Imre Kovacsi kept a nail through a deadbolt on a side door to his Glen Burnie home and a chain with a lock around the front door. He often padlocked a fence around the backyard. But the first line of defense was the lock on the door to his wife's room, which was reversed so she couldn't get out on her own.
He was desperate to keep Kathy Kovacsi, only 57 but suffering from advanced stages of Alzheimer's disease, from wandering out of the home.
But on July 16, she somehow managed to slip out. Sometime between 1 a.m. and 6 a.m., she apparently left through a side door with a loose latch and walked to a nearby fire station. She doubled back, passing her home and climbing into a neighbor's unlocked Jeep, where she stayed for a few hours. She then walked into the woods.
Clutching a blue blanket and one of her favorite toys from a McDonald's Happy Meal, she sat down at the base of a tree, where police found her body six days later.
"She probably just held onto that blanket and sat there and died," said her husband.
Without outside help, Imre's life in recent years revolved around tending to the round-the-clock needs of the woman who had been his sweetheart since college.
His typical day went something like this: After working a night shift as a foreman at a chemical plant, he got Kathy up and took her to the bathroom and bathed her. He made her a bowl of cereal - Froot Loops with fresh fruit - then sat her in front of a television as a VHS tape of movies or PBS programs ran on a loop. He was aided by his adult children, who live at the home.
About 5.1 million Americas have Alzheimer's disease, including an estimated 85,000 Marylanders. But Kathy Kovacsi was part of a smaller group of about a half-million people nationwide who are struck by the disease or other forms of dementia before age 65. To die of complications related to Alzheimer's at her age is still more rare - statistics show that only 2 in 100,000 of those with the disease die between ages 55 and 64.
"A young onset is a poor prognostic sign, and may result in a more rapidly progressing disease," said Dr. Paul S. Fishman, a professor of neurology and director of the Alzheimer's program at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
Kathy and Imre met at the University of Maryland, College Park in 1968 when he snagged two tickets for a Vanilla Fudge concert and needed a date. He asked the nice girl who sat next to him in calculus, and to his delight she said yes.
