Woman Spends 2 Years Locked in Bathroom; Boyfriend Finds Her Physically Stuck to Toilet

Home to about 1,400 people, Ness City, Kansas, sits about three hours east of Witchita. It’s one of those places where everyone knows your name, where community bonds run deep, and chili cookoffs and county fairs were the highlight of fun. At least, that’s how things went until February 2008, when an unusual 9-1-1 call left residents confused when news made its way around town.

The caller, Kory McFarren, told the operator that his girlfriend had been in the bathroom for two years and was now stuck to the toilet.

Paramedics Find Ms. Babcock “Stuck” on Toilet Seat

Paramedics found 35-year-old Pam Babcock disoriented, confused, and listless, with her legs atrophied from disuse and her bottom “grown” into the seat.

Ness County Sheriff Bryan Whipple said of the incident:

 “We pried the toilet seat off with a pry bar, and the seat went with her to the hospital. The hospital removed it. She was not glued. She was not tied. She was just physically stuck by her body. It is hard to imagine. … I still have a hard time imagining it myself.”

McFarren explained to paramedics that Babcock suffered from a phobia that caused intense fear of coming out of the bathroom. The fear stemmed from childhood trauma. One day in 2006, she went into the bathroom and never came out.

Yes, Pam Babcock spent two years inside the bathroom at the home she shared with McFarren. About a month before paramedics responded to the call, she had sat down on the toilet and ‘grown’ into the seat.

Babcock initially refused to leave the bathroom, but paramedics finally convinced her that she needed medical attention. She was transported to a hospital in Wichita and spent several months receiving treatment.

Why Not Call for Help Sooner?

Two years is such a long time for someone to stay inside a bathroom. Authorities were confused as to why McFerran did not call for help sooner.  

He explained that he was aware of her phobia and felt it was her choice to come out. He stated that he urged her to come out, but eventually, it seemed normal.

“She is an adult; she made her own decision,” McFarren stated. “I should have gotten help for her sooner; I admit that. But after a while, you kind of get used to it.”

He also called the bathroom her “safe space.” Babcock and McFerran had been together 16 years at the time he made the 9-1-1 call.

She bathed, brushed her hair and teeth, and lived an otherwise normal life from behind the closed bathroom door. McFarren provided her with daily meals and drinks, and they engaged in regular conversations.

McFarren Charged With Mistreatment, Exposing Himself to a Minor

Police decided to charge McFarren with mistreatment of a dependent adult because he did not call for help sooner. He pleaded no contest to the misdemeanor charge.  A judge handed him a six-month jail sentence but allowed him to serve the time on probation after Babcock wrote a letter telling Ness County District Court Magistrate James Kepple that her circumstances were not McFarren’s fault.

At the same court hearing, Kepple sentenced McFarren to six months in jail on an unrelated charge of lewd and lascivious behavior after he exposed himself to a teenage neighbor in March 2008. He was granted probation in this case and ordered to serve a total of one year probation.

I hope Ms. Babcock is safe, healthy, and happy in 2024.

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Sources:

https://www.kansas.com/latest-news/article1129570.html

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/world/two-year-toilet-torture-shock/news-story/8ec8e161f3ed0f64bfe95f42816deaf1