Family of man found dead in North Miami nursing home hires attorney

KENDALL - Family members have hired an attorney after the decomposing body of their 71-year-old loved one was discovered in a closet of a North Miami nursing home .

In an exclusive interview with CBS News Miami, family attorney Philip Gold said he has already taken action in this case, filing a notice of a wrongful death claim, which is the first step in the legal process.

Family members gathered in Gold's Kendall offices and said they turned to Gold to help them get answers after the death of Elin Etienne, a retired chef who came to this country more than 30 years ago from Haiti and who had dementia after suffering two strokes and had only been in the North Dade Nursing and Rehabilitation Center for a short time before he went missing.

Loved ones said anonymous callers told them he went missing on August 22nd and his body was discovered in a closet. They said they have not been able to get any answers from the nursing home despite repeated attempts.

Etienne's only child, his daughter Elin Etienne, said as she fought back tears, "I just want justice for my dad. I just want justice for my dad. I can't believe he died like that. It was terrible."

"I want to know how he ended up in the closet. If he was put in a closet. Was he fighting for his life? We want to keep this from happening again. This can happen to anyone's family and we do not want to see that happen," Etienne's niece, Rivly Breus, said.

"We do not know if there was appropriate staffing or not. Was there a rogue staffer? We don't know what went wrong. What we do know is this was unacceptable and there was unacceptable negligence and an obvious lapse in supervision," said Gold.

"The family deserves answers and they need to understand how this happened. The family has been attempting to communicate. They have not been getting answers and they have been shut down and not getting the answers they need. How could he go missing for 12 days and then end up dead and decomposing in a closet at the nursing home? This man and this family deserved dignity."

CBS News Miami reached out to the nursing home on Wednesday, but our call was not returned.

The nursing center released a statement last week in which Administrator Stephanie Pena said, "We are deeply committed to the health, well-being, and safety of our residents… Our team is cooperating with the appropriate authorities."

She said her team are "compassionate caregivers."

The Agency for Health Care Administration, which regulates such facilities, issued a statement in which it said it was committed to the health and safety of all residents but could not comment about this case.

CBS News Miami has also reached out to North Miami Police, who say they can not comment right now because of the ongoing investigation.