Camilla Jessen
Now, the family is demanding answers.
Family demands answers after a 83-year-old U.S. Navy veteran dies in a tragic freezer incident.
The discovery
When Kristen Spencer checked her father’s room via a Ring camera, she noticed something was wrong.
The light was on. But William Eugene “Gene” Ray, 83, was missing.
Hours later, staff at The Waverly Assisted Living and Memory Care in Trinity, Florida, found the retired Navy veteran dead inside a walk-in freezer.
The family is now demanding to know how a dementia patient could access a restricted area undetected.
A life of service
Ray, a father of two and retired U.S. Navy veteran, had served his country for 36 years.
In May, as his dementia worsened, he moved into The Waverly.
“You put your loved one in there with trust,” Spencer told Fox 13. That trust, she said, was shattered the night he disappeared.
“He’s in the freezer”
According to Spencer, footage from her father’s in-room camera showed him leaving around 12:30 a.m. on September 26 and never returning.
Panicked, she contacted her mother, who called the facility immediately.
Hours later, the family received the call.
“She [a staff member] said, ‘We found him,’” Spencer recalled. “But then the next words out of her mouth were, ‘He’s in the freezer.’”
“No foul play suspected”
The Pasco County Sheriff’s Office responded around 8 a.m., finding Ray unresponsive in the freezer.
“Preliminary information suggests the incident was accidental and no foul play is suspected,” a sheriff’s spokesperson told People.
Ongoing investigation
Pasco County Fire Rescue transported Ray for medical treatment, but he was later pronounced dead.
Investigators are still determining how he managed to enter the freezer unnoticed.
Family questions safety protocols
Spencer said that while her father’s stay had been “mostly fine,” small warning signs had emerged in recent weeks.
“If we had not called the facility, when would they have found him?” she asked. “When you have vulnerable people in a place, you have to secure these areas.”
She is now calling for stricter safety measures to protect residents suffering from cognitive decline.
The facility responds
In a statement to Fox 13, The Waverly said it was “deeply saddened” by Ray’s death but urged the public not to spread misinformation.
“The safety, dignity, and well-being of our residents is — and always will be — our highest priority,” the statement read.
The facility said it had never experienced an incident of this nature in its history and praised staff for their “immediate response” and “professionalism.”
However, it declined to comment on details, citing privacy and regulatory restrictions.
This article is made and published by Camilla Jessen, which may have used AI in the preparation
