Local caretaker charged with manslaughter released from jail

The Patton, Mo., caregiver charged with involuntary manslaughter in connection with the death of an elderly woman she was paid to look after bonded out of jail Friday.

Sherrie Gail Coomer, 53, was charged with second-degree manslaughter earlier that day in connection with the Oct. 23 death of 80-year-old Patricia Joan Langston, according to the Cape Girardeau County prosecuting attorney's office.

A bail bondsman for Ben Hilton Bonds posted Coomer's $5,000 bond the same day she was charged, according to online court records.

Coomer was arrested after a four-month investigation found that she was allegedly negligent while watching Langston. Langston died of a sepsis infection. When authorities discovered Langston's body in her Jewel Drive home Oct. 23, she was sitting in a feces-stained diaper, according to the probable-cause statement.

Coomer was paid to watch Langston 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

An autopsy revealed that Langston had several bedsores on different areas of her body. Some of the bedsores were infested with maggots, according to the probable-cause statement.

Coomer will be arraigned Monday. No lawyer was listed for her in court documents Tuesday morning.

Pertinent address:

Jewel Drive, Cape Girardeau, MO