Story Archive

Death Does Not Become Her

Tiffany Kain, 33, had spina bifida and used an electric scooter for mobility. A social services agency checked in on her monthly at her Holly Hill, Fla., home. When they couldn’t reach her, they grew concerned and called the police, who found someone else living in her house: Todd La Duke, 38, and Nicole Scalise, 31, and their three young children. According to Police Chief Mark Barker, officers had to wade through mounds of garbage and a living room floor “covered in dog feces.” They found Kain in her bedroom, where the whole family also lived, separated from Kain’s space by a partition. “It was like a house of horrors for Halloween,” Barker said. “It was awful. You could smell the body from 150 feet away.” Kain was not only dead on the floor, but the body was badly decomposed. La Duke and Scalise allegedly admitted to cashing Kain’s Social Security checks, using her food stamps, and hooking back up to electricity and water after the home’s utilities had been cut off — but they claimed they didn’t know Kain was dead. They were both arrested and charged with child endangerment, drug possession, failure to report a death, and theft of services. (MS/Daytona Beach News-Journal) ...They “didn’t know” she was dead? What were they using for air freshener? That stuff works!