SHADMIA’S WORLD

Kory McFarren, 36, finally decided to call the police saying there was something wrong with his girlfriend, Pam Babcock, 35. He said she seemed groggy and although she was awake, she did not seem to know what was going on around her. Ness County Sheriff Bryan Whipple and his officers responded to the call. When they arrived they found Pam stuck to the toilet seat in the bathroom, with her jogging bottoms down to the middle of her thighs.

She was “somewhat disoriented”, and her legs looked as if they had atrophied, Mr Whipple said. “She was not glued. She was not tied. She was just physically stuck by her body,” the sheriff explained. “It is hard to imagine … I still have a hard time imagining it myself.”

Whipple said there was no indication Babcock had been restrained against her will. It appeared the Babcock’s skin had grown around the seat in the two years she apparently was in the bathroom. She initially refused emergency medical services, but was finally convinced that she needed to be checked out.

“We pried the toilet seat off and the seat went with her to the hospital,” Mr Whipple said. “The hospital removed it.”

The sheriff has asked the county prosecutor to file charges against Mr McFarren, 36, for mistreatment of a dependent adult. Mr Whipple said the prosecutor would determine whether any charges should be filed against Mr McFarren.

“The unfortunate thing is this truly is a case of two people, in my opinion, with diminished mental capacity,” Mr Whipple said.

According to Kory McFarren his girlfriend slowly developed a habit of staying in the bathroom longer and longer until she finally refused to come out at all.

“It just kind of happened one day; she went in and had been in there a little while, and the next time it was a little longer. Then she got it in her head she was going to stay – like it was a safe place for her,” he said.

But Mr McFarren said she had moved around the room during that time, bathed and changed into the clothes he brought her. He brought food and water to her. They had conversations in there and an otherwise normal relationship – except it was all in the bathroom. McFarren, who works in an antique shop, said he has been taking care of Ms Babcock for the 16 years they have lived together. McFarren insisted Babcock hadn’t spent the entire two years on the toilet, claiming that until late January she was taking baths and changing her clothes regularly. He insisted that he had tried to coax her out of the bathroom every day. “And her reply would be, ‘Maybe tomorrow’”

She was reported in fair condition at a hospital in Wichita, about 150 miles southeast of Ness City. However she has an infection in her legs that has damaged the nerves and she could end up needing a wheelchair. Whipple said she has refused to cooperate with medical providers or law enforcement investigators. Authorities said they did not know if she was mentally or physically disabled.

This story has caused quite a stir in Ness City according to a neighbor, James Ellis. He said he had known the woman since she was a child but that he had not seen her for at least six years. She had a tough childhood after her mother died at a young age and apparently was usually kept inside the house as she grew up. At one time the woman worked for a long-term care facility, he said, but he did not know what kind of work she did there.

“I don’t think anybody can make any sense out of it,” he said. “It really doesn’t surprise me, what surprises me is somebody wasn’t called in a bit earlier.”