By The newspaper
Dec 28, 2023, 10:41 AM EST
A Michigan woman faces life in prison for allegedly torturing her disabled mother-in-law while her boyfriend was on vacation.
Laura Catherine Tisdelle, 41, was charged with torture, first-degree abuse of a vulnerable adult, false imprisonment and third-degree domestic violence.
This Wednesday, Judge Kimberly Wiegand ordered a trial against the defendant in Macomb County District Court.
Michigan law states that a person convicted of torture will face a maximum sentence of life in prison in a state institution. For the remaining charges, Tisdelle could have to serve an additional 35 years behind bars if convicted.
The events for which Tisdelle was accused were reported last June.
The woman allegedly tied the 80-year-old victim to a bed and severely beat her. The elderly woman was found unconscious and among body waste.
The county attorney’s office said in a statement that, on June 21, Tisdelle’s boyfriend and the victim’s son returned home after a five-day trip with his children. At the scene, he discovered her mother with her hands tied, subjected to a bed, beaten, and surrounded by urine and excrement.
The Macomb Daily report details that Tisdelle used a cord to tie the patient’s hands to the bed.
“The defendant’s boyfriend left his mother in her care, and when he returned home from the trip, the defendant was intoxicated and her mother was unresponsive,” Wiegand said, according to the newspaper.
The victim had to be taken to a hospital where he was admitted to the intensive care unit in critical condition.
During the man’s journey, Tisdelle was the only person in charge of her mother. “The torture and abuse allegedly inflicted on a defenseless elderly woman is a grim testament to the darkest corners of our society,” Macomb County Prosecutor Peter J. Lucido said in statements following the arrest. “It is my solemn duty to prosecute these heinous acts. We are going to ensure that the victim’s voice is heard, her pain recognized, and that her perpetrator is held accountable,” he added.
Tisdelle has been detained since her arrest in June. The judge ordered that she undergo evaluations for controlled substance abuse, as well as mental health.
Tisdelle was supposed to appear at a hearing before Wiegand this Wednesday for a preliminary evaluation of the case, but the defendant waived it, so the judge referred the case to circuit court for trial.