Coroner reveals horrific details in death of woman who disappeared over a decade ago

36-year-old Lacey Fletcher was found dead, covered in urine and feces, and “fused” to the maggot-ridden couch at her parents’ Louisiana home in January 2022. This week, her parents, Sheila and Clay Fletcher, pleaded no contest to manslaughter charges in her death.

The crime scene was so horrific and disturbing, and the nature of the situation so callous that the coroner responsible for handling the case claimed that it was the worst he had ever seen in his career.

Lacey Fletcher was diagnosed with autism and disappeared from the public roughly 15 years ago. Her parents claimed that she wouldn't eat, and she eventually was unable to leave the couch on which she was eventually found.

Dr. Ewell Bickham explained, "I’ve seen every kind of death there is. I’ve never seen a homicide like this. I have never seen a human being literally tortured and allowed to die while she is alive. I’ve never seen that (in) my life. … Lacey did not decompose. She rotted in her own body, in that hole, in that sewer, in the couch."

He went on, "When I walked in, the house smelled of a stench of, it smelled like a sewer or septic tank and also a smell of death. I’ve never smelled that in my life. I’ve dealt with decomposed bodies. I’ve dealt with all sorts of death, degradation, whatever, never experienced this in all of my career."

Lacey's parents denied the charges leveled against them, but it was clear that at best they had neglected their daughter and at worst had willfully let her die in one of the most horrific manners possible.