Dora caregiver charged with murder of mentally disabled woman


Patricia Ann Santos Duvalier

Patricia Ann Santos Duvalier, 59, of Dora, is now charged with second-degree murder and first-degree assault in connection with a March 14, 2023, incident in which she reportedly beat a 37-year-old non-verbal, disabled woman that she was hired to care for. The woman died as a result of the injuries. Santos-Duvalier had previously faced lesser charges, but her charges were increased on Jan. 12, when a new case was filed. 

 

An emergency room visit

According to the probable cause statement, prepared by Missouri State Highway Patrol Cpl. Evan Tyrell, on March 14, 2023, Duvalier brought the 37-year-old victim, a Tecumseh woman who is described as “severely mentally handicapped” and “not able to care for herself,” to the Ozarks Healthcare emergency room, telling medical professionals there that the woman had fallen. The document says that Santos-Duvalier was hired as the woman’s in-home caregiver.

“During the examination and treatment of [the woman] at the hospital, medical staff found that [she] had lost approximately 50 pounds over a short period of time, had numerous contusions, a large amount of tissue missing from her upper lip and a broken nose, all apparently consistent with abuse and neglect,” Tyrell’s report said. 

Court documents in another related case said that several hospital staff members noted that the woman seemed very scared and, although she was almost completely non-verbal, she did say, “help me,” to various medical staff. Emergency room physicians and nursing staff wrote letters that confirmed those claims. The mentally-handicapped woman was unable to tell officers any details of what had happened except to say “help me,” limiting officers from filing charges of any kind against anyone, the report says.

“The medical staff believed the injury to [the woman]’s lip was consistent with a blow to the face,” Tyrell’s report says.

The former case’s documents said that the woman was released to Brooke Haven Healthcare in West Plains for rehabilitation, and the case was turned over to the Department of Health and Senior Services for further investigation.

Then, at some point after a couple months, the 37-year-old woman left the nursing facility. It is believed that the discharge may have happened against medical advice. She returned back into the home with the mother and the caregiver, Duvalier.

 

An interview with the victim’s bedridden mother

The officer also wrote in his report about the disabled woman’s elderly bed-ridden mother, who is identified as victim #2 in the documents. 

The mother and disabled daughter both lived together in Tecumseh, and Santos-Duvalier was hired as a paid caregiver for both women, as the mother had been bedridden for approximately two years prior to the incident and was unable to care for herself or her daughter. 

“The residence where [the women] lived was infested with roaches, and the bed [the mother] was in was soaked with urine and feces and had roaches crawling on the bed. The bedroom [the disabled daughter] was locked into from the outside and unable to  get out for hours at a time, was extremely filthy and unlivable. There was dried and wet urine pooled on the floor, feces piled on the floor and the odor of ammonia from the urine and feces was so intense, officers could not enter the room for any longer than a few seconds, without experiencing extreme discomfort and being unable to breathe.”

Adult Protective Services was contacted to assist with the condition of the mother, who was ultimately transferred to Ozarks Healthcare hospital in West Plains, where she was treated for numerous bedsores, which are believed to be caused by neglect, the report says. 

“On Oct. 16, 2023, Department of Health and Senior Services Investigator Bryan Brauer interviewed [the mother] while she was in the hospital. [She] stated she paid Patricia Santos-Duvalier between $860 and $900 a month to care for her and paid Patricia Santos-Duvalier another $1,000 a month to care for [the disabled daughter], who was handicapped. During the interview [the mother] also stated Patricia Santos-Duvalier told her she would not care for the two of them unless [the mother] added her name to the deed as a joint tenant with the right of survivorship of their home and land. [The mother] stated she feared she would have no one to care for her and [her daughter], so she added Patricia to the deed.

“[The mother] stated Patricia also told her she spent $38,000 of her own money on them and wanted [the mother] to pay her back. When asked how many hours a day Patricia would be at the house caring for [the daughter] and herself, she said Patricia would show up about [9 a.m.] and leave around [2 p.m.] every day, leaving her in bed and [the daughter] locked in the bedroom and unable to get out until she returned the following day. Since [the mother] was bedridden, she was unable to free [her daughter] from the bedroom,” the report says.

 

What the defendant had to say about it

Investigator Brauer interviewed Santos-Duvalier at the Ozark County Sheriff’s Department the same day he spoke with the mother. During the interview, the defendant reportedly said that she had the mother’s debit card and would go to the ATM and withdraw between $860 and $1,000 a month for caring for the mother. She also said that she had charged $25,000 on her credit cards for items she purchased for the mother. When asked about adding her name to the deed of the mother’s property, Santos-Duvalier said it was the mother’s idea because she feared being left there alone. She said her plan was to sell the house, which is valued over $100,000. Santos-Duvalier said that after she was repaid the money that she was owed from the mother, she was going to buy a storage building or tiny house with the rest where she could put the mother and disabled daughter to live.

Ozark County Prosecuting Attorney Lee Pipkins filed the first case on March 14, 2023, charging Santos-Duvalier with abuse of the elderly, disabled or vulnerable person. Pipkins filed a second case, charging her with financial exploitation of an elder/disabled person on April 1, 2023. 

 

The death of the mentally-disabled woman

A year and a half after Santos-Duvalier had taken the 37-year-old disabled woman to the emergency room for injuries she said were from a fall (but that medical professionals believed were from abuse and neglect), the woman was found dead in the front yard of her residence. 

The Ozark County Sheriff’s dispatch report from that time shows that, at 11:06 a.m. Oct. 6, 2023, Duvalier called 911 and reportedly told a dispatcher that the 37-year-old woman was not breathing and that chest compressions were being done. 

Court documents say that Duvalier told a dispatcher that she found the woman laying outside of the car, not breathing. She said she was blue and cold to the touch. Duvalier reportedly said she did not know how long she had been there. She said the woman’s chin and face were injured in what appeared to her to be a fall from the car. 

The Ozark County Ambulance and OCSD Deputy Josh Sherman responded to the home. Ozark County Sheriff Cass Martin told the Times that during the course of the officer’s visit, Sherman called him and said he felt like something wasn’t quite right - that Duvalier’s story wasn’t adding up. They agreed that an autopsy should be ordered for the death.

An official from the Ozark County Coroner’s office retrieved the woman’s body and transported it back to Clinkingbeard Funeral Home. Martin said by the time they arrived in Gainesville, intense and extensive bruising began showing up all across the woman’s body.

A subsequent autopsy report determined that the cause of death to be “undetermined,” but due to “internal blood loss.” The officer notes the numerous injuries that were visible all over the woman’s corpse. 

 

Cell phone data debunks suspect’s story

During a post-Miranda custodial interview, Santos-Duvalier denied injuring to the woman. However, the report notes that she had also lied about the woman being in her vehicle, her location the night before and the morning of the disabled woman’s death, along with her whereabouts prior to calling 911 that day. 

Santos-Duvalier told officers that she was the only person to have access to both the mother and disabled daughter that day, as she limited access to them by others. She also reportedly admitted that there hadn’t been any visitors, and the victims themselves had no relationships with anyone else. 

“During the execution of a search warrant on Santos-Duvalier’s vehicle, we found what appeared to be aspirated blood on the headliner and droplets of blood on the floor board and other items. Santos-Duvalier denied [the disabled daughter] being in the vehicle. She said [the woman] fell off the front porch, which was approximately three feet tall, resulting in her injuries and subsequent death,” Tyrell’s report says. 

“However, the fact aspirated blood was in the vehicle is indicative that [the woman] sustained a bloodletting injury resulting in her ultimately aspirating blood onto the headliner of the vehicle. There is also no explanation, according to Santos-Duvalier’s statements, as to why [the woman] would sustain a bloodletting injury, be placed inside the vehicle, then removed from the vehicle and placed where she was found deceased.”

During the course of the investigation, Santos-Duvalier’s cell phones were examined pursuant to a search warrant. The data from her phone shows her traveling down the county road to the women’s home on the morning of the woman’s death, which was inconsistent with her statements.

“Given the totality of the circumstances, I believe [the woman] may have been assaulted on the county road a distance from the residence by Santos-Duvalier, placed into Santos-Duvalier’s vehicle, driven back to the residence, removed from the rear seat of the vehicle and placed on the ground, where she died of blood loss,” Tyrell wrote. “I believe Santos-Duvalier had the ultimate intent to obtain the home and property from [the disabled] daughter and [her mother] after their deaths.”

Santos-Duvalier was arraigned on the new case and murder and assault charges Jan. 14, before Associate Judge Raymond Gross. She applied for services of the Missouri Public Defender but was denied. She re-appeared in court Tuesday and said she was seeking private counsel. A bond reduction hearing is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Jan. 28 before Gross. 

Ozark County Times

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