Neighbor: Suspect had an odd link to Lodi murder victim
A longtime neighbor of Robert Elmo Lee, a suspect in the murder of retired Lodi podiatrist Dr. Thomas Shock, said Lee’s wife was a patient of Shock’s who had half of her foot amputated while in the doctor’s care.
Bonnie Lee, who first saw Shock in 2011, filed a complaint in 2014 with the California Board of Podiatric Medicine that led to Shock being placed on three years’ probation in 2016.
Shock later surrendered his license in June 2018 following a complaint filed in 2016 regarding a different patient, which was investigated by the medical board.
Mario Vanotti, who has lived directly across the street from Lee on Alpine Drive for more than 30 years, said that while he was aware of Bonnie Lee’s condition, Robert Lee rarely spoke about the issue.
Bonnie Lee passed away in 2016.
“His wife was his soulmate,” Vanotti said. “He visited his wife at the cemetery every day.”
Lee, 79, and another suspect, 26-year-old Christopher Anthony Costello of Sacramento, were arrested by detectives from the Lodi Police Department in connection with the fatal Aug. 1 shooting of Shock. The doctor was found dead on the scene from multiple gunshot wounds in the doorway of his home on Rivergate Drive.
Lee was charged with murder, conspiracy to commit murder and soliciting to commit murder, and Costello was charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
Mallory Stewart, 27, of Sacramento was arrested on Wednesday morning on suspicion of murder and conspiracy to commit murder in connection with Shock’s death, and 26-year-old Raymond Jacquett of Sacramento was arrested on suspicion of murder and conspiracy to commit murder on Wednesday evening.
Authorities have not released any details about a possible motive or a connection between the suspects, as the investigation is ongoing.
Sitting at his dining room table on Thursday afternoon, Vanotti was still in disbelief about Lee’s arrest. He and his wife would take Lee to dinner a few times a week, he said, and he saw no signs that Lee would have done what he has been arrested for.
“I hadn’t the faintest idea anything was going on,” Vanotti said.
Vanotti had no Idea how Lee was connected to the other suspects, he said, adding that he never saw them at Lee’s house or heard Lee mention them. That made Vanotti all the more surprised to hear of his neighbor’s arrest.
“It blew my mind. It’s hard to describe. It’s hard to believe,” Vanotti said. “I still don’t believe.”
Cheri Lee, Robert Lee’s daughter, declined to comment.
Marty Weybret, a long-time friend of Shock’s family and former owner and publisher of the News-Sentinel, issued the following statement in response to the possible connection between Shock and Lee:
“I’m not a medical expert but I know Tom was a conscientious doctor. He wanted to help every patient. However, doctors are not gods. Not all illness is easy to cure and not all medical procedures are successful.
“We all know about the prevalence of malpractice complaints and since Tom’s passing I’ve learned that many doctors are threatened by disappointed patients.
“Mr. Lee was apparently angry about his wife’s suffering. That is understandable. But he became angry to the point of committing violence. If we, as a society, react to the human frailty of our health professionals with bitterness and violence, there will be no one to treat us when we’re gravely ill.
“Tom’s gone, but there’s a lesson here.” A complaint originally filed against Shock in April 2014 showed that he was put on probation by the medical board for three years in 2016, for negligent care of a female patient identified by the initials B.L. Vanotti confirmed that patient was Bonnie Lee.
B.L. first saw Shock on Jan. 4, 2011 for pain in her right foot caused by an ingrown toenail, the complaint said. She returned on Nov. 1, 2011 with an infected ingrown toenail on her left foot and was treated by a different doctor.
The infected tissue was surgically removed, the complaint said, but no vascular exam was recorded on the patient’s chart and neither a consent form for the procedure nor a detailed description were found in B.L.’s chart.
B.L. returned multiple times in 2011 with antibiotics prescribed each time, the complaint said, but no cultures were taken from the infected toe until December 2011 which revealed a fungus.
B.L.’s entire toenail was removed in late December 2011, the complaint said, and several injections including nerve blocks were administered throughout January 2012.
That’s when a “large area of necrosis” was found in the patient’s foot. Exposed bone was found in the wound on Feb. 15, 2012, the complaint said, and part of the patient’s big toe was amputated on Feb. 24, 2012.
B.L. received more injections for pain throughout March 2012, the complaint said, and on March 29, 2012, half of the patient’s foot was amputated due to a bone infection.
The complaint showed that Shock was placed on probation in 2016 for “gross negligence,” as he failed to obtain cultures from the infected areas and did not keep complete notes describing the examinations and procedures performed.
On Dec. 4, 2017, Shock was ordered to surrender his license effective June 4, 2018, due to gross negligence, repeated acts of negligent care, prescribing long-term narcotics and sleep medication for pain without investigating the cause of the pain, and failing to adequately inform a patient of the risks of a procedure, following a complaint filed by a female patient identified by the initials K.S.
K.S. first saw Shock for severe pain in both feet in April 2014, the complaint said, and Shock took X-rays which he reportedly did not read to her before injecting a steroid into both of her heels, giving her immobilization boots and telling her to ice and stretch.
K.S. returned on May 20, 2015 saying that she could not use the boots and the pain had returned, the complaint said. Shock scheduled her for surgery on both feet for May 28, 2014, after which she was confined to a wheelchair.
Still in a wheelchair, K.S. returned repeatedly complaining of pain throughout rest of the year, with Shock prescribing additional pain medication several times.
A note dated Jan. 12, 2015 said that K.S. was given her last prescription on Dec. 12, 2014, the complaint said, and that she no longer had insurance.
K.S. returned in a power wheelchair as a cash patient on Jan. 13, 2015 and was found to have severe inflammation in both feet, the complaint said, and on Jan. 14, 2014, Shock advised her to seek treatment at the University of California, Davis Medical Center’s emergency room.