“He’s in the freezer”

Panicked, Spencer called her mother, who immediately contacted the facility. Hours later, the phone rang again — this time, with news no daughter should ever hear.

“She [the staff member] said, ‘We found him,’” Spencer recalled. “But then the next words out of her mouth were, ‘He’s in the freezer.’ And I said, ‘What do you mean he’s in the freezer?’”

Authorities from the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office responded to the facility around 8 a.m. They found Ray unresponsive inside a walk-in freezer. He was transported for medical treatment but later pronounced dead.

”Pasco County Fire Rescue responded and transported the victim for medical treatment, where he was later pronounced deceased,” a police spokesperson told People, adding, ”Preliminary information suggests the incident was accidental and no foul play is suspected.”

How a dementia patient accessed a restricted freezer remains under investigation.