Police: Okla. Woman Drove To Fla. With Dead Mom In Car -Wanders In Wal-Mart For 13 Hours

local6.com ^

[chance33_98]

Police: Okla. Woman Drove To Fla. With Dead Mom In Car

Woman Wanders In Wal-Mart For 13 Hours

POSTED: 11:25 pm EDT April 28, 2004 UPDATED: 7:26 am EDT April 29, 2004

PALM COAST, Fla. -- A woman apparently drove from Oklahoma to Florida -- by way of North Carolina and Texas -- with her mother's decaying body as her passenger, then went shopping at Wal-Mart, authorities said.

Flagler County sheriff's deputies found Melba Doshier's body Tuesday in the car parked at a Wal-Mart in Palm Coast after shoppers reported a bad smell coming from the vehicle.

The St. Johns County medical examiner on Wednesday said she died of natural causes at least five days before she was found.

Doshier's daughter Alicia, who officials said is in her mid-30s, has been questioned and hospitalized for psychiatric observation. She was found in the store Tuesday, 13 hours after security cameras spotted her parking the car and entering the store (pictured, left).

Sheriff James Manfre said he wasn't planning to file charges.

"This is as strange and as bizarre a case as I've seen," Manfre told The Daytona Beach News-Journal.

Capt. David O'Brien said it isn't clear if the woman meant to come to Florida. Manfre said the woman's state of mind is such that detectives can't take her words for the truth.

Detectives say the mother and daughter lived in Covington, Okla., about 75 miles north of Oklahoma City. They were evicted from their home and left Oklahoma a couple of weeks ago in a car registered in the name of Alicia and Melba Doshier, the sheriff's office said.

Receipts in the car indicated the daughter drove through Texas and North Carolina before reaching Florida, O'Brien said. The woman said she talked to the body during the trip, he said.

While the medical examiner reported the body had been decaying for at least five days, O'Brien said it was probably 10 days.

Detectives found the daughter after the body was found in the parking lot.

"She was in the store shopping," O'Brien said.

Her cart was filled with groceries, children's clothes and other merchandise, he said. The sedan was filled with newspapers, a suitcase and trash, partially covering the body.

The daughter can be held up to 72 hours under state law to make sure she's not a danger to herself or others, and longer if doctors think it necessary.

Manfre said the woman would be free whenever she's released because no crime has been committed.

[cardinal4]

Sad. I hope she gets the help she needs..

[VisualizeSmallerGovernment]

Was this a regular Wal-Mart or one of those Super Wal-Marts? There's a lot of stuff to buy in a Super Wal-Mart, and they're so huge if you think of something else you need, you have to walk half a mile to get to it.

I could easily see myself shopping there for 13 hours.

[leadpenny]

Pardon me but you may be missing the gist of the story.

[Lee Heggy]

Very sad. Sometimes people just break. God help her.

[nuconvert]

"This is as strange and as bizarre a case as I've seen,"

Hmmm...it's pretty strange.....this keeping dead family member's bodies around is getting popular.

[TommyDale]

I heard about a guy who died in Northern California (Redding area) and his family drove his body down to the San Juaquin Valley for burial. They stopped off for an overnight stay in one of the major cities in the Valley, with the body in the back of the car.

[nuconvert]

got a link to your past post?

[familyofman]

Another example that proves WalMart shoppers are strange, at least, if not totally deranged. Anyone who would shop there after seeing their inane ads with the 'smiley face' character shows a complete lack of taste and pride.

[Guillermo]

Tell that to the parents of a newborn who save a ton of money by buying diapers there.

I guess you're simply just better than others.

[PBRSTREETGANG]

There's a lot of stuff to buy in a Super Wal-Mart...

They have caskets?

[zipper]

If she had only asked a store clerk, the would've told her the Wal-Mart Superstore doesn't have embalming fluid or do-it-yourself funeral kits.

[2Jedismom]

Agreed. Very sad. First evicted, and then this? What a heaping of tragedy on this poor person.

Okie Ping.

I'm curious about why she was buying children's clothes, though...could there be a child in the picture somewhere? I hope they've looked in to it and made sure there's no child in harms way somewhere as a result of this poor lady going off the deep end...

When my jedis were little, I used to worry about what would happen if I had a stroke or a heart attack (I'm not a young mother). They'd be home all day alone. Now my eldest Jedi is old enough to deal with an emergency situation, so I don't worry about it like I did.

I just wonder about the children's clothes she was buying...

[vetvetdoug]

This story gives me a different perspective about the practice of "dead heading".

[E.G.C.]

BTT!!!!!!

[FITZ]

Another example that proves WalMart shoppers are strange, at least, if not totally deranged.

The ones here are. Go after midnight and it's unreal.

[pepperdog]

"the daughter can be held up to 72 hours"

This is the saddest thing about the whole situation. The daughter, who is obviously mentally incompetent, will be released into the general public in three days. She has no where to go and is far from her previous home, where she may or may not have help avaialble. She will probably become a street person and will live in danger of disease, starvation, and attack by criminals.

Why, oh why, were the facilities that used to care for these people closed and the people turned out on the streets???

[leadpenny]

You just gave someone in the front office at Wal Mart ideas.

[ErnBatavia]

I could easily see myself shopping there for 13 hours.

I don't speak that much Spanish...

[InShanghai]

They have caskets?

ROFLMAO!!!

Although I'd have to admit that getting evicted and having her mother die, whilst driving to Florida, probably made her crack. I hope her family can give her the support she needs through this ordeal.