CHARLESTON W.Va. — During a Tuesday sentencing hearing, Kanawha County Circuit Court Judge Duke Bloom called an elder abuse case “a disturbing and a horrible situation.”
Judge Bloom then sentenced three Charleston residents to prison time in connection with the May death of Norma Dunlap, 88.
Norma Dunlap’s daughter, Lisa Dunlap, 50, and her granddaughter, Kayla Rogers, 29, both of whom previously pleaded guilty to neglect of an incapacitated adult resulting in death, were sentenced to 12 years in prison. John Rogers, 28, was sentenced to 1-5 years behind bars after a child abuse conviction in connection with the case.
“Well, I find the facts in this case extraordinary disturbing, upsetting, cruel, torturous in some respects,” Judge Bloom told the courtroom on Tuesday.
According to authorities, Norma Dunlap was found at her Beuhring Avenue home covered in bugs and dried human waste. Her left leg was also rotting between her knee and ankle. She died May 9 after being transferred to Hubbard Hospice House.
Two children, the children of Kayla and John Rogers, were found in the residence. The home was reportedly covered in trash, animal waste and drug paraphernalia used to smoke crystal methamphetamine when police arrived.
“It hurts,” Jim Dunlap, Norma Dunlap’s son said during Tuesday’s sentencing. “I have to forgive them. The Lord says don’t hold a grudge so I can’t. I still love them. It’s tragic for the family, it’s tragic for everybody what had happened.”
All three defendants expressed remorse when given a chance to speak.
“I deeply regret everything that has happened to my mother,” Lisa Dunlap said. “To what happened to her in the last days of her life. I am very sorry that I was an inadequate caregiver.”
Dunlap was unable to take care of herself and was left in her bed for months.