LAPORTE | For several days, an elderly LaPorte woman was trapped in her attic wedged between the ceiling joists.
Wilmetta Spier, 87, was admitted to LaPorte Hospital after being freed by police and paramedics.
"The doctors said she was extremely dehydrated and had a broken arm," said Sandra Brauer, whose husband is pastor of St. John's Lutheran Church where Spier is a member.
Thursday about 5:30 p.m., Sandra Brauer said she was notified that Spier failed to show up for a church function earlier that afternoon.
That was after Spier did not attend church on Sunday, raising concerns given her regular attendance.
Sandra Brauer said she went to Spier's home at 1500 block of L St. and called police upon discovering her mailbox was completely full.
Upon arrival, Officer Karl Jackson noticed a light on in the attic and used a neighbor's ladder to crawl through an attic window.
Jackson didn't see anybody at first but heard someone ask, "What's going on here. What are you doing here," police said.
Officer Jackson then spotted the woman lying on her back in the insulation between the ceiling joists.
Jackson said the woman must have taken a spill and fell into the opening between the joists judging from her badly bruised right shoulder.
Pastor Ronald Brauer said Spier had about an inch or two of space between her shoulders and the floor joists but with the heavy insulation filling the void, "she was kind of wedged in there." Her injuries, coupled with her age, likely kept Spier from pulling herself out, he said.
Exactly how long she had been in the attic was not known but her lips were extremely dry, an indication Spier had gone without water for an extended period, said police.
Brauer said a common stairwell inside the home leads to the attic.
To help keep the house cool, she regularly went up there during the day to open the attic windows and returned at night to shut them, he said.
Adult protective services was contacted to provide the woman with any future assistance.
"We don't know how much longer she could have survived," Brauer said.
