Very much a copycat crime.
The Jacksonville, Fla. Sheriff’s Department has an open investigation in the case of the Jacksonville man who suffered serious head injuries and brain damage last September in the kitchen of his home in suspicious circumstances, according to the Justice Coalition of Jacksonville.
The case has striking similarities to the Terri Schindler-Schiavo case of Pinellas County.
The wife of Scott Thomas, 34, says he fell backwards over the family dog, striking his head but doctors for the incapacitated man say that his injuries aren’t consistent with such a fall.
His wife, Eliza, 29, a Polish immigrant who Scott married about three years ago to keep her from being deported, has petitioned the court to move her husband to a hospice and remove his feeding tube to cause his death although his doctors and family and he is making steady progress towards recovery.
The Justice Coalition, a crime victims advocacy group, entered the case Monday.
Ann Dugger, executive director of the Justice Coalition, said that an investigator for the sheriff’s department has confirmed that the matter is under investigation.
Scott’s mother, Pamela Patton, also of Jacksonville, has temporary guardianship but his wife has asked the court to appoint her.
The family had filed a complaint in October with Florida’s Department of Children and Families, statutorily charged with investigating complaints of alleged abuse, neglect and exploitation but family members said DCF told them the agency could not become involved because Scott was not disabled at the time of the alleged incident. However, he had just returned home from a hospital stay, one of several in the last couple of years for unexplained stomach problems.
Two years after the couple were married, Scott starting getting mysteriously ill with stomach pain and about every three months has been hospitalized. His mother says that although doctors have done numerous tests, they could not diagnose the cause of her son’s sickness.
DCF reportedly told the family that they would keep their file open.
