Woman reported man was abused at home for mentally disabled

FULTON, Mo. -- The former guardian for a central Missouri man who police believe was recently found dead in a concrete-encased container said she once called an abuse hotline because she believed he was being mistreated at a home for the mentally disabled.

Mary Martin told The Columbia Daily Tribune she cared for Carl DeBrodie from his adolescent years into adulthood. She said DeBrodie was mentally disabled and legally blind, and the courts rejected her and her husband's attempts to adopt him after he became an adult.

DeBrodie was reported missing from the Second Chance Home in Fulton on April 17, but he likely had been missing for months before the home reported he walked away, Fulton police chief Steve Myers said. DeBrodie had lived at the facility in Fulton for nine years.

Investigators found a body this week inside a cement-covered container in a dumpster at a storage unit in Fulton, about 100 miles west of St. Louis.

Authorities believe it is DeBrodie's body, though a positive identification hasn't been made. A jackhammer was used to break up the concrete.

Ownership of the home switched from Second Chance to Finck & Associates on April 17. Finck said in a statement Wednesday that DeBrodie wasn't at the home when it took over, and it's cooperating with the investigation.

Rachael Rowden, owner of Second Chance, told The Columbia Daily Tribune on Wednesday investigators have asked her not to discuss the case.

Martin showed the Tribune photos taken when DeBrodie was at her family's home for Christmas Eve in 2009 that showed him with bruises on his arms, ears and above his left eye. She said DeBrodie had been living at the Second Chance home for about a year at the time.

Martin said Second Chance told them another client hit DeBrodie. Martin said DeBrodie was unable to say how he was injured because of his limited speech.

Martin and her husband, Bryan, came to know DeBrodie when he was a child. She was appointed his legal guardian in 1999 because his birth mother "had a permanent mental condition rendering her unable to knowingly provide her children, including Carl, necessary care, custody and control," according to documents prepared by attorney Daniel Dunham, who represented the Martins during their efforts to adopt DeBrodie.

Martin was his legal guardian until DeBrodie turned 18. He left the Martins' home when he was 21 and eventually moved into Second Chance in Fulton.

Information from: Columbia Daily Tribune, http://www.columbiatribune.com