We first learned about her here.
There’s more info here.
I guess I’m mostly struck by how no one knew about her, or checked on her. I think her boyfriend was trying to help, but I don’t know that he was equipped.
How incredibly sad. How anyone can live like that is beyond my comprehension.
“Couch-bound woman’s death raises questions.”
I should say so!
I think the saddest part of this whole affair is that she had family living nearby who apparently never came by to check on her. She sort of “dropped off the radar” of her family until she was in such bad condition. Uh, if I hadn’t heard from a family member in a while, I would at least call, But if I lived in the same city/area, I would stop by. (yes her brother had been in prison, but that is sort of different why he couldn’t stop by)
That to me is a sign of a mental heath problem that needs help.
Her cousin a DCF worker said
I mean, they knew she had a myriad of health problems. She was morbidly obese, she had a fear of getting up and walking around (when she could) because of breaking her leg twice as well as having asthma. Why didn’t her children ask for help? Why didn’t her “boyfriend”/“caregiver”? Why didn’t this person:
bolding mine
I am glad that her death is raising questions of negelct and I hope there are awnsers to those questions!
That’s my question too.
You notice a neighbor’s house is filthy, they have no working refrigerator, it’s bad enough that you won’t let your kids visit.
Why not take the next step and call someone? Although, who do you call? The police? DCF?
Health Department, I’d say. That house was a giant biohazard.
This is what floored me:
:eek:
Is she claiming that the incredible filth acumulated only in the time since she last saw her sister? Or, is she saying that there’s nothing wrong with living with maggots and cockroaches in a house that can be smelled 90 feet away?
Errr, no, she couldn’t, as would have been apparent when she didn’t want to leave the couch, even if it meant lying in her own feces.
Geez. 
What a depressing story. That poor woman should have gotten help years ago, but no one around her had the brains to do something.
Her old man got a DUI on his bicycle!
Sorry, but that cracked me up!
It’s sort of sad to me.
I used to know of an alcoholic man who lived down the road from where I worked. When they took his drivers’ license for DUI, he rode his lawnmower along the highway to go to the store to get booze. When they cited him for that, he rode a horse. Turns out you can’t ride a horse drunk either, so he got his small grandson to “drive” the horse for him while gramps rode on back-- anything to get to the next bottle of the substance that was helping him destroy his life.
I’m wondering if this guy is like that. From the clues in the story, especially the part where the neighbor mentioned that he just sat out in the yard all the time drinking Bud, I’d say this guy has a severe problem. Anyone who could let their girlfriend literally meld with the couch, sitting outside so you don’t have to see it, is seriously troubled and needs professional help.
I’m a little confused about where her adopted children were living. The article says her adopted daughter was 14; were those kids living in that squalor with her? If not, where were they? I don’t understand how someone with that much family in close proximity could just fall through the cracks like that.