A coroner was called to examine Lacey Fletcher after her body was found “melting” in a cauldron filled with waste on the sofa her family had “never seen a murder like this” — and is still disturbed by what she saw.
Fletcher, 36, was found covered in urine and feces and “attached” to a wormy couch in her parents’ East Feliciana, La., home in January 2022 — and this week, Sheila and Clay Fletcher pleaded no contest to manslaughter. his horrible death.
“I have seen every kind of death there is. I have never seen a murder like this. I have never seen a human being literally tortured and allowed to die while he was still alive,” said Dr. Ewell Bickham to NewsNation’s Ashleigh Banfield Thursday.
“I have never seen it (in) my life. … Lacey doesn’t rot. He rotted in his own body, in that hole, in that sewer, on the sofa.”
Prosecutors said Fletcher had lain there, languishing and in great agony, for about 12 years and blamed her parents for the neglect. He weighed 100 pounds at the time of his death.
He was reportedly diagnosed with autism, and his parents claimed he refused to eat when they tried to feed him, leading to his inability to leave the sofa and ultimately his death.
Oddly enough, earlier photos show a young, bright-eyed Fletcher at school at Brownsville Baptist Academy, where she was on the volleyball team before she was apparently home-schooled after the 9th grade.
Lacey Fletcher played on the volleyball team at school and was described as a “fun kid” until she disappeared from sight about 15 years ago. News Nation
A neighbour, Robert Blades, 61, said he was “just a normal fun kid” before disappearing 15 years ago, after his parents said he also suffered from “anxiety” and took him to a psychologist, the Daily Mail reported.
Bickham told NewsNation he was still trying to process the horrific scene he witnessed – and was shocked by the smell in the house before he reached Fletcher’s body.
“When I came in, the house smelled bad, it smelled like a sewer, or a septic tank and also the smell of death,” he said. “I have never smelled that in my life. I’ve dealt with rotting corpses. I’ve dealt with all kinds of death, decline, whatever, never experienced this in my entire career.”
Lacey Fletcher was found “fused” or “melted” into this sofa, her legs crossed and shrunken and her emaciated body covered in scabs, maggots and excrement. News Nation “I have never seen it (in) my life. … Lacey doesn’t rot. He was rotting in his own body, in that hole, in that sewer, on the couch,” Bickham recalled. News Nation
Bickham said Fletcher’s parents were inside the home when he arrived. His father was “impassioned” while his mother sat with her “head between her knees” and shed “a little tear or two.”
What he found in the room to their left shocked him — and continues to traumatize him, he said.
“It still bothers me today. Like I said, I’ve seen every kind of death there is. I have seen old people die of natural causes. I’ve seen suicides, murders, I’ve seen everything there is.”
Lacey attended the former Brownsville Baptist Academy in Louisiana where she was a part (top left) of the school’s Volleyball team
Bickham said there was no evidence that Fletcher was fed except for a small bag of hard candy nearby. He said his stomach contained yellow foam from the couch and feces.
“So you take it from there,” he said.
Bickham also told NewsNation that he did not believe Sheila and Clay Fletcher lived with their daughter in the house.
“I can’t believe they live in that house,” he said. “You can’t stay in that house. No one can stand bad breath, to be honest with you. I think there is something next door.”
Clay and Sheila Fletcher pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of manslaughter and were bailed pending sentencing. Facebook
Lacey Fletcher had visible sores and bones when she was found and had been infected with maggots – including around her genitals – while she was alive, documents obtained by the Daily Mail show.
His parents were initially arrested in January 2022 after Fletcher was found dead in a hole in a sofa.
Lawyers for the family insisted that Sheila Fletcher loved and cared for her daughter. East Feliciana Parish Sheriff Clay Fletcher and his wife pleaded no contest to murder — with prosecutors seeking 40 years in prison. East Feliciana Parish Sheriff
The couple, who are facing charges of second-degree murder, pleaded no contest Monday to a reduced charge of involuntary manslaughter.
Fletcher spent nearly 18 months denying second-degree murder after being indicted twice by a grand jury in Clinton, Louisiana. They face the possibility of life in prison without parole if convicted at a trial that begins this week.
They were released on bond until February 20. The next court hearing is in East Feliciana Court on March 20.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
