What’s changed at assisted living facility after resident’s violent death?

STATESVILLE, N.C. — One year after a man was beaten to death at a Statesville assisted living facility, has anything really changed?

Since Channel 9′s Almiya White first covered the facility a year ago, one of the most apparent changes to the Heritage Place Adult Living Center has been its name. The facility was renamed about five months after a resident died there.

Since June 2023, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services has conducted six complaint investigations. White went through the reports from those investigations, and the findings left some people who put their trust in the facility angry and heartbroken.

‘Turned out to be a horrific mistake’

Like many families, Patricia Leggett depended on assisted living facilities to care for her husband, Mark. He had cognitive issues that required more supervision than she could provide.

“Mark was a happy-go-lucky kind of guy. He was a jokester,” she said. “He was just a happy guy, you know? Loved life, loved fish — rather fish than do anything.”

Last summer, he became a resident at Heritage Place Adult Living Center, now known as Meadow Lakes of Statesville.

“We thought we were blessed when we found this place. It turned out to be a horrific mistake,” Patricia Leggett said.

Mark Leggett was there for just a week when Patricia said she got the worst call of her life.

“They called me from the Iredell County hospital and said that he had been attacked and he had a severe head injury and that they were very concerned for him,” she said. “And she mentioned that a couple times — the trauma surgeon — that she feared for his life.”

It was a tragedy White reported last year. According to the Iredell County Sheriff’s Office, Mark Leggett had been beaten repeatedly in the head with a blunt object by his roommate, Greggory Warner.

“From what I understand, the 911 call — it must have been several minutes before someone even realized something had even happened, and that was when they called 911,” Patricia Leggett said.

She showed White photos of her husband’s injuries, many of which are so graphic we’ve blurred them.

“He was unrecognizable. His head was stapled together,” she said. “He was all bloody. His ear was nearly removed from the force of the lamp hitting him. His hand was broken from trying to protect himself. He was just very bloody, lot of staples.”

Days after the attack, Mark died.

State inspection report

Now a year later, White wanted to know what changed since Mark Leggett’s death. State inspectors visited the home this past May. In their 85-page report, they cite instances of violence among residents.

“It’s disgusting to think that it’s still going on,” Patricia Leggett said.

The report also lists patients wandering offsite and failure to increase supervision — well after Mark Leggett’s death.

“You would think that one incident would be enough for them,” Patricia Leggett said.

Based on that inspection, Meadow Lakes received a zero-star rating — the lowest a facility can earn out of a possible four stars. Out of 111 other facilities we checked in the Charlotte region, we found just two others with zero stars.

Since 2014, NCDHHS has inspected Meadow Lakes 24 times and reported finding issues 18 times.

Brenetta Taylor’s uncle has dementia and has been a resident at Meadow Lakes for more than a year.

“I worry about him every day,” she said.

She said in May, she got a call from the facility.

“His blood pressure was high, and he could have died,” she said.

She believes it was because her uncle hadn’t been given his medication. She submitted a complaint to the state and a subsequent investigation determined her allegations were sustained.

Taylor said she’s having trouble finding another spot for her uncle but she wants to move him.

“If you kind of look at this report, there’s been a lot of stuff going on like not showing that they’re watching them,” she said.

The state’s report also says a resident was found a third of a mile away from the facility nine hours after leaving.

“How somebody could get out of a facility like that — I mean, it is supposed to be a locked facility,” Leggett said. “It’s beyond me.”

‘Patients deserve more’

In May, the facility received what’s known as a “Type A1 Violation” for failing to provide supervision to wandering residents. That means the facility can’t take in any new residents for six months.

After three weeks of trying to speak with someone at Meadow Lakes, White finally got in touch with head administrator Jayme Shatley a few days ago. She wouldn’t answer White’s questions and told her not to contact the facility again.

However, Patricia Leggett and Brenetta Taylor both said sweeping changes should be in order there.

“I think the patients deserve more care than what they’re getting,” Leggett said. “These people can’t speak for themselves, and somebody needs to be their voice.”

“I want the state to make them be accountable for taking care of these residents,” Taylor said.

After receiving that A1 Violation, Meadow Lakes has until Nov. 6 to come into compliance with state regulations. If that doesn’t happen, the state has told the facility there’s a risk it could lose its license.

In an inspection report from two weeks ago, the state said Meadow Lakes had corrected the lack of supervision that led to that Type A1 Violation. However, the facility still has zero stars and can’t accept new patients.

Channel 9 will continue to follow developments in this case. In the meantime, if you’d like to check how many stars any other facility has, click here.

(WATCH BELOW: Part of tree severely damaged home in Statesville)

Part of tree severely damaged home in Statesville

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