Panama City Beach, FL – As if small children aren’t enough of a black hole of need, nature comes along and plays another cruel joke on the able-bodied by saddling them with the elderly.  One day you are thanking your lucky stars that your babies are finally able to use the toilet without assistance and next thing you know, you are having to invest in adult diapers for your parents.  Life seems so unfair sometimes.  It’s a good thing that most of us love our families enough to gladly put up with this inconvenience.  After all, they took care of us and allowed us to live when we were screaming toddlers and snotty teens, the least we could do is return the favor.  Or at the very least hire someone to return the favor for us – someone like Geraldine Shockley, a caretaker hired by 94 year-old Bessie Borth and her family.  Oh wait, Shockley wasn’t a great caretaker.  Actually, she was a pretty shitty one.  Borth was found dead, and it wasn’t from natural causes.

Geraldine Shockley

Early Wednesday Morning, Shockley called 911 saying that she found Borth dead on the floor of her apartment.  When law enforcement arrived, they found Borth’s body at the bottom of a staircase with a broken lamp and coffee table strewn on top of her.  Things looked hinky so they investigated a little further.  After confronting Shockley about the inconsistencies, she stated that Borth had fallen down the stairs and when she didn’t die from the fall, she placed a pillow over her face and suffocated her.  Upon further questioning, Shockley finally admitted to also being responsible for pushing Borth down the stairs.

Shockley is claiming to have snapped.  She says the elderly woman was mean to her, using profanities and *gasp* using the Lord’s name in vain.  Sounds about right. I mean, you can’t be expected to take that kind of abuse and not ever lose your shit.  We are only human. Right?

WRONG.  Apparently, Shockley was already under investigation for taking money from Borth’s banking accounts.  It is alleged that she had stolen thousands of dollars from the woman.  As investigators looked even deeper into her past, they found that the 78 year-old caretaker had served time in the early 80’s for shooting and killing someone in a domestic dispute.  Not only that, they are looking into a couple of other cases where elderly persons have died while under her care.  Wow.  You would think that if she had some experience under her belt, she would not have carried out this murder like a bumbling idiot.

Who knows? Maybe at 78 years of age, she figured it was going to be her turn soon to require a caretaker and didn’t want to end up with someone like herself.  Prison is about the same as some nursing homes in alot of peoples eyes and you can always count on others to watch out for your civil liberties while you are in there.  Too bad.  I think she deserves to be treated the same way she treated Ms. Borth, a vulnerable adult who depended on her to make sure she was safe and comfortable during her last years of life.

Source|Source|Arrest Affadavit

Black Diamond, WA –  Christopher Wise, 41, was a lazy son who didn’t have a job and lived with his mother.  That alone isn’t a crime, but allowing Ruby Wise, 88, to slowly starve to death is.  He lived downstairs while his mother was confined to the upstairs of their home.  Out of sight doesn’t always mean out of mind. Wise’s mother began to wail and moan in pain.  He bought himself a pair of earplugs.  Her cries of pain and anguish went on for hours, for days, neighbors were disturbed.

Christopher Wise

Christopher Wise brushed off neighbors’ concerns for his mother saying she had fallen from her bed in April, and had dementia.  I assume he made the diagnosis himself, as his mother hadn’t been seen by a doctor in over two years.  Finally the cries stopped, Ruby Wise was dead, released from her living hell, weighing only 70 pounds. Medics found several extremely deep and open bed sores on Ruby Wise that exposed her bones. The woman was also extremely emaciated with “no apparent muscle or fatty mass,” the document said. The woman was wearing a hospital gown and an adult diaper, which was heavily soiled, statement said, and lying in a dusty bedroom in between bed sheets that were stained with dried blood, urine, feces and possibly pus.

Christopher Wise was arrested for Homicide by Abuse,  his bond set at $250,000.  He admitted in his statement, “he guessed he should have got more help for her”.  Rest in peace Ruby Wise, your son has already put you through hell.

Source

St. Petersburg, FL- If I ever live to be in my eighties, I want to be a feisty old broad like Joyce Trace. In the nursing home or psych ward, wherever it is that my kids decide to dump me off at, I plan to be the motherfucking Godmother of the place and smuggle in as much booze and contraband as possible. I will have my own “soldiers” who will be active in making sure the rest of our “grey ones” are properly taken care of and anyone who tries to interfere with the “family“, will be “sleeping with the fishes” just like Joyce’s attacker.

It all began this last Friday when 81-year old Joyce Trace was on her way to the bank. A man approached her and asked for a dollar. When Joyce told him “No“, he put her in a headlock and tried to pull her down. Not one to play victim, Joyce “In Your Face” Trace fought back.

“He was beating me. I was kicking. I was screaming,” said Joyce. “I’m not a sissy.” No, you most certainly are not, darlin! He was the sissy. You are a fiery little pistol that is just way too hot to handle! The attacker pussy released his victim challenger and ran off. He ended up at the edge of a nearby lake, known as Mirror Lake, and jumped in after telling a group of people close by, “You guys didn’t see me.” Derrr, okay!

Bystanders, who believe the man was homeless, said he was often seen at the downtown park which is located behind a library. Some witnesses said the man appeared to be intoxicated and was stumbling down the embankment before he dove into the water. “He was drunk,” said a friend of the man’s, William “Pop” Shumate. “He’d been drinking a six pack of beer earlier in the day.” Shumate, who came upon the scene right after the man’s swan dive, said he was looking in the water to see if he could spot any fish and, instead, seen his friend’s head surface briefly. “I saw bubbles, then he went back down,” Shumate said. Glup, glup, glup.

Mirror lake happens to be about 7′ deep with an additional 4′ layer of silt and sand below it. The lake swallowed his ass whole which gives proof that not all turds float. Authorities arrived at the scene within minutes and began searching for the man. Divers suited up as a crowd of onlookers gathered. Joyce Trace sat on a nearby bench cradling her elbow and holding an ice pack to her left temple. She was worried the attack would make her appear weak when, in truth, she is a feisty little lady who still enjoys dancing. Damn. Bow-Chicka-bow-wow.

Divers searching for the man in Mirror Lake.

About 90 minutes later, the man’s body was pulled from its watery grave by a diver. When officers approached Joyce and told her the news, she buried her head in her hands. She later told a reporter, “He could have killed me.” She also stated that the left side of her face was beginning to swell and she could not move her arm. Authorities are not releasing the man’s identity until they have found and notified his family.

Thanks goes to SoJaded for linking me up! I’ll lay off the bunnies…for awhile. *evil grin*

Michelle Bullard

Some mother-in-laws can be an awful pain-in-ass sometimes. They can be intrusive, over-opinionated, and pushy about always having their way, especially at family gatherings. I admit, I have have had some intense moments with my MIL that caused me to imagine some very entertaining ways of shutting her ass up, but they were just imaginary thoughts and I never would have acted out any of them. Although, I did enjoy the uneasy look she’d give me every time she caught me smiling at her.

On March 2, 2009, for some unknown reason, Michelle Bullard’s mother asked a neighbor to watch Michelle’s mother-in-law, Katherine Bullard, for a short time. Once inside the home, the neighbor noticed injuries all over the woman’s body and called other neighbors for help.

The police were notified and when they arrived, they found Katherine Bullard with severe injuries to her head, right eye, right cheek, chin and severe bruises on both arms and legs. She also had several bite marks on her chest. Her head had bandages from previous injuries and both hands had two fingers taped. Police said it was very difficult for Katherine to speak due to her facial injuries. She appeared very frightened and in severe pain.

“Her head was twice the size it normally was,” said one neighbor. “You could tell she had been beaten unmercifully. There wasn’t a place on her body that wasn’t bruised to take her blood pressure.”

When police asked what had happened, Katherine Bullard, who was described as 84 pounds, started crying and shaking. She said her daughter-in-law had beaten her the night before on the head and face with a flashlight and one of the bulldogs at the home had attacked her. Katherine told police that this has been a recurring thing and that Michelle Bullard would pull and snap her fingers, kick her to make her fall down and she even cut one of Katherine’s fingers to the bone. When the police questioned Michelle Bullard, she denied the allegations, but she did admit to putting the dog in her mother-in-law’s room knowing the dog would bite the woman. Sick! Vicious! Bitch! 84 lbs? *smacking forehead* I guess that’s why Michelle needed the 3x smock!

This was not the first time the police visited the Bullard residence. They have been called to their mobile home on other occasions, but none generated an incident report. They did not specify how many callouts there were or the reasons why they were called out.

If that is not fubar enough for you, it gets worse. Police arrested Bullard in January 2008 after Katherine Bullard went to a nearby hospital to be treated for minor cuts and bruises. The police report stated the bruises were not an accident and Katherine later told the nurses that her daughter-in-law pushed her off the couch. Michelle Bullard told police she fell. The charges were dropped in May.

Michelle Bullard is now charged with aggravated battery of someone 65 or older and jailed in lieu of $100,000 bail. It is unclear how Katherine Bullard is doing or where she is staying, but she is very afraid of returning home. I hope, wherever she is, that she fully recovers and is able to enjoy the rest of her life in comfort and, finally, some peace.

I could not find anything yet on Katherine’s son except that he’s hiding like the cockroach he is and could not be reached for comment. Let’s hope this turd gets flushed right along with his sadistic sow!

Thanks again to Unamused Cat who has this in the forums!

Redwood City, CA - On whom do you rely?  I mean, if everything in your life were to fall apart and you needed someone to help you when you were no longer able to help yourself, who would you turn to?  For me, it would be family.  Whether I needed a loan or a place to stay, there are a number of people who I know would help out, whether or not they’d be happy about it!

Amelia Ramirez knows no such comfort.  Amelia is a 58-year-old woman with the mental capacity of a 5-to-8-year-old.   Her loving and devoted brother and sister took her in and promised to take care of her, but it seems as if they forgot how vulnerable she is somewhere along the way.  Well, that, and they liked getting her monthly disabilty checks quite a bit.

It all started when police received a call on November 18 about a teenager brandishing at knife at a home on MacArthur Avenue.  While police were taking a look around, they happened upon Amelia Ramirez in the backyard, shivering in a thin nightgown.  She had trouble answering their questions, but it turns out that while Bertha Cano Lozano, 45, and her brother Jesus Cano Ramirez, 53, were living in their 3-bedroom house with their 7 pit bulls and Bertha’s 16-year-old daughter (she of knife-brandishing fame), Amelia was living on the dirty, concrete floor of an 8-by-12 foot shed in their back yard.  That’s the shed up in the picture at the top.  Looks comfy, no?

She had a single mattress on the floor, one thin blanket, a lamp, and a small heater with a frayed cord.   What she did NOT have were running water, a TV, a radio, books, etc.  It was pretty much one mentally-incapacitated woman left to rot in a shed.   The family claims she was happy out there, and that she had a Barbie doll and a coloring book for entertainment.  I know that would make me ever-so-much happier in that situation, and I’m sure Amelia would have expressed her appreciation if only she had the mental capacity to do so.

Apparently, Amelia has been living in that shed for 20 years.  Yes, that’s T-W-E-N-T-Y years.   And in a surprising twist, her siblings have been cashing and keeping Amelia’s monthly Social Security checks the whole time.  Furthermore, the prosecution contends that the theft extended to her share of the home which the three siblings equally inherited and from which she was excluded.    A nurse argued at a hearing on December 3 that Amelia Ramirez does not have the mental capacity to understand the theft of her benefits or inheritance.   Doesn’t it warm the cockles of your heart this holiday season?  I’m not entirely sure what cockles are, but mine are all atingle.

Bertha Cano Lozano and big brother Jesus Cano Ramirez have both been charged with elder neglect.  Bertha has also been charged with embezzlement of an elder by a caretaker.  Both have pleaded not guilty to all charges, and remain in custody in lieu of $250,000 bail.  They appeared in court on December 3, where the defense argued that their crimes were being overblown, as they did not participate in activity likely to produce great bodily injury or death.  The smart judge saw it otherwise, and declined to lower bail or drop any charges.  Both are scheduled to return to court December 18 to enter a Superior Court plea and set a trial date.

Amelia is in the care of Adult Protective Services.  I hope the strangers responsible for her will see that she gets some warm clothes, a proper bed, and a little TLC, since her family never did.

Dogs, left; and accomplice Jennifer Markwith, right.

http://www.myspace.com/51242516

Parkland, WA - Michael Warner wasn’t an old man at 55, but he was a very sick man, wheelchair bound in his final days with cancer, hoping to die at home with a little dignity. Frail, he scarcely weighed 100 pounds and was unable to care for himself in any fashion. Yvonne Bell lived with her father, along with her lover and his “unofficial” caregiver, Jennifer Markwith. They gave him little care and police suspect the couple were helping themselves to his pain meds.

Jennifer Markwith had dogs, lots and lots of dogs. So far the count is at twenty-seven, eighteen are puppies. A puppy mill perhaps? The puppies were kept inside the house. Some of the older dogs were allowed to run free, becoming the scourge of the neighborhood, attacking people and other pets. Calls were made to the sheriff’s office and Animal Control in the past. Nothing was done. I’m sure that Warner didn’t have much say in his life by this time, totally dependent on the whims of his non-caregivers. To call that pair caregivers would be a farce.

Giving little or no care, Bell and her girlfriend would just take off together when and where they pleased. It wasn’t even the first time they had left him alone unable to care for himself. Neighbors say that in the past, Warner had stumbled to into their yard before looking for help. This time it was different. Bell and Markwith left him home alone, trapped with over two dozen starving dogs. This time he couldn’t go to his neighbors for help.

Michael Warner was left alone for days in his feces covered house with eighteen puppies and several grown dogs. Surely Yvonne and Jennifer didn’t expect him to care for them. The dying man couldn’t even fend for himself. The animals hadn’t been fed for days and were starving. They had been abandoned along with Warner, trapped in a hell hole. Somehow Warner ended up on the floor, unable to defend himself or call for help as the puppies began to feed from his ravaged body.

When the selfish pair of non-caregivers finally got around to returning home, they found Warner bloodied, barely clinging to life. He is now in critical condition and being kept alive by machines. Bell and Markwith went back to the house to make a half-assed attempt to clean up before investigators arrived. Police state the inside of the house is “nasty” and “unfit for human habitation”, with dog feces everywhere. They both were arrested.

I can’t imagine how anyone would just go off and leave their animals to go hungry for days, much less be so selfish, cold and heartless to allow their dying father to become dog kibble. I think there will be a special place in Hell for Yvonne Bell and Jennifer Markwith.

As well as disabled and unable to defend themselves.

SANDUSKY, Ohio - John Reims, 49, was a night-shift nurse at the Concord Care and Rehabilitation Center. He has been accused of sexually abusing at least two dozen elderly or disabled patients. Police said that John Riems recalled abusing nearly 100 patients during a 20-year career but that he could remember specific information only on 24.

Reims pleaded not guilty in Sandusky Municipal Court to felony charges of rape and gross sexual imposition. Investigators are now looking into Riems’ past employment at other facilities.

Thanks for the story, Becca! It is another one this month that reminds me to be real nice to my kids.

Here’s one that has a bit of everything to give you some nice sobering thoughts before you go to bed tonight. 82-year-old Anthony Digiannurio, of Deltona died on Monday.  He was a resident at the University Center West nursing home. Back in November he was rushed to Florida Hospital Deland for breathing problems. Once there the hospital staff noticed he had maggots in his left eye as well as an infected breathing tube, bed sores on his left elbow and his catheter was not inserted correctly.

If that doesn’t have you wondering about your 401k or lack of one, or what the hell you are going to do when you get old, I don’t know what will. Not surprisingly, a representative from the nursing home said Digiannurio had “constant care from multiple hospice workers and two certified nursing aides at the nursing home.” They are just as shocked as everyone else. The Department of Children and Families is still investigating as they may not know the actual gestation period of a maggot, but like me, they doubt someone stuck them in his eye on the way to the hospital. The state has cited the center for 27 violations in the last two years, and investigators said there is a pattern of violations for insufficient staff.

Since this man was treated like shit, I felt compelled to find some more information on the guy. Here is what I found. In July 1988, Anthony Digiannurio was awarded the Purple Heart for being in the European Theatre of Operation on Sept. 8, 1945. He was honorably discharged from the Army in April 1946. He was also an author, an award winning poet and a painter. He wrote nine books, according to his daughter, and one of his books was published in 2001.

The actual cause of his death has not been determined, but the family is talking to a lawyer.  Personally, I hope they get the place shut down and I am more shocked that it is still open. I did a little searching on this guy, trying to find his specific work, and found his name listed as a contributing artist for some 1954 issues of the comic Weird Tales. If anyone is able, I would love to know if this was the same guy.

Also, as the world weeps today for the death of an actor,  I really wish they would focus more of that energy on some of the world’s real heroes. Guys like Anthony Digiannurio.