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'Phobia' kept woman on toilet
13/03/2008 11:01 - (SA)
Wichita, Kansas - Authorities are considering charges in the bizarre case of a woman who sat on her boyfriend's toilet for two years - so long that her body was stuck to the seat by the time the man finally called police.
It appeared the 35-year-old Ness City woman's skin had grown around the seat, said Ness County Sheriff Bryan Whipple. The woman initially refused emergency medical services but was finally convinced by responders and her boyfriend that she needed to be checked out at a hospital.
"We pried the toilet seat off with a pry bar and the seat went with her to the hospital," Whipple said. "The hospital removed it."
Whipple said investigators planned to present their report to the county attorney, who will determine whether any charges should be filed against the boyfriend.
"She was not glued. She was not tied. She was just physically stuck by her body," Whipple said. "It is hard to imagine. ... I still have a hard time imagining it myself."
Phobia about leaving room
Kory McFarren, 36, told investigators he took Pam Babcock food and water and asked her every day to come out of the bathroom.
"And her reply would be, 'Maybe tomorrow,"' Whipple said. "According to him, she did not want to leave the bathroom."
McFarren told the AP that he was not to blame, and that it was solely Babcock's choice to remain in the bathroom.
"She is an adult; she made her own decision. It was my fault I should have gotten help for her sooner; I admit that. But after a while, you kind of get used to it," McFarren said.
Although authorities said they think Babcock was in the bathroom for two years, McFarren said he was not certain how long she stayed there. He said she had a phobia about leaving the room because of childhood beatings.
"It just kind of happened one day. She went in and had been in there a little while, 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," McFarren said.
But McFarren said Babcock moved around in the bathroom during that time, bathed and changed into the clothes he brought her. He said they conversed and had an otherwise normal relationship - except that it all happened in the bathroom.
McFarren, who works at an antique store, said he has been taking care of Babcock for the 16 years they have lived together.
'Something wrong'
McFarren called police on February 27 to report that "there was something wrong with his girlfriend," Whipple said.
Police found Babcock clothed and sitting on the toilet, her sweat pants down to her mid-thigh. She was "somewhat disoriented," and her legs looked as if they had atrophied, Whipple said.
"She said that she didn't need any help, that she was OK and did not want to leave," he said.
She was reported in fair condition at a hospital in Wichita, but McFarren said his girlfriend has an infection in her legs that has damaged her nerves, and that she has no feeling in her legs. She may wind up in a wheelchair, he said.
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