On a cold February morning back in 2007, Karen Presto wandered away from the Roscoe Manor Adult Home, then stumbled into the woods about a mile way. She fell repeatedly and walked in circles until she curled up under a pine tree. Sadly, that is where police found her frozen body two days later. She had no shoes or socks and a medical examiner ruled she died of hypothermia.
Preston was 54-years old and suffered from severe schizophrenia. She was placed in Roscoe Manor because she needed help with daily activities and self-care that an adult home is supposed to provide. When just a year after Preston disappeared, another Roscoe Manor resident, Ella Maye, walked away from the home. Maye, 78, had dementia and heart disease. State police conclude she suffered a fatal heart arrhythmia while walking on Rockland Road early on Feb. 23. They believe she was trying to crawl back to Roscoe Manor when she collapsed on a neighbor’s front lawn and died.
The home was supposed to do hourly bed checks, but Roscoe Manor owner Charles Benson said, “at the time that an employee had failed to do so. No one noticed Ella Maye was missing.â€
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