CAPE GIRARDEAU -- A southeast Missouri caretaker has been arrested in the death of a patient who had maggot-infested bedsores.

Cape Girardeau County prosecutors filed the second-degree manslaughter charge Friday against 53-year-old Sherrie Gail Coomer of Patton.

The Southeast Missourian reports that the charge stems from the October 23rd death of 80-year-old Patricia Langston. The probable cause statement said the coroner ordered an autopsy after finding dead and alive maggots in bedsores on Langston's back.

The autopsy showed that Langston died as a result of a sepsis infection in the bedsores. It also described multiple skin breakdowns and ulcers and said they can develop when patients aren't repositioned frequently enough.

Coomer cared for Langston in her Cape Girardeau home full time. Coomer told investigators she never noticed bedsores on her patient.