The parents of a 36-year-old Louisiana woman with autism found “melted” into her couch were sentenced this week to 40 years in prison with 20 years suspended.
Clay and Sheila Fletcher entered no-contest pleas to manslaughter charges in February, WAFB reported.
“You know, you wouldn’t treat your animals like that,” West Feliciana District Attorney Sam D’Aquilla said at Wednesday’s sentencing hearing. “If you had a horse that was in the stall behind your house, and you go back there and the flesh is just gone from its body, and you can see bones exposed … I mean you wouldn’t even treat your animal like that.”
The Fletchers were initially indicted on second degree murder charges, but a judge tossed those charges because the language in the indictment was conflicting.
Lacey Fletcher was found dead by her mother on January 3, 2022, as CrimeOnline reported. The coroner’s office ruled that she died from sepsis from living in her own filth. She weighed 96 pounds, and the coroner said that starvation contributed to her death.
East Feliciana Parish Coroner Dr. Ewell Bickham told the court that Fletcher, who was diagnosed with autism and was non-verbal, had “melted” into the sofa she was sitting on, WBRZ reported. The room reeked of urine and feces, and the floor beneath the sofa was buckling from the weight of it all.
“I’ve dealt with every type of death there is, natural, accidental, suicide, homicide, every kind there is. This was the most gruesome, unnatural death that I’ve seen, and it’s affected me,” Bickham said. “If someone is having issues, if someone has mental health issues, there are resources out there and social programs.”
Lacey Fletcher’s former doctor, Donald Hoppe, told the court during the hearing that she hadn’t seen a doctor since she was 16 in 2002. Hoppe said he last heard from her parents in 2010 when Clay Fletcher told him his daughter was getting worse. He said he suggested they take her for help, but they did not.
The Fletchers and their attorney told the court that their daughters was competent and could make her own decisions. They said she refused help and got “defensive and argumentative” when they tried to talk about it.
“Her world closed in on her gradually because of her phobias, fears, and social anxieties,” Clay Fletcher said. “The couch was her sanctuary. It was her comfort zone.”
Steven Moore, the couple’s attorney, said they did not intend to hurt their daughter.
“They loved her to death, and that is the true statement of what the Fletchers are,” he said.
The Fletchers will also serve five years probation after their release from prison.
