Town responds to death of recluse in unheated home

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Town responds to death of recluse in unheated home

December 3, 2007

Boston Globe*

http://www.boston.com/news/local/maine/articles/2007/12/03/town_respo

nds_to_death_of_recluse_in_unheated_home/

SANFORD, Maine—Last month's death of a reclusive 51-year-old woman

in her unheated, mold-infested home has prompted the town to create

a new emergency response team.

more stories like thisThe body of Imelda LaRoche was found lying on

the floor next to her bed on Nov. 13 after police forced open the

door of her small, white clapboard home. Sanford officials had been

alerted to the problems at the home four days earlier and had

immediately condemned it.

Rather than move LaRoche out of the home abruptly, the town's

general assistance director, Ronni Lynn Champlin, asked police to

check on her during the long Veterans Day weekend. No one answered

the door when police stopped Saturday, Sunday and Monday, but

Sanford police Maj. Gordon Littlefield said it was not unusual for

her not to come to the door.

A determination of the cause of death will likely take several

months, according to the state Medical Examiner's Office.

Littlefield said there was no evidence of foul play.

LaRoche's house apparently had been without a working furnace for

several months. The basement had been swamped with three feet of

water in the Patriot's Day flood last April, Champlin said, and

furnace repair workers who arrived Nov. 9 were forced to leave

immediately because of the mold and mildew.

Champlin said LaRoche assured her that she would be fine and planned

to visit a relative over the weekend. " I told (the police) if you

get the phone call and if she needs to be placed (in alternative

housing), here's my phone number. Call me, " Champlin said.

LaRoche lived frugally on a fixed income. Some of her relatives said

she kept to herself and it was not unusual for her to remain out of

touch with them.

" It's very difficult to talk about, " said Gloria Fluet, one of

several LaRoche cousins in the area. " She was a very lonely person.

None of us knew her very well. She barely let us into her life. "

LaRoche was raised in the riverside home by her mother, who called

police " almost daily " in the 1970s to complain of strange knocks and

sounds, and insist that they check for prowlers, Littlefield said.

In the years after her mother died, LaRoche called with similar

complaints, usually about a man who was trying to get inside and

hurt her.

The house showed signs of longtime neglect, with piles of papers,

garbage, food and debris crammed in each room. The kitchen was lined

with overflowing garbage bags and filth covered the inside of the

refrigerator.

Since LaRoche's death, the town has assembled a new emergency

response team consisting of Champlin, police and fire officials, the

code enforcement officer and the town manager.

The group has already identified a few other people who might be in

similar situations, and sent out the new team to check on their

health and the conditions of their homes, Champlin said.

Today, pine boards are nailed across the doors of LaRoche's house

and a bright red sign says it has been condemned. Some clothes are

still pinned to a broken clothesline in the yard, next to a broken-

down wooden glider chair and a rusted Radio Flyer wagon.

" This continues to bother me today, " Champlin said. " I just want

people to be aware: If you have a neighbor in need or a family

member in need, you need to watch out for them. "

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Information from: Portland Press Herald, http://www.pressherald.com