Fayette coroner: Uniontown woman’s death a homicide
The October death of a Uniontown woman who was found dead at home in what the Fayette County coroner’s office called unsanitary conditions has been deemed a homicide by the coroner.
Elizabeth Fike, 44, had been bed-ridden for three months at her home on North Gallatin Avenue in Uniontown before dying from complications of neglect, Fayette County Coroner Dr. Bob Baker wrote in a news release Thursday.
Baker said Fike’s caretaker had “basically let her rot in a bed for three months.”
“He was her primary caregiver, and a paid caregiver, hired caregiver, and her care was dependent on him,” he said in an interview Thursday. “He just let her lay there.”
Baker performed an autopsy and also hired a forensic neuropathologist to perform additional studies of the brain and spinal cord.
He determined the cause of death to be a stage IV decubitus ulcer and urosepsis, a condition in which a urinary tract infection spreads to the bloodstream.
The “deplorable” conditions and severe neglect of care prompted an investigation into the death in October, Baker said.
“If you have an animal, you would not let a mouse or a rat live in these conditions,” he said.
Baker said he had notified the Uniontown Police Department and District Attorney Mike Aubele of the findings.
The Uniontown officer investigating the case was not immediately available Thursday afternoon. A message was also left with Aubele seeking comment but was not returned before presstime.