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A 480-pound Martin County woman has died after emergency workers tried to remove her from the couch where she had remained for about six years.Gayle Laverne Grinds, 40, died Wednesday, after a failed six-hour effort to dislodge her from the couch in her home. Workers say the home was filthy, and Grinds was too large to get up from the couch to even use the bathroom. A preliminary autopsy on the the four-foot, ten-inch woman lists the cause of death as "morbid obesity." But officials want to know more about the circumstances inside the home.Investigators say Grinds lived with a man named Herman Thomas, who says he tried to take care of her the best he could. He has told them he tried repeatedly to get her up, but simply couldn't. No charges have been filed, but officials are looking into negligence issues.Emergency workers had to remove some sliding glass doors and lift the couch, with Grinds still on it, to a trailer behind a pickup truck. Removing her from the couch would be too painful, since her body was grafted to the fabric. After years of staying put, her skin had literally become one with the sofa and had to be surgically removed.She died at Martin Memorial Hospital South, still attached to the couch.
Neighbors say they had no idea Grinds lived at the duplex though they had seen Thomas and some children outside.
ARCADIA, Calif. -- A 16-year-old girl's prosthetic legs, which were stolen twice since November, have been quietly returned, police said
Melissa Huff's mother found the legs in her unlocked car, which she had parked at Arcadia High School on Wednesday afternoon.
Huff's right leg was amputated below the knee after she was struck by a car two years ago.
The first theft happened Nov. 1, when someone cut a hole in a window screen in Huff's home and stole a $12,000 cosmetic leg.
Her doctor and two companies donated money for a new, $16,000 sports leg, which she uses to play softball on the Arcadia High team.
The stolen leg was tossed into the family's back yard in January. But on Valentine's Day, somebody stole both legs after prying open a screen window. She had been unable to wear either prosthetic at the time because of a surgery. The legs were returned Wednesday, but had graffiti on them.She was scheduled Friday to pick up another new leg, which the community rallied to buy for her.
Huff said she and her family believe the thief knows her. "It doesn't bother me," she said. "I'm not scared of them."
Arcadia is about 24 miles east of Los Angeles.
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