Crime

‘She Was Starting to Decompose’: Woman Charged in Death of Morbidly Obese Sister

She Was Starting to Decompose: Woman Charged in Death of Morbidly Obese Sister

Priscilla Frieberger was still alive when she began decomposing in this recliner chair after sitting in it for three weeks. (Image source: WKRC-TV)

An Indiana woman has been charged in the death of her sister, a morbidly obese 61-year-old who was found decomposing in the chair she had not left for three weeks.

Priscilla Frieberger was still alive in the Dearborn County, Indiana home she shared with her sister when emergency crews found her in October, her skin sticking to the brown cloth recliner chair where she spent the last weeks of her life, sitting in her own waste.

Vickie Holdcraft, 58, called 911 when her sister began having trouble breathing. In a recording of the 911 call, Holdcraft is heard telling the operator crews will have to go around to the back of the house to get inside.

That’s because the home could have been something out of the TV show “Hoarders,” prosecutor Aaron Negangard told Cincinnati CBS affiliate WKRC-TV.

“There was stuff stacked up, in parts to the ceiling,” Negangard told the station. “The bedroom where the victim was located was full of stuff. The only way to get her out was through a window, they broke out the window, moved ambulance to the window, then got her out.”

Frieberger was in the recliner, not because she was obese, but because her skin was stuck to it, WKRC reported.

“She’d been in this chair at least three weeks, and she was starting to decompose. She had several parts of the body in a state of decomposition especially posterior where she was sitting.  There was an odor of decomposing flesh in the room,” Negangard said.

Frieberger later died of pneumonia and a blood infection. A grand jury on Friday indicted Holdcraft on charges of reckless homicide, neglect and perjury and a warrant was issued for her arrest.

According to WKRC, Frieberger worked for the county auditor’s office for 30 years before retiring in 2010. Holdcraft works for the health department.

Comments (82)

1 2
  • NOT A CRAZY
    Posted on February 5, 2012 at 5:29pm

    So the dead sister did not have any personal responsibility?

    Report Post » NOT A CRAZY  
    • Stoic one
      Posted on February 5, 2012 at 6:43pm

      This is a family of hoarders.A family member of mine indirectly knows these people. Mother, sister, & daughter of this family are all hoarders. There was a hoarder intervention in the fall and they refused help & treatment. So this was no surprise – suicide by apathy.

      Report Post » Stoic one  
    • SgtB
      Posted on February 5, 2012 at 7:30pm

      My family has already been warned about what will happen if I find their home in a state of hoarding. I won’t bother with an intervention or cleaning the place. It will be me dragging them outside and then a gallon of gas in the living room. Then they will be placed in a home or under direct supervision by myself and siblings.

      Report Post » SgtB  
    • jzs
      Posted on February 5, 2012 at 8:21pm

      First aid 101. If someone can’t get out of a chair, they need to go to the hospital. It’s sad though, pondering why this went on for three weeks.

      Report Post » jzs  
    • Jezreel
      Posted on February 5, 2012 at 8:22pm

      Why do they call it hoarding? That is stinking rotten filthy people who are lazy and sick in their minds. It is like they call adultery, “having an affair”. They change the name to something that don’t sound like what it really is. They try to soften it and not make it sound so bad.
      People who live this way, it is obvious that they are very mentally ill to live in sqalor and filth. It shows something really wrong is going on the inside.

      Report Post »  
    • Stoic one
      Posted on February 5, 2012 at 10:23pm

      JEZREEL
      The larger the population size the greater chance to observe aberrant behavior; therefore 312,000,000 sample size gives way to actions like this. This is still mentally deficient behavior.Notice i did NOT say ILL. This is a choice to act like this; not a disease.

      Report Post » Stoic one  
    • loriann12
      Posted on February 6, 2012 at 7:11am

      all that filth and she used to work for the HEALTH department? And the other lady worked in government, too? Makes a sort of statement on the quality of workers, doesn’t it?

      Report Post »  
    • rovinrobin
      Posted on February 6, 2012 at 8:16am

      My thoughts exactly.

      Report Post »  
    • Rowgue
      Posted on February 6, 2012 at 12:42pm

      @JEZREEL

      Exactly. This is not hoarding, and most of the cases they have on the show aren’t either. Hoarders are people that collect things and buy things, and just don’t have the mechanism that tells a rational person to stop.

      What these people and most of the people on the show are is what we used to call lazy slobs. They aren’t collecting things, they just don’t throw away their trash. They’re not buying things until it fills up their house, they‘re just wallowing around in their own filth because they’re too lazy to do anything about it.

      Report Post »  
    • branch manager
      Posted on February 6, 2012 at 5:23pm

      Not a good story for government workers.

      Report Post »  
  • spirited
    Posted on February 5, 2012 at 5:21pm

    “Holdcraft works for the health department”
    ““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““
    Doing What?

    Skilled carpenters and ‘handy’-men often have homes that lay in endless wait of repair.
    Resturant cooks often eat pre-packaged / frozen meals.
    Many people study psychology for self-help reasons and often, just end up being ‘educated’ idiots

    >(so to speak).

    Report Post » spirited  
    • jespasinthru
      Posted on February 5, 2012 at 7:02pm

      There’s an old saying about that: “The shoemaker’s children are often barefooted.”

      Report Post » jespasinthru  
    • CarpeDiem1985
      Posted on February 6, 2012 at 1:48pm

      There are also professional skilled professional carpenters who build beautiful homes for their families and renovate old homes. The difference between the two has nothing to do with profession, and everything to do with personal character, pride and work ethic.

      If we still lived in a culture that visited in one another’s homes, this kind of mess wouldn’t happen. Anyone who would let a family member sit in and DEFECATE in a chair for weeks should be strung up. Why didn’t she call for help weeks before?

      Report Post »  
  • phillipwgirard
    Posted on February 5, 2012 at 5:16pm

    What the HE!! is wrong with everybody? Have we gone insane as a society? The whole world watches and laughs at the way we are as a people,,,

    Report Post » phillipwgirard  
  • geonj
    Posted on February 5, 2012 at 5:14pm

    so much for personal responsibility. blame the sister. give me a break. she killed herself. it was her choice. it wasn‘t the sister’s responsibility. put me on that jury.

    Report Post » geonj  
    • CLS
      Posted on February 5, 2012 at 6:20pm

      With barely enough facts to cram into a thimble, you’re ready to lay the blame on the dead sister?

      Report Post »  
    • UrbanCombatSurvivor
      Posted on February 6, 2012 at 12:47am

      @CLS
      With the same scant facts you‘re ready to remove the dead woman’s personal responsibility?

      Report Post »  
  • One Man Progressive Wrecking Crew
    Posted on February 5, 2012 at 4:45pm

    These hoarding shows sure are exposing a twisted side of American consumerism gone off the deep end in cases like this..and man, how does one’s own sister let you get to this condition? As the saying goes, with family and friends like that who needs enemies. And not to mention when one’s own mind becomes the enemy as well.

    NOW, let’s lay in to the lady herself for letting her life spiral out of control like this……mentally ill or whatever, one would think when the sewer and water stops it’s time to clean up, but remarkably they don’t lack people to film who do not.

    Personal responsibility, an long, long, foregone American trait and the first one lost whence spiraling towards the nanny state. :(

    Report Post » One Man Progressive Wrecking Crew  
    • piper60
      Posted on February 6, 2012 at 2:46am

      The deceased was undoubtedly both a product of public education AND an Obama supporter.

      Report Post » piper60  
  • Apple Bite
    Posted on February 5, 2012 at 4:44pm

    Similar happened in Kansas where a woman who couldn’t get off the toilet, had her boyfriend bring her food and other things that mattered to her, to the bathroom. She died, he was charged for her death. Guess common sense has no meaning to some in this day and age….

    Report Post » Apple Bite  
  • disenlightened
    Posted on February 5, 2012 at 4:23pm

    I really hate to say it, but you just know they were both Democrats. Just like there parents.

    Report Post » disenlightened  
  • Baddoggy
    Posted on February 5, 2012 at 4:16pm

    I am of the opinion if a person is so fat that they have to be fed by others then when they die of a heart attack, that person should be prosecuted for murder.

    Almost all of the morbidly obese that are homebound cannot get out to get food. they depend on friends and family to enable them. So stop feeding them so damn much or go to prison for abuse.

    Freedom comes with responsibility.Looks like niether of these two understood that. Especially the one who worked for the health depatment…Sicko.

    Report Post » Baddoggy  
  • Slowman101
    Posted on February 5, 2012 at 4:13pm

    A sad story.

    Report Post »  
  • NEMATIC
    Posted on February 5, 2012 at 4:11pm

    I guess living under conditions like this, it’s difficult to invite others over. You would have to know as soon as an official was to see their home, there would be questions to answer.
    “Oh if not but for the grace of God, there goes I”.

    Report Post » NEMATIC  
  • 666Sucks
    Posted on February 5, 2012 at 4:10pm

    In a way, the dyeing women mirrored America, fat, dumb, lazy, in denial, rotting on the outside, horrible infection raging inside, still breathing but labored, virtually worm food on the hoof. Another sign from God, call 911 this election, SANTORUM, or be prepared for the inevitable.

    Report Post » 666Sucks  
  • FreeUsAll
    Posted on February 5, 2012 at 4:07pm

    Please, don’t think this as an “Indiana thing.” We don’t all function like this particular case. We Hoosiers are normally responsible and able-bodied people. As for people like this, I don’t necessarily consider them Hoosiers. I feel for the woman who died, but I don’t like it when Indiana is brought into any news story in a negative light. (Which reminds me of the two times Obama visited my home in Elkhart, IN. The shame involved there is almost unbearable.)

    Report Post » FreeUsAll  
    • MOLLYPITCHER
      Posted on February 5, 2012 at 4:29pm

      @freeusall
      Of course it’s not an Indiana thing. It’s a sick human being thing. There are sick human beings with no compassion everywhere. Just as there are morbidly obese people everywhere. We have our fair share of morbidly obese people in my state too, that’s for sure.

      Report Post »  
    • phillipwgirard
      Posted on February 5, 2012 at 5:30pm

      It’s not an Indiana thing, It’s now an American thing,,,

      Report Post » phillipwgirard  
    • piper60
      Posted on February 6, 2012 at 2:50am

      Being a fellow hoosier, I agree. There must have been something wrong with the sister, that she did not call 911 long before she did. I also found the timeline as described in the story a little confusing. How could she call the ambulance when her sister was having trouble breathing if she had been dead for 3 weeks? Perhaps she only said her sister was still alive, I guess.

      Report Post » piper60  
  • The Third Archon
    Posted on February 5, 2012 at 4:06pm

    How do and the hell do you START decomposing before you die? I was under the impression that that couldn’t occur while cell genesis was still occurring.

    Report Post » The Third Archon  
    • teahugger
      Posted on February 5, 2012 at 4:24pm

      If your skin is unable to obtain nutrients for any length of time (which happens if you stay in one position without moving and the tissues are compressed between your bones and the furniture) then it will die. And decompose. This is how bed sores occur in nursing homes. The problem is compounded by exposure to urine and feces which is caustic and macerating, as well as a source of infection.

      Report Post » teahugger  
    • FreeUsAll
      Posted on February 5, 2012 at 4:27pm

      If blood-flow is slowed dramatically or non-existent to a part of the body, then that part dies and begins to decompose. Red blood cells, (which carry oxygen through-out our bodies,) as well as white blood cells, (which fight pathogens in the body,) are needed by our bodies to survive. Stop blood-flow and you stop life inside of us.

      Report Post » FreeUsAll  
    • The Third Archon
      Posted on February 5, 2012 at 6:29pm

      1) Ewwwww
      2) Ahh, but won’t the natural process of cell generation replace these dead cells with living ones? I suppose it’s a matter of degree, and I could see how, lacking sufficient nutrition, etc, the necrosis (dead cells as you know of course) could spread faster than it’s replace, thus “decomposing” you while “alive.”

      That’s a very weird, and rather terrifying thought–I have to say, I think I’ve found a new “way I would least like to die” (i.e. atrophying)

      Report Post » The Third Archon  
    • RedDawn2012
      Posted on February 6, 2012 at 7:23am

      Can you spell “gangrene”?

      Report Post » RedDawn2012  
  • May Clark
    Posted on February 5, 2012 at 3:48pm

    There are entirely too many lost people today who don’t have any idea how to successfully function in life. And, if you know any of these people, you will understand that they do not listen to helpful suggestions or advice. There is very little you can do about them or do with them if you know them.

    Report Post »  
  • Charles
    Posted on February 5, 2012 at 3:47pm

    Dearborn county Indiana is white trash central. Heroin addicts in high school are commonplace.

    Report Post »  
  • flatbroke
    Posted on February 5, 2012 at 3:42pm

    @FINWE yes, but are they both incompetent?, did her sis see her as sick, did the women refuse her sister to help her? its a lot more complicated than that, if it was you or me yes! definately call 911, and get sis help, but i think both women are a card short of a deck!

    Report Post » flatbroke  
  • Guttersmack
    Posted on February 5, 2012 at 3:37pm

    She, the sister, shouldn’t be held responsible for the death if the deceased was in that situation of her own making. We should be our brothers (sisters) keeper but as an act of love/compassion, not because we are forced to be. Were we better at this as a society, there would be significantly less need for social programs.
    Speaking of social programs…that’s a feather in the hat, for the local health department. Way to represent.

    Report Post »  
  • janedough1
    Posted on February 5, 2012 at 3:31pm

    I have a problem with the police filing charges against a mentally ill woman for neglect. If she was a hoarder, clearly she was a few cards short of a deck. I have an even bigger problem with the fact that she worked for the health department and no one noticed she had a problem. Surely if her sister was in a state of decomposition, that smell must have clung to her clothing and hair. And if no one noticed that she had a problem, what kind of service was the health department giving their clients? If they can’t recognize a problem in someone they work with all day, how in the world will they recognize a problem in someone they see for 15 minutes?

    Report Post »  
    • I Aint PC
      Posted on February 5, 2012 at 4:58pm

      When you work for a government agency, you are exempt from the problems said agency is in place for. We have a tax cheat running the IRS, a pacifist in charge of the military, and a socialist in charge of our healthcare.

      Speaking of which, when Obamacare kicks in, there will be plenty of funds to assist the morbidly obese with their motivation, or lack of.

      Report Post »  
    • jespasinthru
      Posted on February 5, 2012 at 7:11pm

      If you work for the government, then you are protected by the government workers’ union. You can’t get fired no matter how crazy, messed-up or incompetent you are.

      Report Post » jespasinthru  
  • texanpatriot
    Posted on February 5, 2012 at 3:30pm

    “in the chair she had not left for three weeks.”

    Super Bowl or not, I am going to get up and walk NOW!

    Report Post » texanpatriot  
  • MichiganPatriot
    Posted on February 5, 2012 at 3:26pm

    Sad thing is this is more common than you know! People are losing the will too live because society has taken away our reasons for succeeding, I blame socialism and it‘s poison in part for this woman’s demise. If she was not given everything to live on by the system she would have to get up and leave the television long enough to provide for herself. No one who is this bad off works for a living. The facts are not clear enough but making someone else responsible for this woman’s death and charging her because the other woman let her die is just foolish and irresponsible of our system. Stop looking for the government to fix our woes and stand and take personal responsibility for yourselves this is the only way this will ever end. Our constitution tells us we have the right to pursue happiness, it does not say any where that we are entitled to happiness. By being lazy and expecting to be taken care of we lose what little freedoms we have left. I pity those that live like this because they are victims of our failed socialistic and communistic ideals that have infested our nation. This is the result of what is to come and it is only the beginning. We have not yet seen death in the millions but that is coming mark my words.

    Report Post » MichiganPatriot  
  • Wool-Free Vision
    Posted on February 5, 2012 at 3:13pm

    Wow, that last sentence was a doozy. “Holdcraft works for the health department.” A++++!

    Report Post » Wool-Free Vision  
  • figgybelle
    Posted on February 5, 2012 at 3:12pm

    You saved the irony for the last sentence. The woman worked for the Health Department.

    Report Post » figgybelle  
  • whatthecrazy
    Posted on February 5, 2012 at 3:08pm

    OMG how do people live like this to begin with?Every thing in life just works better when clean and orderly.This poor foolish woman litterly was decomposing while alive?I know i haven’t heard it all but this moves me abit closer………….

    Report Post »  
  • progressiveslayer
    Posted on February 5, 2012 at 3:02pm

    Gives new meaning to the term couch potato.

    Report Post » progressiveslayer  
  • flatbroke
    Posted on February 5, 2012 at 2:58pm

    This is Horrible! but i am not understanding why her sister should be held accountable, her sister called 911. and if the women was morbidly obese, how did the police expect her to help this woman? by lifting her out of the chair by herself? there are so many unanswered questions here.

    Report Post » flatbroke  
    • finwe
      Posted on February 5, 2012 at 3:35pm

      How about calling for assistance at any time during the last three weeks before she started to die? Obviously since the woman couldn’t get up, she couldn’t call for help herself. Her sister watched her die.

      Report Post »  
    • db321
      Posted on February 5, 2012 at 3:39pm

      You don’t see why the sister is not held accountable – she was dead for three weeks – the TV stayed on the same stations – the grocery bill started going down – the left overs were stacking up in the fridge – and the box of Twinkies next to her was still full after three weeks – their were signs I’m sure.

      Report Post » db321  
    • Walkabout
      Posted on February 5, 2012 at 7:04pm

      I’ll side with flatbroke.

      I don’t see the sister as being responsible. I see her as being sick. I don’t see what being in jail will do for society. Will you be safer? Is this 58 year old woman going to come after you?

      I see her not calling about her sister initially for a variety of reasons. The main one is not accepting that her sister was dead. She was avoiding the thought.

      Is see the whole hoarding thing as being part axis I (physical/chemical imbalance) & part learned behavior. The sisters were not coping well with the economy/life.

      Report Post »  
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