Abuse Suspected In Suspicious California Nursing Home Death
An eleven month investigation following eighty year-old Elmore Kittower's death resulted in four arrests on Thursday, October 2, 2008. Mr. Kittower, a former engineer, lived at Silverado Senior Living, an upscale Calabasas, California assisted living facility that specializes in care for Alzheimer's and memory-impaired patients. He had suffered a severe stroke, causing him to lose much of his memory and independence. His widow, Rita Kittower, was told that her husband of 49 years had died in his sleep. The day after his burial, a woman known as "Maria" called her and told her that a fellow Silverado employee had punched Mr. Kittower in the eye and wrapped a towel around his head as if attempting to suffocate him, shorly before he died. The same woman made calls anonymously to the Lost Hills sheriff's station and sent a letter to a fire station making the same allegations.
The ensuing investigation resulted in interviews with nearly eighty employees and the exhumation of Mr. Kittower's body in November 2007. The arrests Thursday were the culmination of the eleven month investigation which revealed that Cesar Ulloa, a twenty year-old employee of the facility, was the ringleader of a group of four employees who regularly harassed and abused Mr. Kittower and several other facility residents. Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department homicide detectives allege that they have evidence that Ulloa physically assaulted Mr. Kittower mere minutes prior to his death and had been torturing him for months. The coroner indicated that Mr. Kittower died from a lung blood clot but also found evidence of blunt force trauma. Others arrested were Luis Arrelleando, 21, Juan Soto, 21, and Maria Gomez, 34.
Mrs. Kittower paid $75,000 annually for her husband's care. In return, the facility has stonewalled attempts by the family to learn more about how Mr. Kittower died. In fact, the facility has even sent two questionnaires to Mrs. Kittower asking how Mr. Kittower had enjoyed his stay at the facility. The family is offering a $10,000 reward for more information concerning the treatment Mr. Kittower received at the facility.
