Posted on 04/29/2004 5:45:08 AM PDT by 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.
No, what he said is true. There IS lots of stuff to buy in a Super Wal-Mart.
Boy: Mommy! I see dead people!
Mom: That's it. No more Sixth Sense movies for you.
It never hurts to try and get all the facts before forming a judgement.
I admit that I shop at Walmart all the time.
For me, shopping at Walmart saves me time, money, gas and I don't have to run around to several different stores and pay higher prices for items that I can find at my neighborhood Walmart.
I buy high ticket items at their website and save substantially.
But, like I say, try and read the article and you may find a few myths about Walmart that are exposed as untrue or distorted.
On the other hand, I won't deny that they need to clean up their act on certain issues (and they are addressed in this NR cover story also).
99 Cent Stores, Big Lots, Target? Now THOSE people definitely sell "Made in the USA" products EXCLUSIVELY!
It's a free country.
You're logic eludes me.
However, the library is right down the street.
So get off your perch, fly on over there and, with that excellent eyesight of yours, you can do your own damn research, bird brain.
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