Duvalier faces additional charges
Dora resident Patricia Anna Santos-Duvalier is facing additional charges this month after investigators with the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services filed probable cause affidavits that allege Duvalier financially exploited a non-verbal, 37-year-old mentally disabled woman and her elderly, bedridden mother. The 37-year-old victim died Oct. 8, according to Ozark County Sheriff Cass Martin, and Duvalier is charged with abuse of an elderly, disabled or vulnerable person. Duvalier now faces two additional felony counts of financial exploitation of the elderly or a disabled person relating to extreme bruising and other physical assaults sustained by the deceased victim prior to her death.
According to the newest probable cause statements filed in the cases by the Department of Health and Senior Service investigators, the Office of Special Investigations with that department received a report from the Ozark County Sheriff’s Department regarding a death investigation of a non-verbal mentally disabled Tecumseh woman on Oct. 12.
According to the report, during that investigation, deputies spoke with an elderly woman who resided in the same residence as the deceased. The elderly woman said she had been bedridden for the past two years and unable to care for herself. The woman said that she paid Duvalier between $860 and $900 a month to care for her and another $1,000 a month to care for the mentally disabled woman who lived with her, resulting in $1,800 to $1,900 in pay a month to Duvalier. The woman said that, as she was unable to get out of bed, she totally relied on the paid caregiver, Duvalier, for their care.
“[The elderly woman] also stated Patricia Santos Duvalier told her she would not care for the two of them unless [she] added her name to the deed of their house and land. [The elderly woman] said she feared she would have no one to care for her and [the mentally disabled woman], so she added Patricia to the property deed. [The elderly woman] stated Patricia also told her she spent $38,000 of her own money on them and wanted [the women] to pay her back.”
When asked how many hours a day, Duvalier was at the house typically caring for the women, the elderly woman said the caregiver was there from around 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. each day, and when she left, she locked the two women in the bedroom until she returned the following day.
When deputies arrived at the residence after the death was reported, they reportedly found the residence infested with roaches, and the bedridden woman soaked with urine and feces with roaches crawling across the bed. Adult Protective Services was called to assist with the bedridden woman, and she was transported to a West Plains hospital and was treated for multiple bedsores believed to have been caused by the caregiver’s negligence.
“On Oct. 16, I interviewed Patricia at the Ozark County Sheriff’s Department,” said a report written by Bryan Brauer, an investigator with the Office of Special Investigations/Department of Health and Human Services. “During the interview Patricia stated she had [the disabled woman’s] debit card and would go to the ATM and withdraw between $860 and $1,000 a month for caring for [the woman]. Patricia stated she charged $25,000 on her credit cards for items she purchased for [the mentally disabled woman]. When asked about adding her name to the deed of [the elderly woman’s] property, Patricia said it was [that woman’s] idea because she was scared of being left there alone. Patricia said the plan was to sell the property, which she valued over $100,000. Patricia said after she was repaid the money she was owed, she was buying a storage building (tiny house) with the money left and putting it on her property for [the two women] to live.”
According to previously filed probable cause statements, the mentally disabled woman was taken to the Ozarks Healthcare emergency room on March 14 for wounds she sustained in what Duvalier said was a fall. The mostly non-verbal woman whispered to staff “Help me,” several times, but she was unable to say anything else. The woman was released to a rehabilitation center and later went back into the house with Duvalier as a caregiver.
Then, at 11:06 a.m. Oct. 6, the Ozark County Sheriff’s dispatch office received a call from Duvalier. She reportedly told a dispatcher that the 37-year-old woman was not breathing and that chest compressions were being done. The report shows that Duvalier said she found the woman laying outside of the car, not breathing. She said she was blue and cold to the touch. Duvalier reportedly said she did not know how long she had been there. She said the woman’s chin and face were injured in what appeared to her to be a fall from the car.
The Ozark County Ambulance and OCSD Deputy Josh Sherman responded to the home. Martin said that during the course of that visit Sherman called him and said he felt like something wasn’t quite right, and Duvalier’s story wasn’t adding up. They agreed that an autopsy should be ordered for the death.
An official from the Ozark County Coroner’s office retrieved the woman’s body and transported it back to Clinkingbeard Funeral Home. Martin said by the time they arrived in Gainesville, intense and extensive bruising began showing up all across the woman’s body. An autopsy was ordered and it is believed that it is now complete.