The Case of Lacey Fletcher, the girl who “disintegrated” on the couch

When Neglect Turns Into Premeditated Murder

Lacey Fletcher passed away on or before January 3rd, 2022. The reason as to why the time of death is unclear is because January 3rd was the day she was found. The coroner assigned to this case had been a physician for fifteen years, and the only comments he had were, “I couldn’t eat for a week after seeing Lacey. I’ve seen a lot of gruesome things, nothing could have ever prepared me for this case. As a coroner, no other crime scene had ever had an affect on me.”

Lacey Fletcher suffered from Autism, however, she was remembered by friends as being active in sports. She passed away at the age of 36 but her decline started much earlier than that. Lacey’s Autism had begun affecting her, she was no longer able to go about regular life. She sat on the couch in their living room and stayed there for a decade. She did not move one bit. Well, does that make sense? How did she use the restroom or go take a shower? This is where neglect turns into premeditated murder.

As we get older we realize that our parents are just as human as us, but not in this case. Her parents were cut from a cloth so rare, they must have been destined for each other. Clay and Sheila Fletcher, parents of Lacey, were known as, “normal and always going to church on Sunday” before they bonded out of a Louisiana jail for $300,000 each. Sheila Fletcher worked as a prosecutor and Clay Fletcher worked with “non-profit organizations.”

The pair whom we shouldn’t refer to as parents or guardians despite being Lacey’s biological mother and father — went out for New Years weekend. Lacey Fletcher would be found dead from locked-in-syndrome, starvation, and severe neglect. During the autopsy, they found couch foam inside her stomach, feces in her nostrils, open wounds from her legs to her rear end, and her body was covered with maggots. Officials could only describe it as, “she melted on the couch.” Her parents neglected her for a decade.

Every single day for the last 10 years, Lacey was stuck to that couch. She was in a pool of her own urine and feces, every single day, the last decade she was alive. Her parents became immune to the smell, as a reclining chair was positioned next to the couch where her mom would often sit and watch the television. When neighbors heard the news about Lacey’s death, one said that they have not seen Lacey in over 15 years. It’s quite disturbing, and difficult to digest into an article.

“As someone who has been neglected and abused because of a mental health diagnosis, I often say that this is the conversation no one wants to have.”

There’s no one around to see what’s going on with you and when you try to explain other people’s behavior, it’s almost like shooting yourself in the foot because even though you’re telling the truth, everyone has already made up their minds. You’re crazy, mental, deranged, and so whatever you say is probably just a figment of your imagination. “Your parents would never treat you that way” says every single person who has never lived a day in their lives under the same roof.

History reveals that the mentally ill have always been treated poorly. It’s a silent and subtle social norm that everyone says is not okay but continues to operate as if it wasn’t happening. When I was working as a medication-technician before losing that job to corona, I worked toe to toe with adults living in a residential facility. They’re allowed to go home for the weekend if their family picks them up. I would prepare their medication for the weekend and give them just enough so they would be back on Monday to take their 8AM or 4pm.

Almost all of these weekend get togethers ended early. I would know because I would have to take the pills that I previously put together and relog them back into our inventory. When I asked why they were back so early, it was always due to their family. Either my patients could not stand being with them or the family decided they had enough of their mentally challenged loved one. Families can be the source of someone’s insanity or they could be the trigger. Throughout time, the voices of many mentally ill persons have been muted. They’re either killed or thrown into some kind of ward. Only to be forgotten, because they’re an embarrassment to the family.

“What’s even more sad is the fact that Lacey was conscious all that time.”

Though she might have been in more of a psychological prison, she knew exactly how much her parents did not love her. There is no excuse or reason to believe her parents cared about her. Most families will not tolerate their family member (let alone their son or daughter) to use the bathroom on themselves on the living room couch. There’s a special place in hell for Clay and Sheila Fletcher; and to any person who condones this behavior. Here’s something that I’ve never told anyone because it has plagued my childhood.

I lost my virginity before learning how to not piss on the bed at night. I know that sounds impossible; but I lost my virginity at 12. Age twelve is pretty old to be wetting the bed still. The only way I figured out how not to pee my bed was simply the fear of it happening when my girlfriend slept over. I’m sure she knew, we never talked about it. She was much older than me. I shared this story because even though I had a strange disorder, my parents would always get angry with me about it. I would be so mad at myself whenever it happened. It was the secret that my sisters would use to pretty much ruin my social life if I ever (no pun-intended) pissed them off.

I never realized how much it affected me; growing up. I never got to sleep over anyone’s house. I was a loner and would constantly stress about walking home from school because I was deathly afraid of dogs when I was a kid. The funny thing about that is I only got chased by a dog probably once and it wasn’t even that bad.

However, in my child mind, I was traumatized. I remember being so afraid to walk down the street because I always thought about loose dogs. I was such a strange child, and this story, has opened a part of my memory that I’ve been covering up for years.

In the case of Lacey Fletcher however, it gets me angry just imagining what was going through her mind as her parents just left her there. I hated myself as my parents would flip out about it. Her parents didn’t love her at all. They didn’t have any drop of consciousness towards the decade of waste corroding over itself over and over. It’s like they gave up on her. She was probably screaming for help but she was treated as if she wasn’t there.

“Lacey experienced her death, before she died, and that is ultimately what probably hurt her the most.”

Clay and Sheila Fletcher should receive the death penalty because this case is beyond human comprehension. Those two are not human. For a lady to prosecute criminals on a daily basis but could not be a normal human being towards her daughter at home, is beyond a reasonable doubt, the closest definition to insanity.

Capital punishment would be just because these two should not have any opportunity to offspring their genes. We must neutralized this danger and cremate the bodies, don’t even let their bodies rot like they did their daughter.

I want to end this article with a quote said by Albus Dumbledore:

“Do not pity the dead Harry, pity the living, and above all those who live without love.”