The well-respected parents of a woman who suffered from Locked-in Syndrome and was found dead fused to a living room couch, covered in insects and her own bodily fluids are facing second-degree murder charges.
Shelia, 64, and Clay Fletcher, 65, will face a grand jury Monday after their 36-year-old daughter Lacey Ellen was found partially naked, sitting upright and submerged in a hole in a couch covered from head to toe in urine, liquid feces and insect bites, with live bugs and rodent excrement nearby at their otherwise tidy home in Slaughter, Louisiana, East Feliciana Parish Coroner Dr. Ewell Dewitt Bickham III told DailyMail.com on Thursday.
'The scene was sickening. I've seen some horrible things in my life but nothing like this,' said Bickham, a medical worker since the 1970s, adding that she had bed sores that went all the way down to her bone.
Lacey suffered from Locked-in Syndrome, a rare neurological disorder characterized by complete paralysis of voluntary muscles, except for those that control the eyes.
Police arrived at the ranch-style home in the suburb north of Baton Rouge on January 3 to find the ghastly scene after the parents called 911 because Lacey wasn't breathing, prosecutors said.
The parents were supposed to be the girl's care providers, but Bickham said she had not been to a physician in 20 years.
'It's unconscionable, something you make horror movies about,' he said.
When he arrived at the home, he described the stench being so bad that, 'it would almost run you out of the house.'
He told DailyMail.com that he knew it was a 'potential crime scene,' and immediately called his detective.
'The parents were in the kitchen. They did not have an explanation,' he said.
He ruled her death a homicide and cause of death as medical neglect.
He recorded the official time of death as 3:07 am on January 3, 2022 but said he believes she was deceased at least 24-48 hours prior.
Sheila Fletcher has worked as a police and court clerk in Baker and more recently as an assistant to the city prosecutor in Zachary, report said.
According to her LinkedIn page, Sheila was a Slaughter official who resigned her post on the town’s Board of Aldermen on January 24, three weeks after her daughter's death. She served for four years, most recently as mayor pro team.
State business filings show Clay Fletcher is an officer of the nonprofit Baton Rouge Civil War Roundtable, which has a mission 'to educate and foster an appreciation for the sacrifices made by all during the Civil War.'