BURLINGTON -- Lucy Mae Wade, 94, fell and broke her hip and was at her sister's house in Winston-Salem recovering. That's what her son allegedly told staff at the Burlington Housing Authority.
The staff didn't question why they hadn't seen her in several months. Her son, Don Lee Wade, 50, who was her legal representative, continued to pay her rent, fill out her paperwork and take care of her affairs just as he always had.
The staff had no idea that Lucy Mae Wade was dead on her couch in her apartment and had been for more than six months.
"We would go to the house and check on her, and that's what we were told, that she was at her sister's house in Winston-Salem," said Ernest Mangum, executive director of the Burlington Housing Authority. "In a case like that, when we have an authorized person to represent her, we take that information at face value."
There was no reason to question Don Lee Wade. He often spent time at his mother's apartment on North Ireland Street. He typically assisted her because of her limitations with reading and writing. Nothing happened to raise red flags.
"Usually when a body is decomposing that length of time, there is a smell or odor," Mangum said. "Nobody noticed any smell at all. In talking with neighbors, they all thought she was just at her sister's as they were told by the son."
Worker finds remains
Lucy Mae Wade was found about 11:45 a.m. Aug. 25. A maintenance worker went to her apartment to do a quarterly inspection of her apartment. Don Lee Wade wasn't there, and no one answered the worker's knock, so he used his key to get in.
He saw what he "believed to be human remains on the couch in the living room," the search warrant said.
"The remains appeared to be ... decomposing to the point where ... it was difficult to make identification of the remains," the search warrant says.
This week Burlington police charged Don Wade with concealing his mother's death. He was placed in the Alamance County jail with bond set at $10,000.
The federal Inspector General's office is also investigating Don Wade. Despite his mother's death, her Social Security checks were cashed and her Electronic Benefits Transfer card was used for food stamp benefits. Don Wade also allegedly continued to collect his mother's mail. He removed newspapers and fliers about coming events left by the Burlington Housing Authority, ensuring that items did not accumulate on her front porch, so there weren't any signs of something amiss.
Lucy Mae Wade's body was sent to the state medical examiner's office for an autopsy. It showed that the remains were indeed Lucy Mae Wade and that she died of natural causes but had been dead at least six months.
'Just a horrific situation'
Police interviewed Don Wade and determined that he was allegedly "aware of his mother's death sometime in the month of March 2010 and did nothing about it," according to a Burlington Police Department news release. "It's just a horrific situation," Mangum said. "You just could not believe a son would do that to his own mother."
Police are still trying to determine whether Lucy Mae Wade has any other family. "He may have been the only person she had," said Burlington Police Capt. Steve Smith. "We haven't been able to locate any other relatives."
