Winnipeg, Canada – A woman from Birds Hill is looking for answers after her mentally challenged brother in-law was found dead in the courtyard of a supervised residency in Winnipeg.
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"It was terrible, I still can't believe it," said Ann Collen. "I have no idea exactly what happened."
What she does know is the body of her 74-year-old relative, Barry Collen, was found in the courtyard of The Kanee Centre at The Sharon Home on Magnus Avenue several hours after he entered the area to have a cigarette.
Collen thinks the elderly man may have frozen to death after being unable to reopen the door to the facility, but noted the chief medical examiner's office is investigating.
"They should have checked in on him," said Collen, who questions why it took so long to find Barry, regardless of the cause of death.
She said although Barry was able to do many things on his own, he suffered from Charkot-Marie-Tooth syndrome, which makes it difficult to feel numbness or the cold and very difficult for him to use buttons or zippers.
She was further frustrated because "He was banned from the smoking room, for smoking too much."
Collen said she has had concerns about how Sharon Home treats clients in the past. Now she's urging others to take a closer look at care homes while continuing to search for closure in Barry's death. Collen is his only living relative. "It could happen at any nursing home … people should be aware of their mothers and fathers and check on them," she said. [cnews]
Smoking kills.