Starving for Help: A Search for Mental Healthcare Ends Tragically at the Putnam County Jail

When the deputies came, Vicki Futch expected them to take her mentally ill son to the hospital.

She’d been in touch with a captain from the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office about her son, Gregory Allan Futch, 54, trying to arrange an escort.

But Greg was in a particularly agitated mood that day in late January. He became violent and struck Vicki, 80, across the face.

Feeling as though she were out of options, Vicki Futch texted the captain again, but a deputy responded instead. He noted a mark on Vicki’s cheek, arrested Futch, and booked him into the county jail.

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