An Arizona woman experienced a shocking moment when she found her elderly uncle’s body, which had been severely decomposed, sitting in a chair at his care facility. Staff members reportedly hadn’t checked on him for nearly a week.
Angela Bourne made this distressing discovery on October 16 while visiting her 75-year-old uncle, Gerald McClellan, at his small apartment in Sun City’s Lifestream community.
Upon entering, expecting her usual cheerful greeting of “Uncle, I’m here,” Bourne was greeted by silence, leading her to a horrifying scene.
“It looked like a skeleton in a chair,” she recounted, sharing that his face and eyes appeared to be missing.
She described the trauma of seeing him like that, stating, “He had been there so long that he didn’t even look like a person. I remember running out of the room and asking the front desk when someone last checked on him.”
His niece was informed that it had been at least four days since anyone had attended to him.
Vaughn, who is filled with guilt over the situation, had moved her uncle to the facility in January after the passing of his wife. She paid $1,700 monthly, trusting that it had measures in place to ensure his safety.
One of these measures included a daily check-in button that residents were encouraged to press each morning to signal their well-being.
“A staff member was supposed to check on him by 10 a.m. each day,” complained a distressed resident. “He didn’t push the button. They tried to call him but couldn’t reach him, and they still didn’t go and check. It wasn’t just one day—it was four days.”
Local authorities later indicated that McClellan likely passed away three to four days before staff at the independent living center finally called 911.
In response to the tragedy, Lifestream at Suncity expressed their sorrow, stating, “We are deeply saddened by the loss of one of our residents. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family during this difficult time. Out of respect for their privacy, we will not be releasing further details.”
