‘Bugs in her body’: Disturbing details revealed as 3 charged in death of Brockton woman face judge

BROCKTON, Mass. — An elderly woman who died of extreme neglect in May 2023 was so badly neglected by her family and a visiting nurse that she became stuck to a mattress covered in bedbugs, with her skin growing over the bedding blackened by feces and urine, prosecutors said in court on Friday.

Now, her daughter, Eva Fontes Cardoso, 53, and granddaughter, Kayla Cardoso, 31, and that visiting nurse, Lisa Hamilton, 64, are facing charges in connection with the neglect and death of 79-year-old Dinora Cardoso, prosecutors said.

Eva Cardoso is facing a manslaughter charge, while all three suspects accused in an alleged scheme to steal from the state’s Medicare program, according to Plymouth County District Attorney Tim Cruz.

Prosecutors said in court that the elderly woman had severe infections resulting from lack of care, lack of bathing and toileting, and the feces and bedbugs. An expert told prosecutors that the cockroaches “would have essentially thrived in this kind of condition.”

“They would have been eating off of her wound,” a prosecutor said, adding that the expert explained that “It would have taken months for that kind of infestation to take place.”

A judge ordered Eva Cardoso may be released on $5,000 bail during her arraignment Friday in Brockton Superior Court, on conditions that she not travel out of state, surrender her passport, not work in healthcare setting, and not work with disabled people. Prosecutors had asked for $100,000 cash bail.

Kayla Cardoso was ordered released on $500 bail, on conditions that she stay away from and have no contact with witnesses, not travel out of state, not work in a healthcare setting, and not work with elderly or disabled people.

Both Eva Cardoso and Kayla Cardoso work as paraprofessionals for Brockton Public Schools.

Hamilton, a visiting nurse who works for a private company, was released Friday after posting $500 cash bail, on conditions that she stay away from no contact with witnesses, not travel out of state, surrender her passport, and not to volunteer with elderly. The judge allowed Hamilton to continue working as a nurse, only as long as she is supervised.

The charges stem from a “lengthy investigation” by Massachusetts State Police troopers assigned to the Plymouth District Attorney’s Office and the Attorney General’s Office, Cruz noted.

On May 17, 2023, when firefighters arrived to Dinora Cardoso’s unit at the Belair High Rise senior housing complex on Belair Street, they found horrific conditions: bedbugs and cockroaches were climbing on the elderly woman’s bedding, and on her.

The mattress was blackened with feces and urine, prosecutors said. Emergency crews smelled a “significant” odor and they saw that Dinora Cardoso was stuck to the bedding and that some of her skin had grown over the bedding.

Severe bed sores were all over her backside area. Emergency crews had to take the victim along with her mattress by ambulance to a local hospital because they could not separate the mattress from her body.

At Good Samaritan Medical Center, Dinora Cardoso was in “such obvious infected state” that she had to be taken to Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, where she died two days later, prosecutors said.

Test performed on the victim showed uncontrolled diabetes, kidney failure and evidence of sepsis, prosecutors said.

Eva Cardoso, Kayla Cardoso and Hamilton are all due back in court on Jan. 15.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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