Photo: Maskot / Maskot / Getty Images
A family is demanding answers after their loved one was found dead in the closet of his nursing home. Elin Etienne, 71, began receiving care at North Dade Nursing and Rehab in North Miami in early August after suffering from a brain aneurysm.
Etienne's niece, Kimberly, said that a staff member of the facility contacted the family on August 22 and told them that Elin was missing.
"They said he signed himself out. He doesn't have the capacity to sign himself out," Kimberly told WSVN.
"We put out an SOS that he was missing and had been missing since the 22nd," said Rivly Bruce, another niece of Etienne.
After 11 days of searching for Elin, the family was contacted by an anonymous employee at the nursing home who told them that Elin's body was found on Monday (September 1) in a storage room at the facility.
"I was told by an insider that they found him in either inside a storage room or the library and he was dead," Bruce told the news station. "They had identified our uncle because he was still wearing his nursing home bracelet. Now we are just waiting for an autopsy report to see what the cause of death was."
The police recovered the body but would not let Elin's family see it.
"The detective told us the reason why he would not let us see the body because it had deteriorated and decomposed so much that he didn't want us to have that image in our head," Bruce explained.
Authorities are waiting for the results of the autopsy to determine how and when Elin died.
The family said that staff at the nursing home have been ignoring them since the incident.
The nursing home released the following statement:
"Our thoughts and condolences go out to the family members affected by this devastating event. At North Dade Nursing and Rehab, we are deeply committed to the health, well-being, and safety of our residents, above all else. Our team is cooperating fully with the appropriate authorities, including law enforcement and our state regulatory partners. We are compassionate caregivers, and that will help get us through this difficult experience. At the same time, we remain committed to ensuring our residents continue receiving the high-quality care they have come to expect from our facility."