My stepfather is a mean and hateful person who has stopped trying to hide it now that he is dying. When do words become more than idle threats? He has told mom a couple of times that he is not "leaving this world without her". He is an avid gun collector but the guns are in the downstairs and until Friday - no one thought he could get downstairs. When hospice care came - he asked them to help him downstairs to look for a DVR book.
Yesterday - he was EXTREMELY angry because my husband and I helped mom with yard work and Xmas decorations. He spent the entire day ranting and raving. His daughter came to visit and he did not stop. He gets so angry that his eyes bulge, he turns white, and shakes. He thumps his cane and you can see the hatred pouring out of him while he restrains his urge to hit with the cane.
Today (Sunday) he was calm and quiet. Mom worked in the other room on cleaning kitchen cupboards. She heard a funny noise - peeked around the corner - and thinks she saw him putting bullets in an ammo cartridge. She cant search his area because he never leaves it. She went downstairs and saw an empty peg on the board that holds the guns. BUT she isn't 100% sure that there was a gun there.
He has always been jealous of the relationship my mom has with her children and grandchildren. We do not visit them. She comes to our houses. There has been no family gatherings for 20 years because of him. Mom should have left years ago but she is the type of person that pretends things get better. She lives much of her life in denial.
MY QUESTION - WHO do I contact to get help? I know I can call the police for a welfare check - but what are they going to do with a dying old man in rural Iowa? Nothing - he can't go to jail here. Courts take too much time and if he has any idea something is going on - it will be too late. His daughter is the hospice contact. She is totally intimidated by him. She is always trying to placate him and tells my mom "he's dying - it's all talk." The rest of the siblings do not visit or talk to him. They dislike him because they put up with him all those years before my mom came along. When he had her to bully - he left them alone. They could care less what happens to him.
YOU ASK - why doesn't she just walk out? Because she bought that house before they were married and it is her sanctuary. (OR was until this became too much to handle). And when he is gone - it will be her sanctuary. She is 74 years old and still works everyday because she enjoys cleaning other people's houses. She has filled her house with pretty things that he is threatening to destroy if she follows through with her threat to walk out.
She is safe tonight because she is in her bedroom with the door locked and her granddaughter is sitting in a car on the street watching him sit in front of the television.
I need to talk to someone in the morning but do not know where to go? Police? Lawyer? Doctor? He has COPD, untreated diabetes, pacemaker, defibrillator, large tumor lung cancer and I don't know what else.....He is not on any pain med except Tylenol.....takes a diuretic, stool softener, and a couple heart meds - nothing else for mental or emotional diseases. I find this incomprehensible.
Sorry so long - and thank you for any insight you may have. I am hoping that someone else has dealt with this type of situation.
Those are the things that pop into my head. You have to take an action without being paralyzed by rationalizing that it won't work.
My dad used to keep a rife and spare bullets separately. He also had this wicked knife that one sees in TV that is used for close contact stabbing. My father said that he will use the gun/knife for anyone who tries to break in. One day, he had to go the ER. While there, I quickly (with great fear) went to his bedroom, grabbed the rifle and the bullets in the closet and inside the oven - and hid it under my bed. My room is a mess - almost borderline hoarder. You get down on your knees and look under my bed - and you will find lots of shoes, boxes, etc... The rifle is there but you have to move the junk to find it. As for his knife, I also confiscated it and hid it. When he came back from the ER, he ordered everyone to find his rifle. My nephews, nieces, oldest sis, etc.. they all looked all over the house. No one dares go into my bedroom without my permission. So, now dad thinks that oldest brother of next door took his rifle. =)
Call the police an tell them your step-father is a threat to himself... the police will secure the house so that the EMT's can come in. He will be taken to the hospital for observation and possible placed in some type of secure setting. Do NOT go to the hospital to pick him up when he is ready to go home. Tell the hospital you or your Mom can no longer take care of him.
When I started this morning to take control of this situation - I talked to a doctor, lawyer, and law enforcement. It was odd how nobody took anything we were saying serious until the word "gun" was mentioned. I find this odd because he could have done just as much damage to a tiny 74-year old woman with his cane as he could a gun. It doesn't matter now but I find it interesting.
At least we can all get some sleep tonite without worrying about every noise we hear. Its been a long time coming.
Thank you for listening.