MARICOPA COUNTY, AZ - The term “monster” doesn’t even begin to describe an Arizona father who left his disabled adult son in a bathtub for seven weeks, Law & Crime reported.
On June 29, police were conducting a welfare check when they found an “extremely emaciated” victim in the bathtub, with officers saying the victim “smelled like rotting meat” and was “only skin and bones” when they found him.
“Officers entered the residence and immediately noticed a strong, pungent odor,” an arrest warrant said, describing the scene encountered by police at the home of Melvin Shimkus, 52.
Police said the victim’s right leg was being held by “small ropes” and his right foot was “extremely deformed.” An officer moved a shower curtain in the bathroom and observed the son’s right knee was “bent 90 degrees in the opposite direction,” the arrest warrant affidavit stated.
“From his knee to his foot, it appeared the muscles were gone, leaving only skin and bone,” the warrant alleged. “Both his lower legs were purple.” Police said the man was “covered in feces” and had been confined to the bathtub since the middle of May, citing the man’s uncle whom Shimkus was living with.
Shimkus told police he put his son in the bathtub a week before the welfare check and told officers he checked on his son and “noticed that one of his legs was bent 90 degrees in the opposite direction at the knee,” the arrest warrant affidavit outlined.
“The defendant offered to take his son…to the hospital, but the victim said no multiple times,” the affidavit said, citing statements made by Shimkus to police. The uncle told police officers that the victim had, indeed, refused to go to the hospital, but that Shimkus was inaccurate in his timeline of events.
“At times he could smell feces from the bathroom where the victim was located,” the uncle said. The victim’s aunt confirmed he had been in the bathtub for several weeks; however, she didn’t know exactly how many.
“She could not keep track of time,” the affidavit said. “She could not remember when, but at one point she was informed that the victim’s leg was backwards.” It appears the father wasn’t the only one who failed the victim.
In an interview with AZ Family, the aunt said that "everything was done that we could do," noting that police and paramedics had responded to the home on May 16, but couldn’t convince the victim to go to the hospital.
“Everyone tried to convince [the son] to go,” the aunt said. “When the paramedics came, he said no. They turned around and walked off, saying ‘We can’t touch him. He’s an adult.’”
Shimkus was charged wit vulnerable adult abuse and was held at the Maricopa County Jail on a $12,000 bond. The victim was hospitalized, however his condition was unknown at press time.
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