Elisabeth Michelle Stevens

ELISABETH MICHELLE STEVENS aka. LISA MICHELL JAMES

4/23/1979 -- 1/4/2022

It is with a very heavy heart I am posting, that my beloved daughter Lisa Michelle James aka. Elisabeth
Stevens, has died. A victim of mental illness, our terrible mental health system and drug abuse. She was a
loving daughter and in her own way tried very very hard to succeed in life. Unfortunately, that took her to
Reno and later Las Vegas where she worked as a dancer, trying to use her beauty and God given talents to
take the short road to success. And for several years she did just that, and had a successful career
supporting not only herself but several blood sucking boyfriends along the way. Her untreated mental
illness kept her from developing the true love she desperately sought and eventually took its toll on all
her personal relationships, as well as her ability to keep her employed.
I tried to save her. I flew to Vegas, found her living in the open desert, and brought her back to
Wisconsin, where I did get her some help, and thought we had a plan to restart her life. Set her up with
government health benefits, phone, computer and helped her enroll in a live in treatment program in Racine.
Unfortunately, once sober and recovering (in my view) she became restless and succumbed to a call from
a boyfriend to sign herself out in the middle of the night, to fly back to Vegas to again be homeless and
live literally in the ground of a desert vacant lot. Back in a drug environment which fueled her inability to
maintain any kind of relationships, frequent encounters with the Police and the local court system put her
in jail and then back out on the street without help. The frequent arrests for trespassing and fights resulted
in leaving the desert boyfriend and then seeking and being kicked out of the local shelters. All while
being used and abused by any man that showed an interest in her body. Several times she went into the
local hospitals for help only to be treated and dumped back out on the street instead of being able to get
treatment for her real underling mental illness. The current mental health system does not help those that
cannot help themselves or even allow friends or parents to intervene to get their children help.
Instead, the system treats the mentally ill as independent adults that are "free" to choose their own life.
Even self-destructive lives. The system needs to change is an understatement.
Apparently one last new year party has ended up claiming my dear
Lisa's life as she was found behind some bushes, alone, with empty beer
cans and drug pipe. It was a cold new year weekend in Vegas and although she had clothes on, she only
had sandals on her feet, a bus pass and $5 in her pocket. Today I wait a coroner’s report on whether she
died of a drug overdose or just cold exposure. A very sad way to leave this world. If she only knew how
much she was loved by her family. I pray she can finally rest in peace.