Man Drives Around Drinking With Dead Friend For 3 Days
Jerry Maestas, is not the kind of drinking partner anyone would want.
He and his paraplegic friend Amy Marquez, 33, were driving around New Mexico aimlessly for approximately three days before the 64-year-old retired prison guard noticed she had turned blue, but did not realize she had died.
Maestas claims she didn’t need a rest stop because she had an adult diaper and he expected the stench. He assumed she was sleeping and lying still because of her paralysis and their excessive drinking.
Maestas finally stopped at a hospital and that’s when the police were contacted after it was discovered that Marquez had been dead for at least 66 hours.
Lt. Christian Lopez explained, “There were flies all over. I don’t know how he didn’t know. He’s not all there, I guess. I have no confirmation that he has a mental illness but this guy isn’t running on all cylinders.”
The cause of her death is believed to be positional asphyxiation. Lopez explained that people who suffer from paralysis don’t get signals to their brain alerting them to a body position that may be cutting off their oxygen supply.
Maestas was charged with a misdemeanor for failing to report a death.
