A disabled woman died after she was found in ‘filthy conditions’ with mold growing on her body – and her three adult children have been arrested.
Patricia Martinez, 57, died in a hospital in San Antonio, Texas, on Saturday, two days after deputies rescued her from her home where she was under hospice care, according to the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies found Martinez with mold on parts of her skin and insects had infested her room, said Sheriff Javier Salazar.
‘She was found wearing an adult diaper packed with feces in a dried state where it was physically causing infections in other parts of her body,’ Salazar told News 4 San Antonio on Friday.
Adult Protective Services (APS) informed the sheriff’s department after becoming concerned about ‘a steep decline’ in Martinez’s health, Salazar said.
Martinez’s children – Oscar Dominguez, 37, Roxanna Carrero, 24, and Pedro Luis Carrero, 18 – were charged on Monday with injury to a disabled person with serious bodily injury, which is a first-degree felony.
It was not immediately clear if charges against the children would be upgraded to murder with Martinez’s death.
The children lived at home with Martinez and were her caregivers. They were responsible for feeding and washing her, giving her medication and scheduling her medical appointments.
‘It appeared none of them were doing what they were supposed to be doing,’ Salazar said.
Before Martinez died, Salazar told KENS5: ‘It’s likely she’s going to pay with her life for their neglect. God have mercy on their souls when their time comes.’
An investigation into the death is ongoing.
All three children are incarcerated at Bexar County Jail with bond set at $85,000 each.
Martinez’s death comes seven months after an autistic 36-year-old woman, Lacey Ellen Fletcher, was found dead in her parents’ home in the town of Slaughter, Louisiana. Fletcher’s body was fused into the sofa surrounded by her own excrement.
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