A Florida family is demanding answers after they claim their loved one was found dead in a storage closet more than one week after he was reported missing from a North Miami nursing home.
Seventy-one-year-old Elin Etienne’s body was found in the closet at North Dade Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, a North Miami Police Department spokesperson confirmed with CNN.
The police issued a “missing vulnerable adult” alert and a poster of Etienne across its social media platforms
on Aug. 23, a day after his family reported him missing.His family told NBC News and local media outlet WSVN that he was admitted to the nursing center on Aug. 14 to recover from a stroke. Their nightmare began a week later when a staff member allegedly contacted the family to alert them that he was missing from the facility.
“They said he signed himself out. He doesn’t have the capacity to sign himself out,” relative Kimberly Etienne told WSVN.
The family told the local outlet that relatives checked his room at the center on Aug. 26, and his belongings were still there.
Several days later, an anonymous staff member allegedly contacted the family on Sept. 2 to inform them his body was found in another room with a wristband with his name on it.
“We thought that he went missing; we never expected him to be dead in the nursing home,” Ruth Keisha, Etienne’s granddaughter, told WSVN.
In a statement to WSVN, the nursing home said:
“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 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.”
The family is now demanding answers from the nursing home, and per WSVN,
they have been seen with signs reading “Justice for Elin Etienne” across the street from the facility.RELATED CONTENT: Wheelchair-Bound Texas Man Dies After Dispute At Nursing Home