A mother and her teenage daughter were tragically found dead nearly four months after trying to call the emergency services.
Alphonsine Djiako Leuga, 47, and her 18-year-old daughter, Loraine Choulla, were found on May 21, 2024, in their Radford, Nottingham, home in the UK, as reported by BBC News.
Loraine, who had Down syndrome and learning disabilities, was “entirely dependent” on her mother.
Authorities now believe the two may have been deceased for "weeks or months" before they were discovered, with new details emerging from an inquest that began on Monday, July 21.
The Nottingham & Nottinghamshire Coroner’s Service confirmed that Alphonsine died from “pneumonia of uncertain cause,” while Loraine’s cause of death is “unascertained.” However, the timeline and handling of their final days have sparked serious scrutiny.
The most chilling detail came from a 999 call Alphonsine made on February 2 — more than three months before their bodies were found, per PEOPLE.
During the call, she pleaded: “Would you send an ambulance? Please come, please.” She had explained that she was cold, unable to move, and needed help for both herself and her daughter.
She also told the emergency services operator: “I feel cold and I can't move.”
Despite having provided her address and symptoms, the call was mistakenly closed down.
According to Susan Jevons, head of the coroner's service at East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS), the emergency medical advisor believed it to be an abandoned call.
“The ambulance didn't go to the address because the emergency medical advisor, thinking it was an abandoned call, closed the call down,” she explained at the inquest.
Jevons admitted the service had all the necessary information: “That should never have happened,” she said. “They had her address, her telephone number, her symptoms.”
An internal EMAS investigation later confirmed this as a “missed opportunity,” and Jevons publicly apologized for “all of the errors” the service had made.
Adding further heartbreak to the story, the inquest revealed that Alphonsine had been hospitalized just days earlier, on January 26, with a lower respiratory tract infection and required blood transfusions due to low iron.
Although doctors wanted her to stay, she was granted a “pragmatic” discharge on January 28 so she could return home to care for Loraine. The hospital had expected her to return the following day, but when she didn’t, efforts to contact her failed.
The inquest is also looking into whether Alphonsine died before her daughter — and if so, whether anything could have been done to save Loraine.
Pathologist Dr. Stuart Hamilton, who performed the post-mortem examinations, said Alphonsine may have died the same day she made the 999 call, per the Guardian.
He also revealed Loraine’s weight had dropped significantly — from 108kg in February 2023 to 59kg by the time of her death. Her stomach and bladder were empty.
When asked whether malnutrition or dehydration could have been a factor in the teen’s death, Dr. Hamilton replied: “There is nothing in my findings that say any of that is incorrect.”
Tragically, the inquest also revealed how isolated the mother-daughter pair had become in their final years.
Alphonsine had withdrawn Loraine from school several years ago, citing concerns that her daughter had been neglected.
According to a letter read in court from Alphonsine’s eldest daughter, Elvira Choulla: “Loraine was being neglected and didn’t allow her to go back.”
Elvira, who moved out of the family home in 2022, described their mother as “very patient” and “loving” toward Loraine, despite a “strained relationship at points.”
She recalled their last meeting in November 2023, during which they shared a “lovely meal.” After that, communication dwindled.
By early 2024, Elvira visited the Radford home again. “The house was in darkness and there were no signs of life,” she said.
The gas had reportedly been shut off since 2023 after Alphonsine missed multiple inspections and denied access to the property.
Despite the eerie silence, Elvira chose not to report them missing, relying on a friend’s assurance that they had been seen that February.
That would be the last time anyone heard from them — until the police confirmed their deaths in May.