SANDSTONE - A Sandstone woman has been charged with one count of second-degree murder and three counts of second-degree manslaughter for allegedly starving and killing her 10-year-old child, Lakesha Victor.
Lakesha was found dead at her home in August 2006 due to what a coroner later found was physical wasting and malnutrition, according to court records. Lakesha required extensive care and a feeding tube due to autism, cerebal palsy and a seizure disorder. Her mother and primary caregiver, Ludusky Sue Hotchkiss, 29, allegedly neglected her for several months, causing Lakesha to lose a substantial amount of weight, according to the criminal complaint. When Lakesha was last seen by a doctor, she weighed nearly 50 pounds, the complaint said.
When she was found dead, she weighed 31 pounds -- a 34 percent drop in body weight in four months.
A doctor at the Midwest Children's Resource Center is quoted in the complaint saying that a drop of 20 percent weight loss in a short time period would be fatal.
A Pine County investigator found that in the months preceding Lakesha's death, Hotchkiss didn't order enough of Lakesha's food to sustain her and didn't feed her enough, didn't properly use Lakesha's feeding machine, frequently canceled physical therapy sessions for her, and that she didn't pick up prescribed seizure medications, the court complaint alleges.
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The complaint also alleges that Lakesha's personal-care attendant didn't feed her as he was supposed to and falsified time sheets so that he and Hotchkiss could "split the PCA [personal-care attendant] money he was paid."
Hotchkiss allegedly told investigators that she "started hanging out with a drug-using crowd" but said she was not using drugs herself, though she "did admit she was drinking a lot of alcohol most nights that summer to the point of passing out."
Hotchkiss has not been arrested. She will have a first appearance in Pine County Court on Sept. 29. A phone number for Hotchkiss could not be found and she could not be reached for comment.
