Sarasota, FL: Mom Grieves For Murdered, Crack Addicted, Daughter...
Slimpickins
Mother feared for her daughter
Prostitute's mom says daughter 'died years ago' Audrey Chase's mother spent
years praying for her now-murdered daughter to get clean.
By JENNIFER SULLIVAN
SARASOTA -- Audrey Chase created a miserable life.
For more than 15 years, she smoked crack in some of the city's dingiest
motels and walked the streets looking for men willing to pay her drug tab.
Earlier this month, it caught up with her.
A trucker found the tiny, naked body of the 32-year-old in a mucky drainage
ditch in rural east Sarasota County on Sept. 13. An autopsy showed she had
been beaten and strangled.
Ed Cass, 32, of Sarasota was arrested and charged with second-degree murder
after he bragged to a buddy about strangling a prostitute with an electrical
cord, Sarasota County sheriff's investigators say.
Although investigators are still piecing together how Chase and Cass met up,
they believe Cass, who has a record of domestic violence, murdered the woman
inside his house on Siesta Drive.
After robbing and killing the prostitute, Cass dumped her body in a
3-foot-deep ditch off State Road 72 near the DeSoto County line, according
to sheriff's investigators.
"This guy is a monster. He has to be. I don't see how a person could do that
to another person," Chase's mother said.
She spoke only on condition that her name not be used. She said she feared
her daughter's arrest record -- for prostitution, drug possession, DUI,
fleeing arrest, probation violations and other crimes -- might hurt her
family-owned business.
"This was not my daughter," her mother said sobbing over her lunch last
week. "My daughter died years ago when she went on this drug."
Chase's two daughters, ages 10 and 12, know their mother died, but they
don't know she was murdered or how she supported herself. The children live
with their fathers, Chase's first two husbands. Chase's third husband, John,
died after an accidental drug overdose in March 2000.
Chase's mother, who has spent more than a decade praying for her daughter to
get clean and come home, went numb when detectives called her. She reminded
herself that the bubbly, giving woman she raised was not the woman killed.
The only girl and the youngest of the family's three children, Chase went to
dances, movies and the beach with friends. She started smoking pot and
running with the wrong crowd in the eighth grade and dropped out of
Riverview High School when she was a sophomore.
She tried and then became addicted to crack and did anything she could to
get more. She began using the name Audrey Lopez.
"Me and Audrey did double dates together; she was not a rip-off and not a
thief. I remember her feeding bums and sharing her crack cocaine with other
people," said Brenda Philhower, a former prostitute and friend of Chase.
Philhower said she stopped Chase on North Tamiami Trail before moving to
Ocala two weeks ago and asked if she could take her to detox.
"She told me that she wasn't ready to stop and she was in a lot of pain,"
Philhower said. "She had the opportunity to get help, but she didn't want
it."
Chase's mother said she and her husband had their daughter arrested and
involuntarily committed to treatment twice, but she never kicked her
addictions. She told Chase she would "move heaven and earth" to get her into
a rehabilitation center.
Her parents always told her she was welcome home.
"People have no idea the hell and anxiety people go through worrying about
their children," her mother said.
Martha Childress, the resident manager of Mary House on 55th Avenue West in
Bradenton, said Chase spent several months in her program trying to get
clean last year. Mary House is a program for women recovering from
alcoholism and drug addiction.
Chase was cremated. Her family held a private ceremony. In lieu of flowers,
her parents asked that donations be made to Mary House, P.O. Box 21086
Bradenton, FL 34204.
Lee
"Slimpickins" <Sl...@work.com> wrote in message
news:tW9s7.10186$3d2.9...@bgtnsc06-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...
>
> Mother feared for her daughter
>
> Prostitute's mom says daughter 'died years ago' Audrey Chase's mother
spent
> years praying for her now-murdered daughter to get clean.
>
>
>
>
What is it about this drug that turns normal people into animals? I had a
very good friend, a wife and mother, from a great, supportive family, who
had never done anything wrong, turn into a complete stranger at the age of
40. And this literally happened overnight. She has 3 kids who adored her
and a husband that lived to make her happy. Now she's lost the husband,
lost the kids, lost her home and is near to losing her life. She's been in
jail a dozen times in the last 2 years and is hooked up with some of the
scummiest people you'll ever meet. She had it all and this drug, or this
inherent weakness that none of us knew she had, caused her to throw it all
away. I was just sitting here thinking about her when I read this post. I
saw her today. She didn't speak to me, wouldn't even look at me. I barely
recognized her. She doesn't weigh 90 pounds. She's 42 and looks 60. A bad
60. I don't know where she's living now. She won't live long. Either she
will die from the drug or just like the young woman in the story, she will
become another statistic. This was a woman who I thought was as close as a
sister. Guess I'm not as perceptive as I prided myself on being. All of
her close circle of friends spent the first year to year and a half trying
to help her. We accompanied her to Al-Anon programs. We paid for rehab,
she walked away. She didn't want our help. Unless it was 3 o'clock in the
morning and she was sick or in jail. Then she wanted us to help her. She'd
half-way clean up and then the cycle would start again. Slowly, her friends
gave up. Some of us stuck a little longer, but it was no good. There was
no saving her from herself. This was a good, decent human being. A great
mom and a productive member of the community. How can this happen? I
always thought drug addicts were losers of low intelligence. It's not
always true. I always thought this was a big city problem of poverty and
hopelessness. We live in a small town and she wasn't poor. What is it
about this drug?
Lee
Chocolic
"Lee" <LA...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:Emas7.10031$ME2.1...@typhoon.kc.rr.com...
Be careful, you could get bombed by the anti-WOD fools who would say stupid
moronic things like, if the drug were legal she wouldn't have taken it,
or.....if the drug were legal it would have been a better quality,
or......if the drug were legal she would have monitored it better and none
of this would have happened, blah blah blah.
It is definitely not a problem of poverty and hopelessness. You become that
way quite often ~after~ getting hooked. There are all kinds of crack
parties with some of the participating hosts/hostesses prominent attorneys,
dentists, doctors and even judges. We had a large drug bust in our town
several years ago that involved those very people including a states
attorney and a judge. Several attorneys lost their licenses and a dentist
committed suicide before trial.
Chocolic
tweekersrattery
> hopelessness. We live in a small town and she wasn't poor. What is it
> about this drug?
> Lee
>
Lee,
As with any drug or even alcohol, I believe that some people are just born
with addictive tendancies. I know a man who is an alcoholic. Sober, he is
the kindest,gentlest and most giving person I have ever known. Drunk, he is
a wife and child abuser, many other things that I dare not mention here.
It's truly like Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde. I do not believe that your friend
chose this path for herself. As hard as it is to believe and as much as I
might get flamed for saying so- I believe that she was just born with a
disposition toward addiction. I'd almost guarantee you that if you look
through her family history you will find someone that is addicted to alcohol
or other drugs. I feel bad for your friend and I am sorry that you have
suffered through her decline. As I said though, I strongly believe that she
had a pre-disposition for addiction. Sure, she could get herself clean!! She
must hit rock bottom first. It certainly sounds as if she has. <sigh>
Hopefully, one day she will decide that she has had enough and check herself
in for the last time to get help. This is certainly one of the reasons to
NOT legalise drugs isn't it?
Tammy
Lee
"tweekersrattery" <tweeker...@fuse.net> wrote in message
news:tr3kqq6...@corp.supernews.com...
legalized. It's ridiculous that it's not. If it is illegal then for darn
sure whiskey should be as well. People are lots more violent on alcohol
than they are on pot.
As for addictive personalities, I think what you said is correct. Some
people (apparently a LOT of people) have tendencies. But this drug, I don't
know. It seems to grab hold of people and not let go. Even after just
using it once. It's cheap and easy to make and you don't need a big
operation to manufacture it. The police can't seem to get a handle on it.
I don't know. Are that many people really is such terrible pain that they
will put this extremely toxic stuff into their bodies?
Lee
