The neglect injuries to paraplegic April Montford were so severe, a Shock Trauma doctor said they were the worst he had seen in five years. Montford, 40, was found in bed Feb. 29 with gangrenous open wounds and bed sores with lice and maggots in them, according to police.
She suffered from severe dehydration ? and had a month?s worth of urine and fecal matter on her. Because of neglect, her uterus had fallen outside her vagina, police said.
She died Friday.
Now, Baltimore police have charged Montford?s daughters, Tia Sewell, 25 and Sharon Jones, 24, both of the 400 block of West Franklin Avenue, with vulnerable-adult abuse, first-degree assault and reckless endangerment.
At the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center, a doctor called Montford?s injuries “so serious and considerable that he hasn?t seen injuries this severe in over five years,” according to a police report.
Her right leg had to be amputated, police said.
Montford?s daughters were paid $13 an hour by the state of Maryland to care for their mother, said Margaret Burns, spokeswoman for the Baltimore City State?s Attorney?s Office.
Sewell told investigators she had not changed her mother?s sheets for three weeks and it had been at least three months since her mother was placed in a wheelchair.
Sewell denied smelling deteriorating flesh, though hospital staff described the odor as “strong,” police said.
Montford had been paralyzed below the waist since Feb. 3, 1985, when she was the victim of a shooting in Park Heights, Burns said.
The daughters have a preliminary hearing scheduled for April 8. They face dozens of years in prison.
