In what a judge called a “remarkably difficult case,” a West Des Moines man was sentenced to 10 years in prison Monday for the death of his 58-year-old father who was found in what police described as deplorable conditions.
Jacob Schaper, 25, had been charged with second-degree murder in February 2023 after detectives completed a nearly six-month investigation into the death of his father, Steven Schaper.
Schaper pleaded guilty in September to dependent adult abuse and neglect of a dependent person. His co-defendant, Jocelyn Grisham, also pleaded guilty and was sentenced in December to five years probation.
Father found with bed sores
On Aug. 10, 2022, Schaper, who had been a caretaker for his father, had called 911 after he believed his father was having a stroke, according to a criminal complaint. First responders found Schaper’s father laying in a urine- and feces-soaked bed with a soiled diaper and infected bed sores, according to a criminal complaint.
The bed sores were severe to the extent that maggots had been found inside the wounds, according to a criminal complaint. Some of the bed sores were so deep that they had reached all the way to the bone.