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When death is violated
Posted On: 01/29/2008 01:20:29
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My father passed away last week. The phone call was expected, he was not well and Diabetes left his body brittle. He was 66.
His niece, Karen Desselle from Flippin, Arkansas, was hired to be his caregiver, She greeted us after we made the 6 hour trip to Arkansas. We were comforted at the amount of people who shared their stories and pictures. Funeral plans were discussed. He was a proud Navy Vietnam Veteran and we wanted his medals displayed and American flag on his coffin.
Afterwards we made the trip to his trailer, where he died. I walk in and was surprised to see his place bare and there were no pictures of us, his 3 children. My sister was closer to him then me and my brother. When we asked about all his belongings Karen responded by saying that she had already came in and took everything “that he gave to herâ€. My father was a genius man with a love of science and math, his huge collection of books were promised to me and what I would’ve treasured the most, they were gone. Karen response was a shrug of her shoulder. His TV, computers, cell phone, telescope, guns, what-knots, there was nothing left but a few pairs of socks and shirts that were several years old.
We did get some of his finical records and decided to get a hotel room for the night and try to understand what was going on. My father had excellent credit and kept his records in very organized files. We discovered that all of his 12 credit cards were maxed out over 40,000 and his bank account in overdraft. And this happened within that past 6 months!! His truck, 2 boats, 4-wheeler, RV were all put into Karen Desselle name in January 2008! They was trips to Florida in December, cash withdraws for thousands each month.
There were signs, we just didn’t understand them. My sister will have the hardest time with all this because Thursday my father called her crying and saying everything is gone, and he has nobody there to help him. Karen took the phone from him and was telling my sister that he was acting like a big baby and he was rambling about nothing, she was going to put him in a Nursing Home because she couldn’t take care of him anymore. He told my sister he would call her back when he got to his trailer and could talk in private. My sister never received that call and after not being able to reach him she called Karen back. She eased my sister down by say give him a couple of days, he’s upset, let him calm down. He was found dead several days later.
I’m telling my story because I want everyone out there to be aware of who is taking care of their parents. We put so much effect into making sure our children are safe now we must keep the predator from harming our parents. Seniors today are being exploited more and more and the laws can’t keep up. Make sure you openly discuss wills, and their plans upon death. We all shy away from this subject and thought “we have timeâ€.
The Police are investigating and the case I hope is strong enough but the real damage is done. I know in my heart this woman robbed and killed my father. I could’ve had another 20 years with my Dad, I will never know.
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