Siblings Raise Family As Husband, Wife
Couple Allegedly Keeps Child's Casket At Foot Of Bed
GLADES COUNTY, Fla. -- Officials said a tip led police to a family secret deep in an orange grove where an alleged brother and sister raised a family and kept the body of one of their children at the foot of their bed.
Samuel Patrick (pictured, left) appeared in Glades County court Wednesday, charged with incest. His wife, Debbie (pictured, below), who police said is also his sister, watched with no emotion, along with two of the couple's nine children.
The arrest started with a tip that something was awry at the Okeechobee cemetery where the Patricks' youngest son was buried 12 years ago.
Cemetery workers said that when deputies dug up the grave of Joshua Patrick (pictured, below), they found no casket, just an empty Styrofoam cooler. Deputies found the casket, containing the 8-month-old's body, inside the family's home deep in a rural orange grove.
A source close to the family said that for 12 years the couple kept the casket inside a trunk, and often snickered when guests unknowingly sat on the trunk.
Police also discovered four grandchildren at the house.
A source said the couple's daughters began getting mysteriously pregnant when they reached adolescence. The parents blamed it on boys sneaking in the windows.
"They need to hang him. I mean, just stake him out. Tie his legs and his heels," neighbor Shirley Montgomery said.
Neighbors said the children, who were all home-schooled, were not allowed to talk or play with anyone outside the family.
Some neighbors said it was common knowledge that the Patricks were brother and sister.
"Because they are so isolated, they don't come in contact with the public. It's not an area with much going on, (so) it didn't come to the public's attention that easily," Glades County police chief Kenneth Holley said.