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Gayle Grinds was fused to the couch
When I read the story of the parents who let their disabled daughter, Lacey Fletcher, live on the couch for at least twelve years, like everyone else, I was appalled.
When Lacey, who was nonverbal, died, her parents were charged with manslaughter and sentenced to forty years in prison. How could they have let her live that way? Why didn’t they get help? There are still no answers to those questions.
A similarly disturbing story happened in Florida
Gayle Laverne Grinds lived with her companion in Stuart, Florida. Several years before she died in 2004, the 39-year-old woman broke her leg. While it healed, she sat on the living room couch.
The leg healed from that break, but unfortunately, it broke again. This time, Gayle was paralyzed with fear and was terrified of another break.
She sat on the couch and never moved for the next six years, not even to go to the bathroom. Eventually, her body became fused with the sofa.
Grinds lived with a companion she called her husband, though they weren’t married. Her brother and other family members visited the home occasionally. Someone paid the rent. Someone brought her food. These people must have noticed something wrong, but no one considered…
