had passed since they had seen the woman. The New York Post reports that Sheila, a city clerk, called the police concerning her daughter on January 18 who encountered a putrid smell upon entering the home. Lacey was upright on a couch that was so saturated in feces and urine that the floorboards buckled, investigators said. The coroner ruled her death a homicide after finding sofa foam and feces in her stomach, nostrils, and hair. Ulcers afflicted her backside and there were maggots in her hair, the coroner said. She was also positive for COVID-19 and her body weighed only 96 pounds; starvation was ruled as one cause of death. NOLA.com reports that District Attorney Sam D’Aquilla described Lacey’s death as “so horrific” and will ask a grand jury to charge her parents, who a neighbor described to WBRZ as the church-going type, with second-degree murder. “On a murder, you have to have intent,” D’Aquilla said. “Did they want to kill her? I want to say yeah, they wanted to kill her.”