S6, Chapter 1: The Girl Who Melted

0:00 Tapes from the Dark Side is a fully independent podcast, and to help offset the cost of production, we run a couple ads each episode. Thank you for your understanding and for your support. If you want to get ad free episodes and some bonus content, join us at patreon dot com slash Tapes from the dark Side. Tapes from the Dark Side contains descriptions of violence and sexuality. Listener discretion is advised. Clay and Sheila Fletcher were both sixty four years old, their birthdays less than two months apart. Clay was born in August of nineteen fifty seven in Sheila in September. They lived in small town USA in the swampy state of Louisiana. The town they resided in was a thirty minute north of Baton Rouge and bore the sinister name of Slaughter. There's only around a thousand people who live in Slaughter, Louisiana, maybe three hundred families, of which the Fletcher family was one. They lived in a single family home on a three and a half acre lot. Pictures of the house radiate the spirit of the American dream. A perfectly manicured front lawn grass, a lush green, uniformly trimmed. A quaint, old fashioned frosted lamp overlooks the

1:32 long dirt driveway leading to the back of the house. But inside the Fletcher family home there was a deep, dark secret, a secret that was rotting on their living room couch, and that was their daughter, an only child, Lacy Ellen Fletcher. I think everyone has a bit of a fascination with the dark side. I myself most love the dark side as well. I think it's something that everyone secretly longs for a months, I ask him, how's license? You know, I haven't seen it. He said, Oh, she's still a little sire. She's doing fine. She's the dark side dark. January third, two thousand and twenty two, two twenty seven am, the East Feliciana Parish emergency Communications dispatch receives a nine one one call from a woman who identifies herself as Sheila Fletcher. Sheila is sixty four years old,

3:05 white, blonde hair, blue eyes, and of average stature. She also happens to be one of the town aldermen. According to the Sheriff's department report, Sheila advised that her thirty six year old daughter needed an ambulance because she was not breathing. She said her daughter had been sick, but that it was quote a long story. The call was transferred to ambulance services and the police and fire department were dispatched to the Fletcher house. Officer Dalton Corbin of the Slaughter PD was first to arrive on scene. Nothing could have prepared him for what he was about to see, a scene so bizarre and depraved, like nothing the town had ever witnessed in its history. But first, let's go back to nineteen eighty five. Clay and Sheila Fletcher were both twenty seven years old when they gave birth to their first and only child. January twenty fifth, nineteen eighty five, Lacey Ellen Fletcher entered this world. The family bought a house in Baker, Louisiana, a town about twenty minutes south of Slaughter and only about ten minutes south of the town of Zachary. Sheila would hold a number of roles in local government over the years. In Baker, she worked as a records clerk, and in Zachary she became the criminal deputy clerk, before finally landing a job as the assistant to the prosecutor.

4:39 Around nineteen ninety five. Sheila Clay and their daughter Lacy, would move to a house on Tom Drive in the town of Slaughter, Louisiana. In addition to her role as assistant to the prosecutor, Sheila became a town alderman. An alderman is kind of like a member of city council. There's still a mayor in Slaughter who basically runs the town, but the five aldermen act as advisors and helped make decisions. According to an article from NOLA dot com, Sheila served as aldermen for four years and even for a short period as mayor pro tem. Less is known about the patriarch of the family, Clay Fletcher. As we have said, he's the same age as Sheila and also of average stature, blue eyes, brown hair, five foot ten. One of the only things I could find out about Clay was that he was on the board of a nonprofit group called the Baton Rouge Civil War Roundtable. Established in nineteen sixty three, it's one of the oldest civil War roundtables in the country.

5:43 On their website, their goal is stated as quote, to provide a nonpartisan atmosphere to educate and foster and appreciation the sacrifices made by All during the Civil War. According to NBC Local thirty three news, Clay Fletcher was the press of the group, and BC also obtained an interview with John Potts, who worked closely with Clay and was the Roundtable program director. Here is a portion of that interview. The program director, John Potts has known Clay Fletcher for roughly six years and is stunned by the news. Shock. Yeah, because it doesn't match with my experience with him. He's completely different than what you would expect someone like that to be. The details are horrific, There's no doubt about that, and I can't conceive of how something like that could even happen. As Lacy grew older, her parents began to notice that she was not quite like the other kids in her class. Her parents scheduled a meeting with a psychologist and Lacy was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, which is a lifelong condition and is part of autism spectrum disorder. According to Autism speaks dot org, Asperger syndrome is generally characterized by difficult social interactions, narrow interest in an intense desire for sameness, though the disorder is not without its strengths, which can include remarkable focus and persistence, pattern recognition, and an eye for

7:13 detail. Some of the most severe challenges for a person with Asperger's deal with hypersensitivity to sensory input, lack of coordination, and oftentimes social anxiety, the latter of which Lacy is reported to have suffered from intensely, but that didn't stop her from making friends. Lacy attended Brownsville Baptist Academy. She was even on the volleyball team, which there is a picture of Lacy would have been thirteen years old. She appears in the back row standing on some kind of riser, a wide eyed smile on her face, surrounded by her peers. The Daily Mail obtained an interview with one of Lacy's former classmates, who remembers her vividly. She says about Lacy, quote, she was one of the first people that I was friends with when I started at the school. She was thoughtful. Just sweet is the word I keep coming back to. One of the sweetest people you could ever meet, So very kind. Brownsville Baptist Academy is now closed and has been for years, but at the time they only offered education through grade nine, which after Lacy completed her parents were faced with a choice that had potentially dramatic consequences. Clay and Sheila chose to transition to homeschooling Lacy. This seems to mark the beginning of a downward trajectory for Lacy's life. The Daily Mail obtained an interview with one of the family's neighbors.

8:46 His name Robert Blades the Third. He was born the same year as Lacy, in nineteen eighty five, which Manti grew up around her. His house was diagonally across the street. I last saw around fifteen years ago. I wouldn't say I was a particular friend. She'd hang out with my younger brothers sometimes, but she was definitely different from other kids or age. I knew she was not your typical teenager. She was smart, smart as hell, but I guess the best way to put it is that she wasn't as mature as us. She still liked children things, not teenage things. Robert's father, Robert Blades the Second, also spoke with The Daily Mail. He was fifty nine on the day of this interview. I mean, when was the last time that you saw Lacy. I told you about ten fifteen years, though I don't really remember exactly, but a long time. And what did she look like? Oh, she just looked like a young woman.

9:48 She was. She had these little little what do you call the little weights that you hold in your hand, the little down bails. She was exercising. Yes, she was. She'd walked from her house around the circle and she used to do that, you know, I don't know, two or three times a week. Okay, when was the last time you mentioned that you'd spoken to Clay about five years ago? Did you ask? I asked him, how is Lacy? What's she up to? I said, you know, I haven't seen her. He said, oh, she still lives here. She's doing five and just changed the subject. What sort of girl?

10:37 Well, she she was sweet girl the few times that I talked to her, you know, But like I said, she didn't come out a lot shocked, very surprised. I just just there, I thought, you know, I just never thought than anything, you know, like that will happen here, you know, and you caught goes down to head. Yeah, what's I happened? We'll be right back with more tapes from the Dark Side. Stay with us, Pain, Filth, and Squalor. On the night of January third, twenty twenty two, at approximately two thirty am, Sheila Flescher called nine one to report her daughter was not breathing. Officer Dalton Corbyn was first to arrive on scene. He initially saw Lacy curled up on the end of the couch in the living room, wearing only a T shirt, nude from the waist down. Nearly her entire body was covered in feces.

11:56 It appeared that excessive urine and feces had pulled underneath Lacey was sitting on the couch, which indicated that she urinated and defecated on the couch frequently. The following is from Dalton Corbin's police report. On one O three, twenty twenty two, at approximately ZO two hundred twenty seven hours, I was dispatched to Tom Drive in reference to an unresponsive female. Upon arrival, I made contact with Sheila Fletcher at the front door of the residents, who directed me to the living room. In the living room, on a brown colored sofa, I noticed Clay Fletcher, the victim's father, performing CPR on an unresponsive female, who I later identified as Lacy Fletcher. During the act of performing CPR, the father stopped and I checked for the victim's pulse to no avail.

12:46 The victim's body was sitting in her feces. I also noticed the sofa was severely damaged, where Sheila states Lacy always sits. Lacy's body was in the fetal position under green color blanket, sitting in the damaged portion of the sofa, which was filled with a lot of her feces. Sheila explained that Lacy refused to eat for several days. I asked Sheila if Lacy had been sick or suffered from any pre existing medical conditions. Sheila stated Lacy has not been sick, but that she was diagnosed with asperers, which made her on social She also stated Lacy did not take any medications. Sheila and Clay both stated Lacey has not seen a doctor or received any kind of medical treatment in a long time. This matter is pending for their investigation. At this point, the fire department had also arrived and confirmed the assessment that Lacy was deceased and any life saving efforts would be futile. A Katie and ambulance services were canceled by the Slaughter Fire Department at two forty six am, just nineteen minutes after the original nine. Call was placed. On January eighteenth, fifteen days after Lacy's death, Clay and Sheila Fletcher met with Lieutenant Kevin Garrick at the East Feliciana Parish Sheriff's department. They were both mirandized and waved their right to an attorney and were interviewed together as a couple. There is a video of

14:18 this interview, but it has not yet been released to the public because of the pending litigation, but I do have the lieutenant's notes. Both Fletcher parents say they were primary caregivers for Lacy, that she had some degree of Asperger's but that she was quote mentally normal. Sheila said that Lacy had not been to a doctor in her adult years because she was never sick. The last physician she saw was a pediatrician who worked in Baton Rouge. Clay said that Lacey had developed phobias that made her afraid to get off the couch for any reason. He says they placed a portable toilet in the living room, but Lacy became afraid. She refused to walk the three steps and preferred to defecate on herself. Lieutenant kerrig D asked if they had attempted to get Lacey's psychological help. Sheila said they did take her to a psychologist named doctor Hope in her teenage years, but that she had not seen anyone since. When asked if they ever considered having Lacy committed for mental evaluation, Sheila said it had come up one single time, but Lacy said she didn't want that, and so they didn't do it. Sheila continued to emphasize that Lacy was of sound mind to make her own decisions and that she had no intellectual deficiencies. She said Lacy went to Brownsfield Baptist Academy from kindergarten to ninth grade, and then in tenth grade was homeschooled from the curriculum in the Parkview Christian Homeschool program,

15:50 where she received her diploma. Sheila stated that prior to death, Lacey had been eating less than usual, but that she dressed normally. She said Lacy never complained about her bed sores hurting, and that she regularly helped her daughter clean the source with saline wash, antibiotic spray, and zinc. The last time Sheila saw Lacy alive was ten PM the night prior. Sheila alleges that she served Lacy a meal of a sandwich and cheetos, and that she fell asleep on the chair in the living room right next to her daughter when she woke up and found her not breathing, which is when she called nine one one. As you will come to find out, most of the information that Sheila and Clay provided to police was directly contradicted by the coroner's report and the autopsy. We now know that Lacy suffered from Asperger's and was obviously not of sound mind, and that she had not just been eating less, but was chronically malnourished and neglected to the point of death. The true reality was reported on the autopsy conducted by doctor Trucks Claire. The following information is extremely graphic.

17:06 Quote. This is the case of Lacy Fletcher, a thirty six year old special needs female who is reportedly discovered unresponsive by her parents. Significant fines at autopsy include extremely poor hygiene, contractors, malnutrition, dehydration, and stage four to cubitius ulcers with maggot activities. Extremely poor hygiene was evident by one poor oral hygiene two Lacy's hair which was long matted knotted with fecal matter, and maggots. Three the presence of fecal material on the face, ears, trunk, extremities under the toenails, and fingernails covering her lower body as a result of contact with the pool of liquid stool that she was submerged in.

17:53 Four unshaved auxiliary and lower extremity hair. Five strands of matted hair wrapped tightly around her index finger. Six insect bites on left ear and face, likely resulting from their attraction to the stagnant pool of liquid stool and urine. The contractures that were present indicated prolonged immobility and lack of use. In this case, Lacy's legs were folded underneath of her in an attempt to relieve pressure from the area of decubitus ulcers. Essentially, the muscles and tendons in her legs had shortened and hardened to the point of permanent rigid deformity. The ulcers that had formed on Lacy's body were the result of pressure wounds, also commonly known as bed source. Many were at stage four, which is the most severe.

18:45 They were rotting all the way down to the muscle and bone. To fully understand a stage four pressure ulcer or decubitus ulcer. Let me first explain the layers of the skin. First, we have the EpiDerm. Under that the dermis, and then the capillary bed which feeds and supplies the upper layers. At the base we have the fatty subcutaneous tissue. Then it's just muscle and bone. When a person sits or lays down for a long period of time, the pressure of a bone against a surface can cause a reduction of blood supply in those areas. This can happen basically anywhere where there's pressure against a bone. The coxus or tailbone, the pelvic bone, elbows, knees, and even ears and skull can all be at risk for a person who is immobile for long periods of time. When the outward surface creates a pressure point on the skin where the bone exists, blood supply is then reduced to that skin. In where there is a lack of blood supply, the skin will then begin to die and rot. As mentioned before, there are four stages of decubitus ulcerformation. Stage one, the skin will be fully int act, but the area looks red and will feel warm to the touch. Stage two, the area looks damaged and usually has an open sore that may look like a scrape or blister. Stage three, the area begins to appear crater

20:15 like, which is due to damage below the skin surface. You can often see a layer of subcutaneous fat inside the wound, which will appear yellowish or white. And lastly, Stage four the most severe type of pressure wound. In this state, bone muscle, tendons, and ligaments are visible. Lacy had a stage four to cubitus ulcer on her head approximately one by one inch, that was exposing her skull. She had ulcers of unspecified stages on her mon's pubis and abdomen, buttocks, and mid back. She had a stage four ulcer on her left buttock and hip that was nearly a foot wide, exposing her sacrum, which is the large triangular bone at the base of the spine. This also exposed the left phemoral head, which is the highest part of the hit bone. Black and green necrotic tissue was present, and the femoral head was so eroded that it had become flat. Lacy had an ulcer on her right buttock and right thigh, on her first and third right toes, her lower left leg, left ankle, and her left fourth and fifth toes. Post mortem full thickness lacerations were present on Lacy's buttocks. These actually occurred after death and where a result of Quote peeling Lacy from the couch in order for her to be placed in a body back. Lacy wade ninety six

21:48 pounds at the time of death and was chronically malnourished. Her loves of protein, albumin and transferen were abnormally low and reflected a key starvation. I read rumors that they found pieces of couch cushion in Lacey's stomach, but the coroner's report does not include any such description, only that the stomach contained three hundred million liters of clear liquid with white mucus and brown sludge. No ulcers and small and large intestines were unremarkable, and upon opening contained only extremely scant brown fecal material. Lacey's hair was noted as brown and extremely matted into a twenty four by eighteen inch knotted ball. It could not be straightened for measurement or exact length. The paraneum is the small stretch of sensitive skin between the genitals and anus. Maggots were present inside the ulcers of Lacey's paraneum. The coroner said quote, if the maggots would have appeared after death, there would have been at least a minimal presence of eggs or larvae in the region of the eyes, ears, or nose. These areas, together with any wounds, are the preferred spots for colonization. There was no evidence of decomposition at the time of the autopsy. Therefore, it was determined that the maggots were present

23:19 prior to death. The incidental finding it autopsy was a postmortem swab testing positive bursars COVE two, also known as COVID nineteen. The corner writes, it is my opinion that the cause of death is sepsis due to osteomyelitis, which is a type of bone infection due to the cubitus al serious as a result of poor hygiene, prolonged immobility, and malnutrition as a result of chronic severe neglect. The manner of death is best classified psalmicide. Well, it appears that doctor Trucks Claire was the one to perform the autopsy on Lacy. Doctor Bickham was the corner and the one closest to this case from the medical Examiner's office. He was the one who responded to the scene that night when Sheila called nine one, and he was actually one of the first to arrive.

24:18 This was tough. This was tough. Slaughter First or Spider's Fire Department shareds. Deputies showed up on scene like within thirty seconds. They deemed that it was obviously a deceased individual, so they called me. When I first walked into the house, it smelled of feces thinkal material, however you want to put that politely. When I got to the body, the individual was basically sitting in a hole filled with liquid stool and urine. After we processed the scene, I was able to place her body in a black, black body bag and I took it down to Jeffs in Paris for autopsy. It's the worst pomatical neglect I've ever seen. No, I mean, I don't.

25:12 I don't know any other adjectives or adverbs. They add too that I've never seen anything like. This literally turned my stomach as bad as it did. It got me to be emotional, and I'm a pretty strong person. Coming up next week, in the conclusion to the Lacy Fletcher story, now, I'm told by District Attorney Samuel de Quilla that the grand jury will decide on Monday whether or not to charge Lacy Fletcher's parents in one of those charges, includes potentially second degree murder. Guys, back to you, all right, Lester, do a force tonight. Thank you if you don't want to wait till next week. Part two is available now on Patreon in Apple Plus.

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