Our guests this evening: Teresa Tozo Lyles
Teresa and co-authored the book: 65 minutes: a tale of torture and murder in guardianship.
From Teresa's timeline of events: (full copy can be viewed on the PPJ)
In 2007, my uncle passed, and then my 2 sisters began talking about putting my mom and aunt in a nursing home. My 3 daughters and I were the primary caregivers for both ladies.
In 2009, my mom gave me a loan to buy a truck after my old car died. My sisters found out and began to harass me about the loan.
My sisters continued to make attempts to put my aunt and mom in facilities in 2009, 2010. In late 2010 and early 2011, one of my children got very ill, and was basically in ICU for a long period of time. It was during this time that they began their plot to put my mom under guardianship. They hired a local attorney to begin the process.
In April 2011, I was contacted by DCF for the first time. There were three calls all together. They were called by my older sister and her abusive boyfriend at the time. They claimed I was abusing my mom, and taking her money. DCF dropped all charges and found them unsubstantiated. This was the same for the 2nd and 3rd calls.
In June 2011, she was appointed an emergency temporary guardian, who was personal friends with one of my sisters, and who also had the SAME attorney as the one that my sisters had hired. This is cause for recused. In September 2011, she was appointed a permanent guardian. My mom had a will, but it was ignored.