West Des Moines police have arrested and charged two people who they say did not properly care for a man who later died.
Jacob Schaper, 24, and Jocelyn Grisham, 23, were arrested for second-degree murder after detectives completed a nearly six-month investigation into the death of Steven Schaper, 58.
Officers responded on Aug. 10 to reports of a male experiencing a medical emergency at 228 First St. in West Des Moines, according to a news release from the police department. Schaper was found suffering from multiple medical issues and living in “deplorable conditions,” the release said.
Schaper was taken to a local hospital, where he later died.
According to West Des Moines police, the defendant and co-defendant are the victim’s son and his son’s girlfriend. They assumed the roles of Schaper’s caretaker because he needed continuous care and was not able to leave the bed, get food or bathe on his own, according to a criminal complaint.
First responders found Schaper laying in a urine- and feces- soaked bed with a soiled diaper and infected bed sores, the complaint says.
Due to his medical ailments and poor living conditions, police launched a criminal investigation into the incident. An autopsy ruled his cause of death as polymicrobial sepsis, osteomyelitis, iliopsoas abscess, pneumonia and endocarditis.
Evidence suggests that Schaper’s caretakers “intentionally or recklessly denied him adequate medical care and living conditions, which resulted in his death,” the police news release said. Both defendants were booked in the Polk County Jail without bond.