85-year-old woman dies after wandering away from Franklin care facility

The Indiana Department of Health is investigating a Franklin assisted living facility after an 85-year-old woman left the center on her own and died from hypothermia.

According to the Johnson County coroner, 85-year-old Virginia Clayton walked out of Morningpointe Assisted Living sometime during the weekend of Jan. 28-29. A pedestrian found Clayton's body at 8:00 a.m. Sunday, about three blocks away.

The coroner said Clayton had fallen on a sidewalk and broken her arm. She died from hypothermia about five hours before her body was found.

The health department is looking into the matter to see if Morning Pointe violated rules or procedures.

One question is why there was apparently no response to a door alarm that would have sounded when Clayton left the building. Health department records show a June inspection of Morning Pointe which revealed violations related to tracking infections, but nothing related to residents leaving the facility unattended.

Doug Purdue, who lives next to the facility, said it's common to see residents going for walks outside the building, but he said they are always escorted by family members or Morning Pointe employees.

"One would wonder how one could get out of a facility like that on their own," Purdue said.  "Yeah, it's kinda surprising."

Morning Pointe's director, Luan Deskins, said they are conducting their own internal investigation. They are also cooperating with the state's investigation.