The story of Lacey Ellen Fletcher’s life and death stunned the nation. The East Feliciana woman was found lying on a fetid couch at her parents' home in Slaughter.
It emerged that the 36-year-old had probably spent more than half of her life inside that house. The last record of her leaving was for a doctor’s appointment in 2010. Her life was gradually constrained to the width of that couch, where she was allowed to sit in her filth day after day, month after month. Her hair was covered in maggots, she had ulcers all over her body and she weighed only 96 pounds when she died on Jan. 3, 2022.
Her parents, Clay and Sheila Fletcher, were sentenced last week to 20 years in prison for manslaughter. In their sentencing hearing, they described their struggle to cope with a severely mentally ill child, who was diagnosed with agoraphobia and autism.
The coroner said Fletcher’s cause of death was “severe chronic neglect.” Several officials said it was one of the worst cases they had ever witnessed.
When one of these houses of horror is uncovered, the neighbors usually say they had no idea. While this case was extreme, we have to wonder how many homes in our communities are scenes of similar despair.
As we increasingly retreat into insular lives and virtual worlds, we lose many things — a sense of connection and responsibility to our fellow citizens and the ability to see ourselves as part of a larger whole. And most critically in this case, we’ve lost those extra sets of eyes to spot abuse and neglect when there's still a chance to save a life.
Once upon a time, neighbors visited neighbors unannounced, adults looked out for all the children in the community and struggling families were not left isolated.
While the Fletchers’ sentence is just, it would be wrong for us as a society to stop there and look away. We need to look deeply at the reasons why no one outside the home seemed to be aware for decades that this was going on and why no one reached out to help. Everyone apparently just faded away.
District Attorney Sam D’Aquilla, who pursued the case, issued a challenge to the community following the hearing. “Watch out for your friends, talk to your neighbors and make sure this does not happen to anybody else. It's something that could've been prevented."
We hope many will take his words to heart. In Louisiana, we pride ourselves on our strong ties to family and community. That should mean we come together not just in good times, but also to rally around people in need, especially our most vulnerable.
Lacey Fletcher deserved better from her parents. And when they failed her, she deserved better from all of us.