Trial Ordered for Simi Valley Woman in Elder Abuse Case

For weeks, 68-year-old William Starkey lay in a bed littered with his own feces, eating so little he lost the ability to walk. Bedsores exposed his hip bones.

Authorities said his wife, Shirley, was to blame. On Thursday, Superior Court Judge Ken Riley said there was enough evidence to order the woman to stand trial on a charge of elder abuse, with a special allegation of causing great bodily injury.

If convicted, Shirley Starkey, faces a maximum of seven years in prison.

This is the second time Starkey, 68, of Simi Valley, has faced elder abuse charges. Last April, she pleaded no contest to the same charge for neglecting her husband, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease. She was placed on probation, the terms of which required her to get counseling and provide a safe, healthy living environment for her husband.

Starkey was arrested most recently after taking her husband to Simi Valley Hospital on Dec. 26. Doctors said he was dehydrated, malnourished and had severe bedsores, Simi Valley Police Officer Brian Stephenson testified at a preliminary hearing Thursday.

“He appeared very emaciated and pale,” Stephenson said.

Stephenson said he asked Shirley Starkey why she hadn’t brought her husband to the hospital sooner.

“She said he was quite cantankerous and didn’t want to go to the hospital,” Stephenson testified.

She added, “I tried that before and it cost me over $4,000,” Stephenson said. She was also charged with a crime.

Since pleading no contest to the first elder abuse charge, Starkey has received surprise inspections from the probation department, testified Simi Valley Det. Kathleen Shatz.

The last visit was Oct. 15, Shatz said. During that visit, Starkey was found to have been fed and had no sores, but some fecal matter was found on his bed.

Shatz said she interviewed Shirley Starkey after her second arrest. Starkey denied her husband had any injuries, the detective said. Shatz said she then presented the woman with a picture of the large sores covering her husband’s body.

“She said, ‘Those are injuries, if you want to call them that, but they were just bedsores and he did it to himself,’ ” Shatz said.

Shirley Starkey said she did her best to care for her husband, putting diapers on him and covering his wounds with diaper rash medication, authorities said.

After the hearing, Starkey’s attorney, Dennis Tamborin, refused to comment.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Audry Rohn, however, said outside court that this is “one of the worst cases of elder abuse I’ve seen.”

“It’s absolutely atrocious someone would allow another person to deteriorate to this point,” Rohn said. “It’s nothing short of a miracle he’s alive.”

Rohn said Starkey is now living in a full-care facility. She said the man is unresponsive and that his muscles have contracted, making him unable to straighten his legs or arms.

Shirley Starkey is scheduled to appear in Superior Court on April 29 to enter a plea to the abuse charge.