Inset: Gerald McClellan, who was found dead in his room at an Arizona assisted living facility (KPHO). Background: The LifeStream at Sun City facility where McClellan had been living (KPHO).
A woman in Arizona said she was horrified last week when she walked into the assisted living facility where she had moved her elderly uncle, only to find his “hollowed out” corpse in a chair inside his room.
Angela Boorn said authorities later confirmed in an interview with Phoenix CBS affiliate KPHO that her uncle, 75-year-old Gerald McClellan, had been dead inside the West Valley assisted living facility for at least three or four days. The facility, LifeStream at Sun City, is located about 16 miles northwest of Phoenix.
Boorn, who told the station that her uncle was like a second father to her, said she was devastated to learn that McClellan had not been attended to for multiple days, leaving her to find his body.
“It looked like a skeleton in a chair,” Boorn said of finding McClellan”s remains. “The face — his eyes were hollowed out.”
Boorn described how she would always walk into McClellan’s room and say, “Uncle, I’m here.” But on Thursday, Oct. 16, she did not get a response. That’s when she made the grisly discovery.
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“I just remember running out of the room and running to the front desk and just asking her when was the last time you checked on him,” Boorn told the station. The executive director at LifeStream later informed Boorn that none of the staffers at the facility had been in the room to check on her uncle since at least the previous weekend.
Boorn told the station she moved her uncle to LifeStream in January following the death of his wife. She said that before her aunt died, Boorn promised she would take care of McClellan, emphasizing that she was paying the nearly $1,700 monthly rent because she believed there were mechanisms in place to prevent things like this from happening.
One of those mechanisms included a button in every room that residents were supposed push in the morning, signaling to the staff that they were alright.
“Every day by 10 a.m., a staffing member was supposed to reach out to him or come check on him,” Boorn said. “He didn’t push the button; they tried to call him, didn’t get a hold of him, and they still did not go check on him. It wasn’t one day, it wasn’t two days, it wasn’t three days, it was four.”
Boorn told the station she was speaking out so other people who had loved ones staying at the facility knew what may be going on.
“Nobody should have to see that. It didn’t even look like a person because he had been there for so long,” she said. “People who do have family in there, check on your family member because clearly they’re not doing it.”
It was not immediately clear if Boorn planned to take any legal action against LifeStream.
The facility issued a statement in response to the incident.
“LifeStream at Sun City is deeply saddened by the passing of one of our residents,” the statement said. “Our heartfelt condolences and prayers go out to their family and loved ones during this difficult time. We extend our sincere gratitude to emergency responders for their compassion, professionalism, and support.”
