GASTON COUNTY, N.C. — Two women accused of abusing a 23-year-old woman with autism at a Gaston County group home deleted surveillance video that showed the violence, prosecutors said.
Channel 9’s Gaston County reporter Ken Lemon was in court Monday as the two women charged with abuse and neglect faced a judge.
Marlo Wallace, 58, was charged with concealment of death from unnatural causes, patient abuse and neglect, and felony assault of an individual with disabilities. She has a $1.5 million bond.
Vera Williams, 54, was charged with patient abuse and neglect and felony assault of an individual with disabilities. She is under a $1 million bond.
Wallace, who ran the group home for people with special needs, crashed on Interstate 85, police said. She told investigators there was a body at her home on Greenbrook Trail, which was for people with special needs.
Officers discovered the body of Aaliyah Michelle Fortner, who was nonverbal with autism.
However, Wallace and Williams deleted surveillance video at the home.
District Attorney Travis Page described the video that officials managed to restore.
“Some of the worst, degrading abuse, both physical and verbal, that I have seen as a district attorney,” he said.
Williams shocked Fortner with a Taser, and beat her with a broom, breaking it, according to arrest warrants. Williams hit Fortner in the head and body causing serious injuries.
The two have not been charged with her death. Investigators have not said how Fortner died.
“Right now, I’m angry,” Willie Simpson, Fortner’s mother, told Lemon over the phone. “I still don’t understand what she could have done so bad to make them hurt her like that. There’s no reason behind it.”
Fortner’s Great Aunt Dorothy Brown said it hurts her heart.
“They should never be able to walk the streets again,” Brown said. “Neither one of them.”
Williams told the judge it wasn’t abuse.
“A lot of it was self-defense,” Williams said. “She would come in the middle of the night, biting me in my face.”
Glenda Watkins, who was Fortner’s guardian for years, doesn’t believe that.
“She didn’t stand a chance and at this point, she needs her justice,” Watkins said.
The DA stressed this is an ongoing investigation, and there is a real possibility of more charges once the autopsy is complete.
VIDEO: Two charged after death of 23-year-old woman with disabilities in Gaston County
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