Toledo News Now, News, Weather, Sports, Toledo, OH
Paramedics had to rescue a 75-year-old Ohio woman from her home last week after finding her skin molded to a chair that investigators say she may not have been able to move from for nearly a year.
WTOL 11 News obtained a copy of the Lucas County Sheriff’s report that states the fire department arrived at the home after a local church volunteer called 911 to report the woman was “not acting herself” when he stopped by to deliver her regular meal. The same church volunteer also allegedly told the firemen that he had not seen the woman in any place other than her chair since July of 2016.
Fire and rescue personnel had to put on hazmat suits in order to enter the home and reported a terrible odor coming from the home that could be smelled all the way out on the sidewalk. The firemen told investigators they discovered urine and feces covered the inside of the home. The church volunteer allegedly told the investigators that he had been delivering food to the home for 10-years and the home always smelled that way.
Once inside, first responders reportedly found the 550 pound woman unable to get out of her chair. She had been sedentary so long that her skin began to mold to the upholstery. They told the sheriff the woman began to scream in pain as they removed her from the home because she was so weak that “bones in her body were breaking as EMS tried to carry her out of the house.”
The Toledo Blade newspaper is reporting investigators do not believe the woman had any immediate family in the area. The county health department placed a sign on the door over the weekend declaring the home unfit for habitation and the woman is currently believed to be in an unknown hospital.
Neighbors of the woman told the newspaper they had not seen her in years.
A sheriff’s Lieutenant said detectives are reviewing the case to determine if any potential crimes were committed, but declined to provide any further specifics. A spokesperson for the county’s Adult Protective Services, the agency responsible for investigating claims or potential cases of elder abuse and neglect, also reportedly declined to confirm whether they were also investigating the case, citing the agency’s confidentiality policy.
[image via screengrab]