Loss of my grandmother with no help from law enforcement.

[dicacj]

My Grandmother was 'found' on February 9th by her POA (days left being unchecked) after a call was placed to the sheriffs office by him. It was initially determined that her cause of death was natural. We as a family, believe she simply did not pass away of natural causes that was determined by the sheriffs office and the medical examiner. We have learned of several things that could have contributed to her death which we have attempted to notify since day one and on multiple other occasions to the sheriffs office, none of which was taken into consideration or even looked at seriously that would have lead to a proper investigation of her death.

 

Since being notified of her death, we have found out that the POA who 'found her' and has been claiming to have been her care taker daily was only driving her to medical appointments. We have high suspicion and evidence that suggests he was coercing her into saying she was in pain at every area hospital including hospitals across county lines in order to use her to obtain narcotic prescriptions. Upon us arriving to her home the next morning, we were advised to have police presence at the scene due to the threats that were already made to the family by the POA in regards to having us arrested if we showed up or stepped foot on the property. Upon arriving to the home, we did what was advised and notified local police to come to the address to keep the peace while the family attempted to secure her home so that none of her items went missing and her house was secure. At the time, the family was advised to notify the POA that we were there because we were told he had keys to the house (my grandmother didn't give anyone keys as she was scared to be alone and something happen to her) and to see if he would be willing to let us in so that we could obtain some paperwork in regards to my grandfathers estate. When the POA arrived, he became belligerent, verbal threats began immediately towards us to the point where local law enforcement had to tell him to step back several times while we were simply standing by our vehicle. The verbal threats continued, a friend of his even started video recording us without our permission and refused to open the house. We were advised by our lawyer that since we are next of kin we were allowed to enter the home and that we could have the locks changed to secure the scene and her personal belongings. We called a lock smith and the POA became verbally aggressive towards him as well the entire time while threatening to sue him and his company, video recording him and following him around the property as well. The lock smith brought to our attention that while he was changing the back door lock, there was damage to the back door and we had to pay extra in order to get it fixed to replace the lock. We brought this to the attention of the officer immediately and nothing was done by the officer in regards to intaking the information or going to look at the back door himself. We obtained the documents we needed, while being verbally assaulted and video recorded the entire time by the POA and his friend, locked up the house and notified the officer that we did not see her wallet, purse, keys to her SUV, social security card or any other medications in the house besides her heart medications. We asked if any of it was taken by the sheriffs office and there was no response and no action was taken in order to document the missing items noted by family.

 

After leaving, I noted that I also did not see anything in reference to any other medications that were known she had been taking at the time that were voiced to me over the phone by the POA during our initial call to him to figure out who he was and what happened. No narcotics or muscle relaxers were noted to be seen in the home along with any devices such as a laptop, computer of any sorts. It was also mentioned to us by the POA had access to all the cameras as voiced by him multiple times in person in front of officers and to the family. We called her pharmacy that was noted on the medications we did find in the home and found out that the POA had been picking up all of her prescriptions including several narcotics (codeine and morphine tabs) along with several muscle relaxers and nerve pain medications (none of which were present at the time he called law enforcement). After calling her physicians office and obtaining a few medical records it was also confirmed that he was bringing her to every area hospital (even into the next county) and had full control of her, even speaking for her on several occasions when she was alert and oriented in regards to providing caring to her. After reviewing her medical records (family is medical) nothing points to her having a spontaneous death leading to her being found collapsed over her bed and left alone for several days.

 

We have done everything requested by the sheriffs office and detectives assigned to her case and have been put through circles upon circles while trying to make funeral arrangements for her. The POA in question and his lawyer have been harassing her physicians office, vital statistics and have made every attempt at stopping our family from being able to grieve and continue this process peacefully. Not once has he said I'm sorry for your loss, cried or showed any emotion other than hostility towards anyone that has come across his path. This POA was not married to her, did not live with her and was nothing but a person that lives down the block from her that seen an her as an easy target, alone, with a house that was paid for by my grandfather who was a thirty year navy chief that died shortly after retirement from lung cancer. This POA knew she was alone, easily coercible and took advantage of her to the point where he became the sole beneficiary of my grandfathers estate including having her life insurances changed recently naming him as the sole beneficiary while she was not of sound mind. Knowing all of this, we forwarded the information to the sheriffs office and again nothing was done or even looked into. We know this man had a part to play in her death, directly or indirectly. There were two calls made to her cell phone on Friday, one was her friend that confirmed to the family that she stated she wasn't feeling well and the last call was to her POA a few moments later, possibly calling him asking for help. Instead, he left her to die alone. We as a family has pleaded with the local sheriffs department and have notified them of everything we have discovered to the point where we went to the district attorney and was assigned a detective three weeks later. After we were once the detective would review everything we had, we had some hope that someone would finally listen to our pleas for help and possibly have toxicology and an autopsy done. When meeting with the detective and discussing everything we had, all of it was refused because her case was closed the same day she was sent to the funeral home and we were told that since it had already been three weeks, there was nothing he could do at this point and refused to review anything or re open her case for further investigation.

 

We are exhausted, we have been searching for legal counsel to represent us but due to the complexity of the case at this point everyone has refused us because either the case is too complex for them or for financial reasons. We have strong beliefs that this POA gained access to her home through the back door at some point before 'finding her' and cleared out the house of anything that would suggest anything otherwise than being a natural death. We aren't getting any help from local law enforcement and we have hit a brick wall in regards to legal counsel that would further assist us in uncovering the truth. We have pleaded with the sheriffs office to please investigate this person if not for my grandmother and what he was involved in with her, but also help with tracking down all the missing narcotics that are going to take the life of someone else if they aren't found and removed off the streets. We have never been the type of people to ask for help, but if posting on here and sharing her story helps save someone else from getting hurt by this man or by tracking down heavy narcotics and having them taken off the streets to prevent harm to someone else than that is all we are asking. Knowing that this man has all of her prescriptions and the thought of someone's child or family member ending up with them after notifying law enforcement and them not acting on top of what has already happened to her is something our hearts cant take. He was supposed to be her friend and help her, not posing as one and take advantage of an elderly women to the point where she lost her life and everything her husband worked and defended our country for. She deserved better and we deserve to know what really happened to her. If we can raise enough, hopefully we can find a lawyer to take our case and prevent anymore harm to anyone else and our family can put up a fight to stop this from happening to someone else. 

 

Even after all this, my family has recently lost her daughter. She was murdered attempting to save the life of a child. We are still going through that murder trial since 2021. My little brothers dad who was a deputy committed suicide a few years ago, so he is having to grow up without his father just like I have because my father chose drugs and alcohol over his family and it ended up claiming his life. I dont know who to turn to anymore to stay strong, as I am trying to be strong for myself, my patients I care and my family. I am a nurse, I deal with death and dying everyday, but when you are the one that becomes the victim and never have a chance to heal and things keep happening, this was my last hope. Turning to my community with the hopes that they can give me the support to keep me positive while I navigate my family through everything that is going on. Thank you for listening and thank you to everyone on here keeping everyone up and helping each other stay positive when people are going through hard times. 

 

[KayC]

I am so sorry for your loss and all the more by the way you discovered everything.  Wishing and hoping for some resolution for your family.