Have you ever wondered if you could get away with
murder? Ever thought about ways to kill
someone without getting caught? You
really can do it. It’s easy.
My sister was murdered recently and her killers will
never, ever be brought to justice. She
was killed slowly and cruelly over a long period of time and it should never
have been allowed to happened.
She was diagnosed with an inoperable benign brain tumor 4
years ago. Her doctor attempted surgery
but was unsuccessful in removing the tumor.
She was told that in all probability the tumor would not grow and would
not become a problem, but her condition would be monitored and re-evaluated
every few months.
When she recovered from her surgery to remove the tumor,
she was completely normal for a time but she did eventually suffer some
disability. At that time she was placed
in a skilled nursing facility by her son and daughter-in-law. My nephew then got power of attorney over her
finances, and he and his wife became aware of the extent of my sister’s
financial situation. She had just under
$100,000 in her checking account when he took over her finances. My sister and her husband owned some very
valuable land and they also had some stocks and IRAs which produced an
income. My nephew and his wife were
married only a short time before my sister’s condition became known.
My sister was scheduled for a life-saving operation that
would shrink the tumor enough that she could function normally, but before that
could happen, her son’s wife talked him into refusing the surgery, and
convinced him it would kill her if they went through with it. She convinced him to fire my sister’s doctor
and she continued to live in the nursing home and received no further
treatment. My sister’s condition did
eventually worsen and she became weaker and began to fall frequently. Her daughter-in-law fabricated wild stories
about her behavior and convinced my nephew they were all true.
My nephew is
borderline retarded and easily led by someone who can manipulate him such as
his wife has done. He frequently
exhibits violent behavior. He has no job
and his primary source of income comes from selling drugs out of his home. He has been in and out of jail repeatedly
throughout his entire adult life. His
wife has also spent some time in jail and has no driver’s license because of a
number of DUIs. She does drive in spite
of having no license however.
Although my sister lived in a community several hours
from our family, my daughter and granddaughters visited her a few times while
she was living at the nursing facility and she seemed mentally alert and was
able to communicate with them in a normal manner. My nephew told my daughter on one of her
visits that he had a friend who worked in the kitchen and his friend ground up
some sort of pill and added it to her food, ostensibly to aid in her
recovery. He claimed she had been
diagnosed with dementia.
In the meantime, my nephew and his wife moved into my
sister’s home and took possession of her car, all her money and all her
belongings. Upon taking possession of
her house, her daughter-in-law immediately had the house completely
redecorated. Hardwood floors were
installed throughout, new furniture was purchased for every room, and all new
appliances replaced the existing ones.
It was virtually a brand new house when she finished the
renovation. After my sister was placed
in the nursing home, the daughter-in-law was heard to remark that if my sister
ever came home to live, she would leave my nephew. I believe that is when she began her campaign
to make sure my sister never got out of the nursing home.
Eventually, of course, all the readily available cash was
gone and they could no longer pay for my sister to stay in the nursing home so
they took her home to live with them.
What could have been a very agreeable arrangement turned into the
nightmare my sister endured for the rest of her life. The house has 3 bedrooms upstairs and my
sister could have lived comfortably in one of the available bedrooms. However, when they took her home they
immediately locked her in the basement and padlocked the door so she could not
come upstairs. Her daughter-in-law
didn’t want her upstairs because she was afraid my sister would soil the new
furniture. They took her food down to
the basement and she was never allowed upstairs to eat with the family. They took away all means of communication so
she could not contact me or anybody outside the house.
They began to systematically abuse her both verbally and
physically. Her daughter-in-law began to
hit her on the face, specifically on her ear presumably with the intention I
believe of making the tumor grow and becoming bad enough that it would kill
her. Her son berated her daily with
epitaphs such as calling her a filthy stupid old whore and other equally cruel
and unspeakable names. He told her she
was worthless and that she should just hurry up and die. This and any other way he could think of to
make her life miserable. Her
granddaughter came to visit her but my nephew (her father) wouldn’t let her go
down to the basement to see her grandmother.
She said he locked himself in the basement with my sister and she could
hear him yelling and berating her. By
that time she was falling frequently. She soiled herself occasionally and they
both refused to clean her up. She was
made to sit around dirty most of the time.
When she was in the nursing home she had a cell phone and
we talked frequently. I called her or
she called me at least once a week. She
was hopeful that she would be able to get a small apartment some place as soon
as she was able to take care of herself.
Eventually, however, my nephew cut off all communication between her and
the rest of the family. He called me and
screamed and cussed and told me none of us were welcome to visit her ever again
and threatened to have us arrested if we ever showed up in town or at the
nursing home. Shortly before she was
taken from the nursing home she called me on my birthday and we talked for
quite a long time. That was the last I
heard from her.
After a few months of trying to get in touch with her I
got the state agency for elder abuse involved and had the police go to the
house to see if she was okay. I had no
way of knowing if she was alive or dead and knew my nephew would never let me
know of her passing when and if it happened.
The police and local social workers did go to the house to investigate
and at that time my nephew called me to say if I was going to have people
running in and out of his house he was going to bring her to my house to
stay. I thought it was the answer to my
prayers. And, in a way it was.
I was advised by a nurse to take her to the emergency
room immediately upon her arrival here and have her checked out so if a
question ever arose about her health later I would have documented proof of her
condition when she got to my house. I
did take her to the emergency room when she got to my house and they found she
had two broken ribs, a urinary tract infection, a broken bone in her vertebrae
and nearly all her teeth were broken out.
She had several large bruises on her arms and torso. A social worker came to my house to visit
with her and spent several hours talking with her and that is when all the
abusive treatment she had suffered became known and documented.
She seemed so happy to be here and was able to take care
of herself up to a point. She was able
to get food from the refrigerator and was able to go outside and sit on the
patio. She was able to go up and down
the stairs to the bedroom she occupied and take showers and dress herself. Unfortunately, she fell one night in her bedroom
after going to the bathroom and hurt herself badly. I had to call an ambulance and she was taken
to the hospital. She had broken another
bone in her vertebrae and had to wear a neck brace. She never really fully recovered from that
fall and died a few weeks later. In
retrospect, I am so glad she was able to live free and happy if only for a
short time among the family who loved her so dearly.
My sister was a college graduate with a degree in social
science. She worked for the agency for
the aged for several years and traveled all over the southwest part of the
state where she lived. She eventually
got a job at the local hospital where she counseled people who had lost a loved
one or had someone who was terminal. She
worked there until she retired. She was
well-liked and respected by everybody who knew her. In all her life, I don’t believe she ever
said anything unkind or spoke badly of anyone.
She was active in local politics, attended church regularly and
volunteered to help wherever she was needed. Both she and her husband had a
very active social life and a large group of friends. They traveled extensively, going on skiing
trips and cruises. Her husband preceded
her in death by a year. They were both professional people and had accumulated
enough money to live out their lives comfortably after retirement.
Meanwhile, my nephew and his wife are enjoying the fruits
of his mother and father’s years of labor.
The two of them will never be punished for killing my sister because
there is no way to prove any of the above.
Clearly, they got away with murder.
