‘She feels like a prisoner in her own home’: Caregiver arrested for alleged abuse of 83-year-old woman

BRIGHAM CITY, Utah (ABC4) — One man is behind bars after an 83-year-old woman told police of multiple instances of alleged abuse.

On Friday, Sept. 12, 2025, officers with the Brigham City Police Department conducted a welfare check at a woman’s home. After arriving, the 83-year-old woman “seemed distressed” police said. She even told officers she wished to be taken to the hospital.

Court documents show the woman lived at her home with two family members, including Ricky Reeder, 65, and his wife, who were identified as her caregivers since she was released from a nursing home just weeks earlier. However, the woman’s health reportedly “began to decline” since returning home.

Police say the woman claimed she is being “mentally abused” and that Reeder “yells at her” daily, often after her home healthcare providers leave.

The woman allegedly told officers her caregivers do not provide her with good food leading to her getting food poisoning. Rather than caring for her, court documents say Reeder allowed the woman to “sit in a soiled diaper” for 10 hours to “teach her a lesson.”

Police say the couple would also take away the woman’s phone and have total control over her car, leaving her isolated from calling for help.

According to officers, two different neighbors believe the couple is verbally and mentally abusive to the woman, denying her appropriate medical care.

Documents allege that the woman told a social worker she “does not want to be in her own home anymore.” The social worker even told police Reeder is “very selective of who can come in the home” and has kicked out multiple people.

When questions, police say the couple claim the woman has dementia. However, officers say the woman was articulate and showed “no signs of diminished mental capacity.”

According to charging documents, Reeder suffers from psychosis, a state of impaired reality. In several statements, he showed paranoia about being watched by law enforcement and communicating “via phone with God.” Reeder allegedly admitted to police that he used meth as recently as Sept. 8.

Reeder was booked in the Box Elder County Jail and faces felony allegations of abuse or neglect of a vulnerable adult by isolation.