1.26.2011

The Players

Tammy Williams - Married to our 2nd cousin, daughter-in-law to Gary and Joyce Williams. Tammy worked in the Business Development Office in the Lee County Courthouse, prior beautician and  appears to have a friendly relationship with attorneys and judges in the courthouse, both for working at the courthouse and “doing hair”. . Elizabeth King-Jones -because she lived out-of-state- had Tammy Williams to co-guardianship our Father, Clarence King and, for a temporary period of time, for Mother. Five people were willing to testify that Tammy Williams committed perjury on her testimony, a story that will be added later.  She was daddy’s co-guardian when Elizabeth King-Jones emptied out mother and daddy’s savings, leaving mother penniless.

Gary and Joyce Williams - Gary is the brother-in-law to Lee County Sheriff Gary Parsons and prior Chairman of the Lee County Republican Party.  Lee County is almost wholly Republican, making him a very powerful man.

Gary Parsons - Lee County Sheriff. Long working relationship with Judge Tammy McElyea as a prior county attorney, prosecuting attorney and Chief Justice of the 30th District  Circuit .  Also, brother-in-law to Gary Williams, husband of Joyce Williams who sided with Elizabeth.  Wonder if Elizabeth gave Joyce mother’s grandfather clock that she always wanted?

C. Adam Kinser. Elizabeth’s attorney and partner in Montgomery and Kinser Law Firm -prior firm of Cynthia Kinser, Chief Justice of the Virginia Supreme Court and mother of C. Adam Kinser.
Chief Justice Kinser is a past Lee County Prosecuting Attorney-as was Judge Tammy McElyea..

Greg Edwards - Our father’s ad litem. Mr. Edwards, during the period of time he was ad litem, was the client of Montgomery and Kinser for a DUI.  This is relevant because during an  “unexpected” event in court, he said that daddy told him a joke so he must be competent.  Thus C. Adam Kinser (Elizabeth’s attorney) won yet again and our father who had had dementia/Alzheimer’s for at least 6 years and had not been able to function well for several years-was declared competent.  Thus Elizabeth victoriously walked away with everything mother and daddy had left for the 3 of us to share.  More importantly, Elizabeth took daddy out of state and he disappeared from his family and friends until his death was reported in the Dayton Ohio paper a year and a half later.

Larry King:  Son of Clarence and Athelene King.  For a year, he and his wife lived in the basement of his mom and dad’s house at his father’s request because Athelene had started falling and Clarence, being a frail, slight man, could not pick her up or take care of her needs.  Larry and his wife built a house next to his mom and dad and continued taking care of their needs for 4+ years as they rapidly declined.  

Barbara Lochner:  Daughter of Clarence and Athelene King who quit her successful job in California and moved to Pennington Gap in 2007 to take over the care of her parents so that Larry and his wife could move to GA and resume working.

Elizabeth King-Jones:  The youngest daughter of Clarence and Athelene King who blamed Barbara (who left home early to avoid a physically abusive father) and Larry (who joined the Navy at 17) for abandoning her.  As she angrily said, “The two of you left me with that crazy man!”

The dog

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7jRBFyJ56I&feature=youtube_gdata




Daddy's sister died and he became the owner of her dog.  Her biggest
worry had been what would happen to her little black poodle when she
died, and only after Daddy promised to take care of it did she
peacefully slip away.

By this time mother was completely bed ridden except for the few hours
a day the care givers maneuvered her into her wheelchair and pushed
her to her recliner in the den where she could enjoy the sunshine.  It
was from that window that she witnessed Elizabeth dig up and burn her
beautiful rose garden.

Anyway, on the third day after Daddy brought the dog home, he showed
up at our door with it.  “I can't keep this dog,” he said.  “It
whines.  It messes in the house.  We have a cat and we don't want a
dog.  You have to take it.”

So just like that, he handed us the dog and disappeared.  By this
time, he was deep into dementia and did not process very well.  For
example, one day he would ask us to help him buy groceries for the
household, then the next he would go into screaming rants that we had
purchased food for the house.  “I'm the head of this household,” he
would bellow at the top of his lungs.  “I decide what to buy and when,
and I am perfectly capable of going to the grocery store!”  When
reminded that he had asked us to buy groceries, he denied that he had.
 His Alzheimerish behavior made him very difficult to deal with.

So we were stuck with this dog.  I called my sister Barbara Gail in
CA.  She was the world's greatest animal lover and had 3 dogs of her
own.  She immediately booked a flight to Tri-Cities Airport and rented
a car and drove to The Flats.  There she stayed for a week visiting
mother and daddy and driving the dog around in the car to acclimate
her to the airplane trip that lay ahead.

Fast forward to 2008



Elizabeth decided that mother needed a dog, so she brought this rescue
dog to mom and dad's.  Mother, whose disease was a slow paralyzing of
her muscles, was totally bed ridden by this time.  Even though her
mind was still in tip top shape, the illness was taking its toll on
her ability to communicate.  Two things interacted at that time to
change destiny.

The first had to do with the dog.  It was not house broken and had no
clue how to go outside for its “business.”  So here is this dog that
Elizabeth has brought into our parent's home where our mother is so
medically fragile that her life was being sustained by round-the-clock
oxygen and regimented breathing treatments.    Elizabeth stayed for a
week or so while the dog was there.  It wore diapers which she
changed.  Then, she left, and left this untrained dog in our parents'
home, telling the care givers that they were to change its diapers.
Daddy, even further into dementia by now, was incensed that a dog
should wear a diaper, so he took it off.  The dog was peeing and
pooping all over the carpets and floors.  The house smelled awful in
spite of constant cleaning.

Two days after Elizabeth left the first care giver arrived at our door
early one morning.  She was crying and, from the looks of it, had been
upset for a while.  She announced that she would not stay in the house
with the dog.  She made it clear that she loved mother and would do
anything for her, but she was not going to take her attention away
from mother to change a dog's diapers and clean up after it.  Such
diversion could have been disastrous for mother.  She said that
Elizabeth had told her that she had to do it, and that if she did not,
she could look for another job.  “Care givers are a dime a dozen,”
Elizabeth had told her.  I promised to take care of it.

I called Elizabeth and talked to her.  She listened, but would not
reply.  She just held the phone and listened, then hung up.  I waited,
thinking that surely her better sense would prevail and she would call
back.  She did not.

The next day both care givers (the weekly one and the week-end one)
came to see me.  They both said they would quit if the dog did not go
away.  Again I called Elizabeth to tell her how critical the situation
had become, but she did not answer the phone.  I left the message on
her answering machine.  She did not call back.

The next day I was visited again by one of the care givers with
assurance that she was going to quit and that I needed to start
looking for another care giver for mother.

You may say that I should just have let things remain as they were for
the sake of peace with my sister.  You may think I should have allowed
this care giver to walk and have hired another one.  But you would be
wrong.  For those of you who did not know Remy, allow me a moment to
digress so that you will have a full picture of the situation.

I had found Remy 2 years earlier.  She was of Philippine descent and
was married to a young man who lived near Duffield.  Remy was an
absolute marvel.  She bathed my mother every day, changed her bedding
daily, changed her briefs (mother was incontinent by this time), did
her hair, put on earrings, put on her make up, and topped it all off
with bright red lipstick.  I would go over to see mother, and there
she was in bed, propped up, watching tv, smelling like talc and
looking like she just stepped out of a fashion magazine.  Remy loved
mother.  She was never angry or sad, and was always talking, joking,
laughing.  Barbara Gail and I are convinced that the reason our mother
lived as long as she did was due to the care of Remy and the other
care giver, Angela.  Also, Remy was a worker.  The house was always as
spotless as mother.  In fact, it was the cleanest that house had ever
been.

Angela was a different type of care giver, but a jewel in her own
right.  She always did mother's nails in a bright red polish and kept
her hair dyed.  Neither of these tasks was easy.  Angela had to was
and dye mother's hair while she lay in bed.  Sometimes, she would have
to tie mother's hand to the arm of the chair with cloth because it
shook so she could not polish her nails.  But mother would have done
anything to have kept up that picture perfect image.  She knew that
she was approaching the end of life and she wanted a quality to
compensate.  Angela was attentive to her every need as well.

Both of the care givers also took care of daddy.  They had dealt with
Alzheimer patients before and knew how to calm him down when the rages
started. But neither could deal with him in the way that created the
second event that changed destiny:  his falling victim to Elizabeth.

Our parents had always done everything equally to all 3 of us
children.  If they gave one something, they would give the other two
the same or of equal value.  Even so, daddy always knew that mother
had no respect for Elizabeth and really did not like her.  She felt
that Elizabeth manipulated daddy to drain them of money.  Daddy, on
the other hand, was putty in Elizabeth's hands.  She was always
fawning on him and he loved that.  But Barbara Gail and I were a
different story.  He never liked the strong will that Barbara Gail had
always presented, nor the fact that I had been a banker rather than a
farmer.  It irked him no end that Barbara Gail and I would not pull
cedar saplings from the back 50 acres when we came home to visit.
Elizabeth, on the other hand, always went back with daddy and would
spend at least a day helping him pull cedars.  She was a girl after
his own heart.  Of course, he never really liked that fact that mother
did not pull them either.  He used to pine in private that mother
never helped him in the fields the way other men's wives did.  I guess
the fact that she worked full time and kept house for 5 people wasn't
written anywhere in his book of the top 5,000 important things in a
marriage.

So daddy started getting these phone calls from Elizabeth where he
would hold the phone for hours on end - listening.  After those calls,
he would enter mother's bedroom and bend over where she lay in bed and
start yelling at her about something.  Mother, who was frozen in bed
by her illness, was afraid and could do nothing to defend herself.
The care givers would try to get him to back off, but during these
times he would not respond until his rant was spent.

So I talked to daddy about getting rid of the dog.  I mentioned about
his sister's dog that he gave away because he already had a cat.  He
didn't remember that.  I told him this dog was running off the care
givers.  He responded by launching into a screaming rage about how he
could run his own household.

Again, both care givers visited my house and let me know that neither
would stay unless the dog went.  I called Elizabeth again and got her
answering machine again.  I told her that Barbara Gail was here and
was headed back to CA the following day.  Barbara Gail had agreed to
drive the dog to the Cincinnati airport to hand it over to Elizabeth
before her departure to CA. (Elizabeth lives outside of Dayton)  I
told her that if she did not want it, the dog was going to the pound.

Then, Woody, Elizabeth's husband called back and left a message.  I am
not sure what Elizabeth told him (she always said, “Woody knows what I
tell him”), but he threatened me on the phone if I took the dog to the
pound.

I called back.  No answer.  I told the answering machine that Barbara
Gail was staying at the Days Inn near the Cincinnati airport and would
be there from 5:00 until the next morning.  I told Elizabeth that she
had the dog with her and was waiting for Elizabeth to come pick it up.
 She did not.

The next day Barbara Gail was faced with a choice: send the dog to the
pound before she mounted the plane, or buy it a ticket and take it
with her.  She chose to do the latter.

Elizabeth saw this as an opportunity.  She convinced Daddy that we
stole his dog and got him so riled up that the two of them went to
court to get it back.  After ????????????????????????? months in
court, a judge who just wanted all of us to go away ordered the dog
returned to daddy.  Barbara Gail brought the dog back which by this
time she had successfully house broken.  Daddy hated that dog (“My cat
is afraid of it”) but Elizabeth continued to program him that this was
his dog (even though she had said it was mother's) and that Barbara
Gail and I had stolen it.

It was during this time that Elizabeth saw her opportunity for the
perfect coup.  She drove our father to the lawyer's office and had him
disown our mother (his wife of more than 60 years), Barbara Gail, and
me, thereby leaving everything our parents had worked for solely to
her and her children.  Fortunately, our mother had had the foresight
to see this coming years before and had taken daddy to deed all of the
property over to the 3 of us-to share and share alike.  Right!

--

1.20.2011

12.14.08 ekj threating Charlsie

From:
barbara lochne>   
To:
jrasnic@alltel.blackberry.com
Cc
 skwiselaw@hotmail.com

I am picking up Charlsie @ TriCity late this afternoon and taking her to Wayne's house.  As you may remember, Charlsie is a nurse and spent much of her career handling special cases at Yale Hospital.  She is 83 with a pacemaker but she's still pretty sharp and obviously has a special interest in mother's care.

Mother is still in ICU.  Her oxygen/blood level is critical and it drops. Today, it was 92/93.  That's low, according to Charlsie.  Yesterday, it got up to 97, which is good.  However, mother can not sustain that level without a full blown oxygen mask...which they put on, take off, put on, take off. Hopefully, mother will stabilize and come home in a few days.  Charlsie can be at home with mother and help Remy, mother's caregiver.

The problem, as ever, is sister Elizabeth.  She's camped out in parents' house and has told mother that when Charlsie comes into that house she will quote/unquote "have to deal with me".

There must be something you can do to insure safe passage to Charlsie so she can be with mother and help with her care.  What would that be?


Barbara Lochner,

Charlsie's Bruise 8.08


elizabeth, while in Mother's room (bedridden and unable to speak) agitated Daddy to the point that he knocked Charlsie down. This picture was taken at the Sheriff's Office. 



1.17.2011

War of the Roses

Elizabeth King-Jones was very cunning in her behaviors. She learned to manipulate our father, who had a third grade education and had been diagnosed with vascular dementia and Alzheimer's in 2005 (but the neurologist said he had had it for several years) and a prior stroke. The medical report appears later in this blog. When she saw that Barbara and I were to share equally after our parents passed (she took their wills), we began noticing behavior that we thought was bizarre, but now believe it was part of a plan that included the entire family on her victim list. 

There are so many incidents and we will attempt to include them all over the course of this blog.  But one stands out as memorable.  Our mother had been diagnosed with CBGD, a disease that ravages the brain and slowly paralyzes the body.  Mother had 24-hour live-in caregivers and Elizabeth was furious.  She and our mother had always had a rocky relationship.  Mother had indicated to us on many occasions that she felt that Elizabeth manipulated Daddy to get things, and we saw Daddy in turn bully mother to see that Elizabeth and her children received things that mother really did not want to give.  But, being mother, she chalked it up to life and kept most of it inside, only alluding to that dynamic as "Elizabeth and her children get plenty from us."   So as mother began to fall victim to her illness, she became less able to fend off physical or emotional threats.

Thus the story of mother's roses.  Mother had a garden of beautiful roses that she had used as her rose ministry.  Mother had worked for years as a volunteer at the hospital.  She hated living in Pennington Gap but she knew that it was my father's dream, so she made the best of what she deemed a bad situation.  Everyday before her shift at the hospital, she would cut several vases of roses and take them to the hospital.  Then she would see who was in the hospital and take them roses.  If no one she knew was in the hospital, then she would pick some of the elderly patients and take roses to them.  We lovingly called this "Athie's Rose Ministry.  Each rose bush had been given to her in some memorable way...mostly presents from dear friends, some of whome had departed.  She would tend her roses with such gentleness and love.  Each one brought a special happy memory to her.  

Mother had become unable to tend her roses anymore and daddy was deep into dementia.  He got it in his head that watering the roses cost too much money, so he would not allow the roses to be watered. It was during this time that Elizabeth was still in Ohio and she would call daddy everyday and he would hold the phone for hours listening to her.  After these calls, he was always disturbed and angry, screaming at everyone and just in general distressed and distraught.  We believe that one of the constant conversation Elizabeth had with daddy was about the high cost of the water bill and that watering the roses just cost him more money.  Daddy understood money.  Because he had never had much of it, he hoarded every dime and pinched pennies until they squealed, so the connection in his demented mind was powerful.   Caring for mother's roses equaled money.  He was fixated on the water bill and would talk about it constantly, especially after Elizabeth's phone calls.

When he went to feed his cats at the barn each night, my wife would sneak over to the house and water the roses.  Finally, Elizabeth moved in "to take care of my parents."  She was livid that the roses were still living, so she dug up every rose bush with every beautiful memory that our mother had for each and piled them and set them on fire.  Then she went to the store and bought new ones and planted them in the same devastated garden where mother could see them everyday...a daily reminder that Elizabeth was in control.   While mother's mind was sharp as ever, she had lost the ability to speak.   Barbara and I did not learn of this until one of the caregivers told us much later.  For a wonderful woman who had given all to others her whole life, this must have been a grievous wound.

*Psychopaths ...seem to have an innate ability to find the weakness in people, and are ready to use these weaknesses to their own ends through deceit, manipulation, or intimidation, and gain pleasure from doing so.

*not concerned about wrecking others' lives and dreams.  Oblivious or indifferent to the devastation they cause.

Initial Letter to Votel 12.28.2009


An initial call, early on, had been placed to shawn Hines, Lee County Prosecuting Attorney by Barbara Gail, but as to be expected, he listened for a moment, then hung up on her.


Ultimately Preble County, while investigating as a theft by deception recognized they didn't have the funds to bring those involved to Preble County for a grand jury and suggested filing with the Lee County Prosecuting Attorney. 


December 28, 2009

Martin P. Votel, Prosecuting Attorney
101 E. Main St.
Courthouse, First Floor
Eaton, OH 45320


Dear Mr. Votel,

I am asking the Preble County Prosecutor's Office to investigate and confirm that Elizabeth King-Jones of Preble County embezzled $14,851.42 from long-term health insurance payments she invoiced and received, which had the intended purpose of reimbursing the salaries paid for the continued care of our father. The money was apparently used for Elizabeth King-Jones's personal use. 

Unsure of the correct procedural path for filing a criminal complaint I copied Preble County Sheriff Michael Simpson.

I, Larry W. King, along with my older sister, Barbara G. Lochner, Rt2 Box 411H, Pennington Gap, VA 24277 were co-guardian and co-conservator of  our mother, Athelene V. King, Rt2 Box 559, Pennington Gap, VA from July 2007 until she passed away January 20, 2009. 

The younger and remaining sibling, Elizabeth King-Jones, 8213 US Route 35E, West Alexandria, Ohio 45381 has the durable POA for our father, Clarence King, who as of this writing, resides in Harborside Nursing Home in New Lebanon, OH.

Our parents both resided in their home in Pennington Gap, VA. Our mother was diagnosed with Cortico-Basil Degeneration (CBDG) in 2004. CBDG is a progressive disease gradually restricting movement, speech and paralyzing muscles, however, comprehension seemed to have continued with mother, but feeling more and more internally isolated until her death. In '04 and '05 our father began displaying symptoms of stroke and dementia until his first medical diagnosis of Vascular Dementia in October 2005.

Both parents had/have individual long-term policies with Genworth LT Insurance Company (formally General Electric) with a maximum dollar amount per policy, per day ($66-$80) to supplement the cost of in-home care providers. Each parent had, for at least 25 years, individual checking accounts. When it reached the point that both required 24hr care, the combined policies covered the full 24 hour provider cost. Barbara and I had oversight between 6PM and 6AM, meaning we paid the hourly rate, invoiced and reconciled those 12 hours per day. The invoices were reimbursed monthly.  Ms Jones did the same between 6AM and 6PM. Between 9.17.07 and 3.07.08, Ms. Jones filed invoices, collected the money from the insurance company to reimburse the providers, and kept the money. Mother was completely bedridden and Barbara and I were forced to use mother's money to pay for the care providers for our father between 6AM and 6PM that Ms. Jones had invoiced and collected -but not paid- to the providers. The providers continued to oversee our father who, though ambulatory, required constant supervision, hence determined 100% disabled by the insurance company.

Mother's estate is being overseen by Karen Bishop, Esq., P.O. Box 4023, Wise, VA, 24293. Several attempts have been made to determine the whereabouts of the 14K, but as I understand it, the last response from Ms. Jones was, "The providers were paid twice".  She doesn't have cancelled checks. During the time in question, Barbara and I were obviously well aware that they were not receiving money from Ms. Jones. 

I have available all check copies from mother's account to show the full amount that Barbara and I paid to the providers. The providers will attest to the fact that at Ms.Jones request they continued to file invoices to the insurance company. The insurance company, I'm sure, has copies of the invoices, and check receipts showing the amount of money being transferred to the designated account Ms Jones had control of for the purpose of paying for care providers.

Mother has passed, but laws have been broken.  As I understand it, embezzlement is misappropriation of money that a person is  responsible for.  Ms. Jones collected the money and did not spend it for the purpose for which it was paid. 

I will present myself in Preble County with any materials to which I have access in order to support the above allegation. 

Please be kind enough to provide me a contact in the appropriate office, so any additional written or phone information can be provided.  Hopefully, a determination could be made by the end of January, 2010.  

1.16.2011

Tags

Liz King-Jones, Elizabeth King,  Elizabeth King-Jones, Clarence King,  Athelene King, Tammy Williams,  Woody Jones, Spring Hill Sales,  C. Adam Kinser, Joyce Williams, Judge Tammy McElyea, Gregory Edwards

Elder Abuse - American Psychological Association - Office on Aging

Elder Abuse - American Psychological Association - Office on Aging







Most elder abuse and neglect takes place at home. The great majority
of older people live on their own or with their spouses, children,
siblings, or other relatives-not in institutional settings. When elder
abuse happens, family, other household members, and paid caregivers
usually are the abusers. Although there are extreme cases of elder
abuse, often the abuse is subtle, and the distinction between normal
interpersonal stress and abuse is not always easy to discern.


There is no single pattern of elder abuse in the home. Sometimes the
abuse is a continuation of long-standing patterns of physical or
emotional abuse within the family. Perhaps, more commonly, the abuse
is related to changes in living situations and relationships brought
about by the older person's growing frailty and dependence on others
for companionship and for meeting basic needs.

It isn't just infirm or mentally impaired elderly people who are
vulnerable to abuse. Elders who are ill, frail, disabled, mentally
impaired, or depressed are at greater risk of abuse, but even those
who do not have these obvious risk factors can find themselves in
abusive situations and relationships.

(Note: The caregiver would often go into mother's bedroom and Elizabeth would be standing over her saying, "I'm the good one, they're the bad ones.")

Elder abuse is the infliction of physical, emotional, or psychological
harm on an older adult. Elder abuse also can take the form of
financial exploitation or intentional or unintentional neglect of an
older adult by the caregiver.

Physical abuse can range from slapping or shoving to severe beatings
and restraining with ropes or chains. When a caregiver or other person
uses enough force to cause unnecessary pain or injury, even if the
reason is to help the older person, the behavior can be regarded as
abusive. Physical abuse can include hitting, beating, pushing,
kicking, pinching, burning, or biting. It can also include such acts
against the older person as over- or under-medicating, depriving the
elder of food, or exposing the person to severe weather-deliberately
or inadvertently.

(Note: Elizabeth would hold mother's hand and forecfully smack her arm while she was talking to her.  It was so bad at one point that the caregiver called the sheriff's office to report Elizabeth's violent behavior and was told, "We were told not to respond to calls from caregivers at this address.")

(Note: Our neighbor heard Daddy screaming "She's trying to kill me!" and came running.  Daddy had long since forgotten how things worked and was on a walker.  Nonetheless, Elizabeth decided that he should mow the yard on the riding mower.  She had put him on it and started it for him.  He had become confused and had driven it up underneath the back deck.  He had gotten stuck and his whole body and mower was jammed so tight that the mower would not move anymore even though he still had his foot on the gas.  Elizabeth was standing near the deck watching when our neighbor arrived and ran up underneath the deck.  One of the caregivers ran out of the house and helped the neighbor get him out from where he was wedged.  Daddy refused to go to the hospital, but shortly afterwards he ended up in the hospital with a staph infection from injuries and eventually was transferred to a nursing home for care.) 

(Note: Daddy's neurologist told Daddy and Elizabeth that under no circumstances should Daddy drive again.  We did not learn this until many months later.  Elizabeth continued to allow Daddy to drive.  Barbara, who was the court appointed guardian/conservator of mother at this time, did not renw the insurance or tag on the car which was in mother's name.  Daddy kept driving.  I purchased a boot and had it put on the steering wheel.  Daddy called the man who did little favors for him in return for 17 acres of free hay (Steve Pennnington) to come over and cut off the boot.  It ended up on my doorstep the next morning.  Barbara then had a state trooper come talk to Daddy about not driving anymore, and he said the wouldn't.  Shortly after that Elizabeth bought a van (her name but mother and daddy's money) and gave Daddy the keys.  Within 24 hours, Daddy had driven the van through the back of the garage, through the back room of the house, and off the deck.  The neighbor heard the commotion and came running.  Daddy was making donuts around the barn.  His foot was stuck on the gas and he could not figure out how to get it off.  The neighbor ran alongside the van, snatched open the door and pulled Daddy to safety.  Elizabeth had the van repaired and brought back.  Daddy still had the keys.)

(Note: Mother was on oxygen 24/7 plus oxygen treatment every 2 hours.  Her lungs would not expel.  Barbara received a frantic phone call from the caregiver at the time.  She said that Elizabeth had ordered her to take mother out to get some fresh air and park her on the porch under the pear tree while Daddy mowed the yard.  Everything was in full bloom, the air was thick with pollen, and mother was having difficulty breathing even in the house.  To have moved her outdoors under the pear tree at this critical juncture could have been lethal for her.   Barbara -the guardian at the time-told the caregiver absolutely not.)

(Note: Mother was past walking and talking.  Elizabeth had come down from Ohio for a visit.  While the caregiver was in the bathtub, Elizabeth attempted to move mother and "accidentally" dropped her.  She left her on the floor without telling the caregiver until the caregiver came into the room sometime later and found mother curled up on the floor.  Elizabeth went back to Ohio and the caregiver did not tell Barbara or me what happened.  Barbara was there a couple of hours later and mother had her eyes closed and was very quiet.  The next morning when Barbara noticed that mother was moaning and crying, she querried the caregiver who told Barbara what  had happened.  Barbara called the ambulance to take her to the hospital.  X-rays revealed no broken bones, but contusions around the hips and pelvic area  -which may or may not have happened as a result of the fall.  As a side note, the 5-day-a-week caregiver was TERRIFIED of Elizabeth and frozen with fear when Elizabeth and Daddy were together.  As mother has said a thousand times, referring to Elizabeth and Daddy, "I can't fight both of them.")

(Note: Remy called Barbara and told her that Elizabeth had defiantly taken mother to WalMart (without Barbar's permission).  This resulted in a major medical setback for Mother.  She ended up on antibiotics for 18 days.)  She also took her to get ice cream (windows down in the car, air blowing in mother's face).  They were gone for 3 hours.  Mother ended up coughing and congested,  which rolled right into a diagnosis of congestive heart failure.  She never recovered from that setback and began a slow decline in health from that point until her death.)

Emotional or psychological abuse can range from name-calling or giving
the "silent treatment" to intimidating and threatening the individual.
When a family member, a caregiver, or other person behaves in a way
that causes fear, mental anguish, and emotional pain or distress, the
behavior can be regarded as abusive. Emotional and psychological abuse
can include insults and threats. It can also include treating the
older person like a child and isolating the person from family,
friends, and regular activities-either by force or threats or through
manipulation.

(Note: Elizabeth had the sheriff' department throw mother's only living relative, her sister, off the property when she went over to visit.  Charlsie was an RN and she and mother have always had a close, personal relationship, partly because the two of them depended on each other as children when their father was killed and their mother sent them to an orphanage, and partly because they both ended up in relationships with abusive spouses.  Charlsie had divorced her husband but mother had never had the courage to do so because of what others might think of her.  Still, she occasionally talked about her lack of having done so to those closest to her.)
(Note: Mother's sister, Charlsie, being an RN, had made a wall of pictures in mother's bedroom of those people and events in mother's life that had brought her joy...pictures of people and snapshots of events.  Elizabeth removed all of the pictures from all of the walls and shelves in the house which were not of her or her family (pictures which were never seen again), repainted the wall in mother's bedroom, and placed large pictures of her and her family on the wall, on mother's dresser, and on all of the shelves in the entire house.  She took away (also never to be seen again) all of the little gifts that her loved ones had given her, such as a special pillow Barbara had given her that she loved and called her "Chocolate Pillow".  She visually erased mother's life.) 

(Note: Elizabeth removed all of mother and daddy's personal papers from the house -they always kept them in a briefcase in the closet- and took everything in the safe deposit box and closed it out.  The papers, which included notes on what their wishes were as well as their will, disappeared.  Mother saw her take the papers and could do nothing.)

(Note:  Elizabeth went through mother's closed in front of her in the bedroom and sorted through her clothes, taking everything that was nice.  She left only a few of the old gowns.  All of the new gowns, dresses, etc. that Barbara and Charlsie had purchased for her disappeared.)

(Note: Elizabeth perfected what Barbara and I called "The Quilt Walk."  Anything large that could not be sneaked out of the house without someone seeing it would begin "The Walk."  It would start in the room where the article was found.  Suddenly and unexplicably, the article would appear out in the room on a chair, bed, or table.  There it would sit for 2-3 days.  Then it would mysteriously appear in the next room closer to the garage, usually the living room which was rarely used.  Lastly, it could be found poised on the shelf above the washer/dryer.  There it would sit for 2-3 days until one day, it was just missing.  By them Elizabeth would have moved her car into the garage "to pack it".  The garage door is 3 steps from the washer/dryer.  Most of the valuables would disappear this way: quilts, afgans, clothes, pillows, pictures.)

(Note: The house phone was in the bedroom and living room.  As mother became more bedridden, Daddy started to answer the phone and say that mother wasn't available to talk.  This behavior started after the long listen phone calls started from Elizabeth.  It continued to get worse and Daddy wouldn't let mother talk at all on the phone.  To resolve the problem, Barbara and I had a separate line put in mother's bedroom next to her bed.  Elizabeth told the guardian ad litem that the phone in the bedroom needed to come out because it created a fire hazard.  When that didn't work, she tried unsuccessfully through the court to have it taken out. )

Financial exploitation can range from misuse of an elder's funds to
embezzlement. Financial exploitation includes fraud, taking money
under false pretenses, forgery, forced property transfers, purchasing
expensive items with the older person's money without the older
person's knowledge or permission, or denying the older person access
to his or her own funds or home. It includes the improper use of legal
guardianship arrangements, powers of attorney, or conservatorships

Financial or material exploitation is defined as the illegal or
improper use of an elder's funds, property, or assets. Examples
include, but are not limited to, cashing an elderly person's checks
without authorization or permission; forging an older person's
signature; misusing or stealing an older person's money or
possessions; coercing or deceiving an older person into signing any
document (e.g., contracts or will); and the improper use of
conservatorship, guardianship, or power of attorney.

Cues That Cannot Be Explained Medically May Signal Elder Abuse

Many of the symptoms listed below can occur as a result of disease
conditions or medications. The appearance of these symptoms should
prompt further investigation to determine and remedy the cause.
  •     Emotional/Psychological Abuse
  •      Uncommunicative and unresponsive
  •      Unreasonably fearful or suspicious
  •      Lack of interest in social contacts
  •      Chronic physical or psychiatric health problems
  •      Evasiveness 
  •      Financial Abuse or Exploitation
  •      Life circumstances don't match with the size of the estate
  •      Large withdrawals from bank accounts, switching accounts, unusual  ATM activity 

    Family Situations and Elder Abuse
    Family situations that can contribute to elder abuse include discord
    in the family created by the older person's presence, a history and
    pattern of violent interactions within the family, social isolation or
    the stresses on one or more family members who care for the older
    adult, and lack of knowledge or caregiving skills.

    Intergenerational and marital violence can persist into old age and
    become factors in elder abuse. In some instances, elder abuse is
    simply a continuation of abuse that has been occurring in the family
    over many years. If a woman has been abused during a 50-year marriage,
    she is not likely to report abuse when she is very old and in poor
    health.