An elderly veteran with dementia was found dead inside a walk-in freezer at an assisted living facility after his daughter noticed he was missing from his room.
William Eugene Ray, an 83-year-old US Navy veteran and father of two, showed signs that his dementia was quickly progressing over the summer, so his daughter Kristen Spencer installed a Ring camera in his room at the Waverly Assisted Living and Memory Care in Trinity, Fla.
Through the camera, Spencer could keep an eye on her ailing father even when she wasn’t visiting. She watched as he grew more disoriented, but trusted that he was in good hands.
“You put your loved one in there with trust,” she told Fox 13.
Ray’s family made the difficult decision to move him into assisted living in May so that he could receive a level of care that only trained professionals could provide.
On Sept. 26, Spencer checked the Ring footage and noticed that “the light was on,” but her dad “was not in his room.”
Spencer rewound the footage and saw that Ray left the room around 12:30 a.m. the night before and hadn’t returned, Fox 13 reported.
Spencer called her mother, who phoned the facility. Within a few hours, a staff member discovered Ray’s body trapped inside a walk-in freezer.
“But then the next words out of her mouth was, ‘He’s in the freezer.’ And I said, ‘What do you mean he’s in the freezer?’” Spencer recounted to the outlet.
The Pasco Sheriff’s Office said that a preliminary investigation showed no signs of foul play.
Since Ray started living at the facility, Spencer said that there had been “no issues,” but noted that “little things” slowly cropped up that “start[ed] to send up concerns.”
Now, the family is fighting for answers.
“If we had not called the facility, when would they have found them?” Spencer questioned.
She added that they want to ensure that “no other family will have to endure” what they have.
“When you have vulnerable people in a place, you have to secure these areas,” she told the outlet.
The Waverly stood by its staff and asked the public to stop leaving “unmoderated, anonymous, non-factual reviews” online.
“We have never experienced an incident of this nature in the many years of operating in the Assisted Living space. Our community is deeply saddened by this heartbreaking loss. The grief felt by our entire staff is indescribable. We are truly proud of our staff’s profound and immediate response to the situation and grateful for their continued compassion, dedication and professionalism,” The Waverly wrote in a statement obtained by the outlet.
“We remain confident in the high level of service, comfort, and care we provide our residents as one of the premier assisted living and memory care communities in Florida.”
Ray, affectionately known as Gene among friends and family, joined the Navy when he was just 17 years old. He retired after 36 years in the armed forces.
Upon returning home, he worked for a private land surveying firm before getting a gig at the Department of Transportation in Bartow, Fla., according to his obituary.
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