BATON ROUGE — A 74-year-old woman’s stepson and his girlfriend have been arrested after the woman was found dead in her home with a bedsore so severe that it exposed her bones, records show.
The sheriff’s office was called to Racelle Bueche’s home at 9504 Shady Bluff Drive about 3:20 p.m. Thursday because Bueche had died.
Investigators found her wearing only a “severely soiled diaper and a red T-shirt,” arrest records said.
“Deputies observed a large apparent bed sore on the victim’s back that exposed multiple bones and tissue,” arrest records said. “The victim appeared to be extremely malnourished.”
Her stepson Justin Bueche, 43, and his partner Heidi Trahan, 42, both lived with Racelle Bueche. Justin Bueche said they had been living with her for five years and described himself as an unemployed “recluse” who rarely left the house, his arrest affidavit said. Trahan was also unemployed.
Deputies noted that the house was in “deplorable” condition, with “little to no food” and with animal urine and feces throughout the house, the warrant said.
A reclining sectional sofa in the living room, where Racelle Bueche slept, “appeared to be covered in human urine and feces.”
He told investigators that his stepmother’s health had declined to the point that, two months ago, she had become bedridden “and could not move from the couch,” the warrant said.
He said that he had noticed open sores on Racelle Bueche’s lower back, buttocks and legs. He called a hospital on Sept. 17 to get information about how to treat the sores. He said he was told that she needed to be seen at the hospital and that the sores would not heal without medical help.
“Neither he nor the co-accused sought any additional medical attention for the victim after that telephone conversation with hospital staff,” the warrant said.
Trahan told detectives she was Racelle Bueche’s primary caregiver and claimed not to notice the bedsores when she bathed and changed Bueche, which she said was “maybe once or twice a day,” her arrest warrant said.
Both Trahan and Justin Bueche were booked into Parish Prison with second-degree cruelty to the infirmed. They remained there Tuesday with bond set at $100,000 for each, according to jail records.
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