Woman dies after being "fused" to couch for six years

Thirty-nine year old Gayle Laverne Grinds of Florida died after rescue workers attempted to remove her from a couch she had become attached to. They couldn't get her skin to separate from the couch, so they put the couch in a trailer and hauled her behind a truck to the hospital.

"I tried to take care of her the best I could," said 54-year-old Herman Thomas, who lived with Grinds in the duplex apartment in Golden Gate, south of Stuart. "I tried to get her to get up, but it wouldn't do no good."

He said the woman that he called his wife hadn't been off the couch for six years. No record of their marriage could be found.

"I wish I could have pulled her off the couch, but she wouldn't let me," he said, covering his face and sobbing.

Inside the home, the floor and walls were matted with feces, and trash was strewn across the floors, some which were bare concrete. Furniture was toppled, and pictures were knocked off walls.

Atlas said sheriff's detectives will look for potential "negligence issues" related to her care and death.

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