A Texas caregiver who had been accused of abuse and endangering patients is now under investigation for the deaths of 20 people and faces at least one murder charge.
Regla Becquer, 49, who owns several nursing homes under her LLC ‘Love and Caring for People’, is accused of letting her patients live in misery while she loots their bank accounts.
As local authorities investigated, they charged Bécquer with murder on June 20 and discovered another pattern of deaths of people she was supposed to care for.
Seven other victims have been added whose deaths have occurred in Bécquer’s custody since September 2022, many of which occurred before their investigation began.
“We have learned about some very disturbing things that occur inside these homes and we want to make sure that no victim is left unprotected,” Arlington Police Chief Al Jones said in a statement.
Regla Becquer, 49, a Texas caregiver who has been accused of abuse and endangering patients, is now under investigation for the deaths of 20 people who died under her care in the past two years.
“Thankfully, our investigation has resulted in several clients being removed from their homes so they can receive the legitimate care they need. But there may be others we need to help.”
In March, it was revealed that she is also accused of poisoning patients, which Chris Devendorf, the brother of a man who died under her care in January, claims caused his brother to rapidly deteriorate as soon as he joined her household.
“There was something different about his voice,” Devendorf said of his brother, Kelly Pankratz, the last time he spoke to him. “He was slurring his words. He sounded like he had something in his mouth.”
Although their nursing homes are reportedly unlicensed, the hospitals referred patients to Becquer when they did not meet the criteria for care at a licensed facility, according to KLIF.
A search warrant obtained by WFAA initially alleged that 13 patients died in their homes since September 2022, as the patients were allegedly abandoned in appalling conditions. New revelations have found seven more victims.
In Kelly Pankratz’s case, her brother said she developed a brain condition that caused confusion and, after being hospitalized for sepsis, broke her ankle on the way home.
Pankratz was subsequently admitted to one of Becquer’s nursing homes, which, according to Devendorf, caused his brother’s condition to deteriorate rapidly.
He said that Bécquer did not accept him for scheduled medical appointments and that for several months they had difficulty contacting Pankratz.
Chris Devendorf, right, Kelly Pankratz’s brother, died in her care in January, reportedly causing his brother to deteriorate rapidly as soon as he joined her household.
“It was impossible,” family friend Barton Gross told WFAA. “There was no way to contact him. I didn’t have a mailing address where I could send him a postcard.”
Bécquer is accused of strategically moving patients between homes to avoid detection and at the same time cutting off contact with their families.
Devendorf said the last time she spoke to her brother was in January, when he was suffering from slurred speech patterns that concerned her.
Hours later, Pankratz died inside one of Bécquer’s houses. The cause of his death has not yet been established and an autopsy has not been performed.
The brother said he became suspicious of Becquer and is trying to “find out if he was on drugs.” The search warrant added that several other people, including former patients and their relatives, have accused her of poisoning them.
Becquer is also alleged to have stolen money from his patients, including claims that he spent $100,000 of Pankratz’s money in a six-month period.
Although the purchases were made in his name, his family says he was known for being frugal to the point of being “stingy” and that excessive spending was not typical of him.
Many of the online purchases were also made online, Devendorf said, even though her brother did not have a phone or computer.
Pankratz, left, developed a brain condition that caused confusion and, after being hospitalized for sepsis, broke his ankle on the way home.
Gross added: “I don’t think he was the one spending the money… he was frugal. Kelly was frugal to the point of being almost stingy.”
Investigators allege that Becquer also stole victims’ cars and engaged in various forms of identity theft, with several having given up their power of attorney.
Many of them were also said to have only mild disabilities and to be of sound mind, before their conditions allegedly deteriorated rapidly upon entering care homes.
It is also alleged that a woman, Kren Walker, gave the deed to her home to Becquer in her will in a handwritten note just two weeks before she died.
The will, which contained only one sentence, is now the subject of a forgery investigation by the Arlington Police Department, reports Khou-11.
According to KLIF, another victim with cerebral palsy said she cut her wrists out of desperation to get out of the house and was sent to the hospital.
She also claimed she was left to sleep on a bare mattress covered in her own feces and given “an over-the-counter mint-flavored medication” to prevent her from escaping.
Arlington police say it’s not yet clear how many nursing homes Becquer operated, as the city of Arlington does not require an annual license, unlike Dallas, which requires each home to be licensed.
Becquer is also alleged to have stolen money from his patients, including claims that he spent $100,000 of Pankratz’s money over a six-month period. Pictured here is one of his nursing homes.
She became trapped when police were called to one of the homes in November last year after a neighbor found a patient had fallen in her backyard.
When police arrived, officers found two more patients inside and Becquer allegedly told a janitor not to allow police “to enter the home to check on the welfare of the patients.”
“Officers and EMS felt it was necessary to check on the welfare of the other patients within the home,” the search warrant states.