Hoover couple at preliminary hearing in death of their adult son
photo by Brent McDonald, See Video on NewsChannel 9
General Sessions Court Judge Gary Starnes on Wednesday bound charges against John and Jacqueline Hoover to the Hamilton County Grand Jury and also increased their bond to $1.5 million each on the charge of first-degree murder of their 44-year-old son John Vincent Hoover.
Judge Starnes, on his decision to raise the bond, called it “a horrendous crime just like a horror movie where these two did nothing while their son died an agonizing death.”
He also pointed to statements made by Jacqueline Hoover that when they got out “they were going to burn this county down and leave," while they were being transported by officers from their Hixson home to Silverdale Detention Center.
The preliminary hearing, which lasted almost an hour, only had two witnesses put on by the state.
Chattanooga Police Department Detective Joseph Seech along with Hamilton County Assistant Medical Examiner Dr.
Steven Cogswell told of the horrific conditions that the decedent had lived in as well as his medical condition.
There was testimony of a large number of cock roaches as part of the nasty home conditions.
Dr. Cogswell said that upon admission to Memorial Hospital the victim was a mere 79 pounds and upon his death, Memorial had brought him back up to some 127 pounds giving him fluids and feeding with a stomach tube.
The witness said the victim was severely malnourished and dehydrated and that his ligaments had “stiffened” to where they would not bend.
“Basically the body was in full shut down with kidney failure and liver failure and the body was obtaining nutrition from itself,” Dr. Cosgwell stated.
Detective Seech testified that the victim had been seen going to neighbors' houses begging for food as well as seen eating out of the garbage can on the front porch of the trailer in Hixson.
He said he was told by the 69-year-old father that his son had not been eating since April. He said he had not eaten at all for the past four days. An affidavit said the son, who was described as having the mental ability of a five-year-old, was "obviously emaciated and had pressure sores on his person."
Police said the father told them that he and his wife "would withhold food from the victim to get him to shower and tied him to a bed at night to keep him from taking food."
They said the son had last been seen by a doctor in February and no doctor appointments had been made for him. He had been receiving home health care to that point, according to testimony by Detective Seech and Dr. Cogswell.
Those home health care records were just received by Dr. Cogswell, but he has not had time to review them, he advised the court.
Judge Starnes said, "This is one of the most horrendous cases I've ever seen. It's like a house of horrors. No human being should be treated this way, no one."