News & Politics - Woman sits on boyfriend's toilet for 2 years

SMG_fan · 03-17-2008, 09:53 PM

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Woman sits on boyfriend's toilet for 2 years
Girlfriend was physically stuck to the seat — her skin had grown around it

Woman sits on toilet for 2 years
March 13: Deputies say a 35-year-old Kansas woman spent two years in her boyfriend's bathroom. KSNW-TV's Josh Haskell reports.
NBC News Channel

updated 3:05 p.m. ET March 12, 2008
NESS CITY, Kan. - Deputies said a woman in western Kansas sat on her boyfriend's toilet for two years, and they're investigating whether she was mistreated.

Ness County Sheriff Bryan Whipple said a man called his office last month to report that something was wrong with his girlfriend.

Whipple said it appeared the 35-year-old Ness City woman’s skin had grown around the seat. She 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 Wednesday to the county attorney, who will determine whether any charges should be filed against the woman's 36-year-old boyfriend.

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“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.”

He told investigators he brought his girlfriend 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.”

The boyfriend called police on Feb. 27 to report that “there was something wrong with his girlfriend,” Whipple said, adding that he never explained why it took him two years to call.

Police found the clothed woman sitting on the toilet, her sweat pants down to her mid-thigh. She was “somewhat disoriented,” and her legs looked like 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 taken to a hospital in Wichita, about 150 miles southeast of Ness City. 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.

Police have declined to release the couple’s names, but the house where authorities say the incident happened is listed in public records as the residence of Kory McFarren. No one answered his home phone number.

The case has been the buzz in Ness City, said James Ellis, a neighbor.

“I don’t think anybody can make any sense out of it,” he said.

Ellis said he had known the woman since she was a child but that he had not seen her for at least six years.

He said 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.

“It really doesn’t surprise me,” Ellis said of the bathroom incident. “What surprises me is somebody wasn’t called in a bit earlier.”

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Woman stuck on toilet for two years
11:45AM Friday March 14, 2008

A woman in Ness City, Kansas had to be surgically removed from her boyfriend's toilet after allegedly sitting there for two years. Photo / Bay of Plenty Times

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Authorities in the US are trying to establish what caused a 35-year-old woman to sit on her boyfriend's toilet for so long her skin grafted to the seat.

Kansas woman Pam Babcock had to be prised off the toilet at her boyfriend Kory McFarren's house after allegedly sitting there for two years.

She was only moved when McFarren called 911 on February 27 and told police there was "something wrong" with his girlfriend.

Ness County Sheriff Bryan Whipple told AP there was no indication Babcock had been restrained against her will.

"She was not glued. She was not tied. She was just physically stuck by her body," Whipple said.

McFarren told police he had asked Babcock every day to please come out of the bathroom, but her reply was always: "Maybe tomorrow."

He also said he brought her food and water every day.

Police found Babcock clothed and sitting on the toilet with her pants lowered to mid-thigh level.

"We pried the toilet seat off with a pry bar and the seat went with her to the hospital," Whipple said.

Ontario's City News website is reporting that McFarren may face charges in relation to the case.

Questions are being asked about why the 36-year-old antique store worker didn't raise the alarm earlier.

But he insists the situation developed slowly and he had come to believe his girlfriend's behaviour wasn't strange.

"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," he said.

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 says he panicked and finally called for help two weeks ago when Babcock appeared groggy after spending as much as a month sitting on the toilet.

McFarren says Babcock developed a phobia about leaving the bathroom which stemmed from beatings she received in her childhood.

But despite his professions that he was caring for his partner of 16 years, authorities have indicated they are considering charging him with mistreatment of a dependent adult.

Babcock's legs atrophied (suffered muscle wastage) as a result of her sitting on the toilet for so long and it's not known if she will ever walk again.

Belinda

SMG_fan · 03-17-2008, 10:11 PM

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Sheriff Recommends Charge in Toilet Case

Mar 13 04:30 PM US/Eastern

NESS CITY, Kan. (AP) - A sheriff in Kansas is recommending charges in the case of a woman who sat on her boyfriend's toilet for so long that her body became stuck to the seat.
Sheriff Bryan Whipple says he has asked the Ness County attorney to file charges against the boyfriend for mistreatment of a dependent adult.

The sheriff says it appeared the Ness City woman's skin had grown around the seat in the two years she apparently was in the bathroom.

Kory McFarren says he did nothing wrong because his girlfriend had a phobia about leaving the bathroom

Belinda

Joella · 03-18-2008, 02:33 AM

That's really strange. I don't know what to say. I've never heard of anything like this. Very weird. I also find it very strange that the boyfriend didn't contact anyone close to him or her (friends, family members) to help him or why nobody wondered where she was.

migamoo · 03-18-2008, 08:22 AM

Uh, I don't think I can really grasp this. I mean, why would anyone want to stay in a bathroom, especially for two years?

**sunnykerr** · 03-18-2008, 04:21 PM

Weirdly enough, it's not the first time I've heard of a case like this. I saw a thing on Dateline-20/20-60 Minutes some years back about a man who refused to leave his parents' bathroom (refused to even open the door to it) for years.

They to find food that could get through the crack under the door.

I do hope they don't bring any charges against the boyfriend, though. Unless they're actually warranted, of course.

But, if this woman is anything at all like the man I saw on the television program, it's more a question of mental health than it is of abuse.

**TheAngel** · 03-19-2008, 11:18 AM

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Originally Posted by sunnykerr (View Post)

Weirdly enough, it's not the first time I've heard of a case like this. I saw a thing on Dateline-20/20-60 Minutes some years back about a man who refused to leave his parents' bathroom (refused to even open the door to it) for years.

They to find food that could get through the crack under the door.

I do hope they don't bring any charges against the boyfriend, though. Unless they're actually warranted, of course.

But, if this woman is anything at all like the man I saw on the television program, it's more a question of mental health than it is of abuse.

Indeed, it's kind of like agoraphobia, where people don't want to leave their homes, only taken to the extreme. I think it's a type of compulsion where they feel like bad things will happen to them if they leave. I feel sorry for the physical problems she's had because of it though.

Motoko Ayoama · 03-19-2008, 11:11 PM

If you watch Nip/Tuck, there had been a similar story in an episode. A fat woman could not escape anymore from her couch because she had stayed on it during several years.
Her back skin was stuck to the couch, that is why they has to take both her and the couch to the hospital in order to save her. I dont remember very well but I think she died then because of the injures she had on her back and legs.

That's really sad to read this and I think this should not happen but in a way I totally understand this woman who was afraid of leaving a place where she felt safe.

quitbragging · 03-20-2008, 12:40 PM

i still can't believe this actually happened????

2 years? why would her boyfriend let her do that for so long?

**TheAngel** · 03-20-2008, 02:49 PM

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Originally Posted by quitbragging (View Post)

i still can't believe this actually happened????

2 years? why would her boyfriend let her do that for so long?

You can't "let" someone do something like that. When a person has a compulsion it's very hard to stop a behavior, especially when someone loves them that has no experience with this kind of thing. It's like OCD. There are a number of parents that allow their children to act out obsessive compulsive tendencies simply because they don't know how to stop it. The boyfriend probably thought it was better for her, that she was happier, because leaving the bathroom would have been really hard for her. That was her designated "safe place" and she thought, probably, that if she left something bad would happen to her. It was easier for him, and less emotionally painful, to just let her live in the bathroom.
Of course, I can't diagnose her, but it really does sound like it was that type of compulsive behavior.

Motoko Ayoama · 03-20-2008, 08:55 PM

Yep I agree with you. I think her boyfriend thought it was the best for her. That's kinda weird though.

**Sparkleyღ** · 03-22-2008, 07:59 AM

I must say hearing about this again last night. I am still shocked but i'm still laughing so much because this is the oddest thing i have ever heard. How can someone get stuck to a toilet for that long? it's really really odd!

migamoo · 03-25-2008, 08:05 AM

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Originally Posted by sunnykerr (View Post)

I do hope they don't bring any charges against the boyfriend, though. Unless they're actually warranted, of course.

I really can't think of what kind of charges they would be able to bring up. Yeah, I think he should have called for help a lot earlier, but he didn't force her to stay in there.


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