Son held in death of emaciated mother

For two months, the only neighbors within earshot of a small, green house in Black Diamond heard loud moans, screams and yells.

They asked about the screams, but they said neighbor Christopher Wise, 41, told them to ignore it. He claimed his mother suffered from dementia.

The neighbors, including a man who asked to not be named, never saw 88-year-old Ruby Wise, but they took her son's advice. Soon, they said, the moaning stopped.

On Monday, according to King County sheriff's deputies, she was dead.

Christopher Wise has been arrested for investigation of first-degree manslaughter and was ordered held Thursday on $250,000 bail.

Wise was arrested Wednesday after he summoned deputies to his house in the 27400 block of Southeast Green River Gorge Road after he watched his mother die, holding her hand as she struggled to breathe, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed Thursday to support holding him in custody. Deputies said they didn't find any dementia medication or medical supplies of any kind as they searched the house, according to the affidavit.

They did find earplugs.

Ruby Wise was so emaciated and her bed sores so deep, deputies could see her left shoulder blade through an abscess, according to the affidavit. Her 70-pound body, dressed only in a hospital robe and soiled adult diaper, lay in a bed stained with blood, urine, feces and pus.

Flies had begun to gather around her lips.

Richard Harruff, chief medical examiner for the King County Medical Examiner's Office, attributed Ruby Wise's cause of death to complications with the eight large extremely deep bed sores on her body.

For two years, Ruby Wise never left the house, saw a medical professional or took prescription medication, said sheriff's spokesman Sgt. John Urquhart. Her son, her only caretaker, fed her bread, bananas and Snickers bars, which he kept in an otherwise bare kitchen, according to the affidavit. Dishes piled high in the sink, and bags of garbage sat by the front door. An unplugged television hung on a wall by her bed, according to the affidavit. She had no phone in her room.

Ruby Wise hadn't been able to shower or bathe for about one month, so her son began rubbing her down with alcohol, the affidavit said. Every day or so, he changed her diaper, according to the affidavit. It was only a few days ago, he told deputies, that her bed sores became noticeable.

Ruby Wise had no diagnosed disorders, but her son told police the same story he'd told neighbors, that she'd been showing signs of dementia for six months. He knew the signs, he said, because two friends had parents with it, according to the affidavit.

The neighbor said he'd never reported Ruby Wise's moans because her son told him she had dementia.

"She was very vocal," remembered the neighbor. "We heard her — not often, but more as she got worse."

Christopher Wise lived in the house with his mother since September 2004, according to the affidavit. He was a solitary, secluded man who rarely left the house except to go to the store or fish at a local dock, the neighbor said.

Lindsay Toler: 206-464-2463 or ltoler@seattletimes.com