ARLINGTON, Texas — In photos, Patrick Dowdy was all smiles with his caretakers last fall. He’s even kept pictures of their dog, Lulu.
“They treated me like family,” he said. “I wouldn't have received the kind of personal care that I got if I was at some other facility.”
But now he and his father, Robert, Dowdy, are trying to reconcile their first-hand experience with what’s detailed in court documents accusing Regla “Su” Becquer of mistreating one of her residents.
“Everything that was being told to me does not fit what I saw the entire time, and that's an honest to God's truth,” said his father, Robert Dowdy. “I did not see any kind of mean bone in that lady’s body at all.”
Arlington Police and Adult Protective Services are investigating the deaths of at least 13 people in the unlicensed community living homes operated by Becquer through her business, “Loving and Caring for People, LLC.”
Families of four of those people have told WFAA that their loved ones entered the homes relatively healthy and then died under suspicious circumstances.
Arlington police have said that many of the tenants who lived with Becquer didn’t live near relatives or had disabilities that made them easy targets. Court records allege that Becquer didn’t allow some patients to speak with their relatives unless she was present.
Police have also opened a forgery investigation into how Becquer took ownership of the estate and a house on Woodbrook Street that belonged to Karen Walker, one of Becquer’s clients. Walker died 19 days before she allegedly wrote a handwritten, one-sentence will.
For their part, the Dowdys have nothing but praise for Becquer.
The Dowdys say Patrick suffers from seizures and memory loss. His father says he spent almost 60 days in Methodist Mansfield Medical Center. He also told WFAA that the hospital referred Patrick to boarding homes run by Becquer.
“I work, and I can't take care of him 100% of the time,” Robert Dowdy said. “And that's how we encountered Su.”
In a statement, the hospital system said its’ “top priority is the safety of our patients and their families who trust us with their care. We have a long-standing policy of not commenting on matters that are the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation.”
The Dowdys describe Becquer’s operation as very much family-run. Becquer’s sister was Patrick’s other main caretaker in addition to Becquer, and Becquer’s daughter-in-law also worked in the homes.
Patrick says he was never left alone in the home and had a call button in his room if he needed help.
He says he never witnessed anyone being mistreated.
“Nobody ever lost their patience with anybody,” Patrick said. “They were dealing with people who could be you know, a handful, sometimes.”
He says at any given time, it was usually him and another resident in the homes.
His father says he visited often and was never denied a request to come see his son during the six months he lived in Becquer’s care homes. The Dowdys say Patrick’s physical condition improved dramatically during the time he was under her care.
But this past December, Patrick was living in the home on Woodbrook Street. Another resident had moved in five days earlier, according to court records. She was bedridden and unable to walk and had cerebral palsy.
Patrick does not recall much about her, but he does remember her yelling late at night.
“Very quickly, someone would come and go in and start speaking, speaking to her and doing their best to calm her down and sometimes it took some time,” he said.
He told WFAA he was in his room when Arlington police came to do a welfare check on the woman. He says he heard pounding on the door.
“Things got very chaotic very quickly,” Patrick said.
Court records say the other resident told police she’d been held against her will, forced to drink a liquid medicine with a “mint taste” and left in her own waste for days.
The warrant said when officers made contact with the woman, they would “immediately smell an odor of urine and feces.”
Robert Dowdy, Patrick’s father, is a truck driver and was out of town when the call came from Patrick.
“He said, ‘Dad, the police are here,’” the father said.
Police told father and son that Patrick would go live elsewhere. Since Patrick was getting better, he said he brought him back home to live.
The Dowdys say they have offered to testify on Becquer’s behalf. The father says he’s also spoken to her on the phone a couple of times, and she’s thanked them for their support.
Becquer is currently being held on a felony endangerment charge. Her bond is set at $750,000.
“If it wasn't for the help, and the care that I received through her and her family, I'd have died,” Patrick Dowdy said. “I would still be at her home under her care right now if none of this had happened, and I’d be completely contact and fine with that.”