Help Kathleen with Jerry's Final Expenses

I am Kathleen, Personal Representative, and the sister of Jerry W. Frazier who lost his fight with Multiple Myeloma and Renal Failure (Kidney function loss due to the cancer). I am trying to raise funds to pay the funeral costs and to get his other expenses paid. Jerry was unable to pay on his home, doctors, or pay for any kind of life insurance to even cover burial expenses. The estate doesn't have any funds and I have no other way to pay the expenses except reaching out to others.

I have experienced this loss and also had to endure the following which I sent to the Colorado State Attorney General's Office:

I want to initiate a formal complaint against the El Paso County Sheriff’s Department, El Paso County Coroner's Office, and the Public Administrator’s Office in El Paso County. Here is what transpired:

On December 21, 2024, I went to check on my brother. I had received 2 calls from DaVita stating that Jerry had not been to dialysis. Although DaVita was to call anytime he missed, the first call stated he missed three trips, and the second stated four trips that he had not been there. The first call from DaVita was at 12:25 p.m., and the second at 3:25 p.m. I was planning to go there to take him to the hospital because that is the process if you miss three appointments in a row. I was also going to go because I wanted to see if he needed to go to the grocery store. That was before I received the calls from dialysis. I did try to reach out to call Jerry but there was no answer.

When I arrived at Jerry’s home, I went inside and saw that the dining table was pushed back, what I thought was blood on the floor, and his dog was nowhere around either. I searched the home; I made a call to 911 at 4:37 p.m. to report him missing as an “At-Risk” adult. I had no idea what had happened. The call, when I gave them my name and the address, seemed a bit strange to me. They asked me to hold on, then came back on the line and asked my name and my brother’s name again. They again put me on hold briefly, then came back on and said that an officer would be contacting me and asked me to reverify the number where I could be called back. I waited quite a bit of time, possibly less than an hour when I received the call back from Sheriff Jason Bates at 5:14 p.m.

Sheriff Jason Bates stated that he regretted informing me that Jerry had passed and told me about the information in the next paragraph.

On December 19, 2024, my brother’s (Jerry W. Frazier) ride (MedRide) for his dialysis showed up and my brother stated he felt alright and wasn’t going to go. He does have that right, but the driver that day didn’t feel right about how my brother looked and called for a wellness check to his home.

I will try to get a case number and report from the Sheriff’s office but that is not an easy task. I texted Sheriff Jason Bates at (719) [phone redacted], the number he gave me if I had any questions or if he could help in any way, on January 1, 2025, at 12:59 to see if he could send me the report number. No response as of January 11, 2025.

When the sheriff arrived, the screen door was locked but the front entry door was open. The sheriff stated that they had to break in, just pushing the screen and unlocking the screen door because they saw him lying on the floor of his home. When he/they, not sure if there was more than one person, broke in and he was found by his dining table where he had fallen. The sheriff stated that he had already passed and no reviving him. I asked him where Jerry’s dog was and where Jerry was, and the dog was taken to the HSPPR and Jerry had been taken to the coroner’s office. The sheriff stated he gave them my information on this piece of paper because he was sure that I was the next-of-kin.

Why didn’t anyone try the number with my name on the paper? I could have come and been there within 20 minutes. I could have taken the dog and kept him from going to HSPPR, and I could have given them information for Jerry. Jerry also had a Life Alert on the end table by his chair. They just had to pick it up and press the button. They would have notified me. The MedRide company had my contact information. My information was everywhere if someone had just taken a few minutes. Jerry had other welfare checks at his home, and I know my information was in the sheriff’s computer. A female sheriff would call me to let me know. I even left work to meet her at his house so she could go in and check. That was just on November 14, 2024. She went through the house and got Jerry up from sleeping, and I made him get dressed and I took him to the hospital.

I tried calling the coroner's office at 6:39 p.m. on 12/21/2024. The message was to the best I can remember, “You have reached the El Paso County Coroner’s Office after hours. We are closed at night and weekends. Please do not leave a message during these times as they will not be returned.”

I couldn’t even reach them until Monday, December 23, 2024, at 8:02 a.m. I called. The coroner stated to me, with no remorse, that since the next-of-kin could not be notified his case was turned over to the Public Administrator’s office. I told her that when they found my brother, his driver’s license was on the table, in his wallet and I am listed as the emergency contact on it. She stated to me that his wallet was put in his nightstand drawer with any money and that not everyone can get that information. She was rude, uncaring and stated a voicemail was left. No voicemail was left! I asked her what the number was for the P.A., and she gave me that and said I would have to now contact them and she hung up.

Here is where I have numerous complaints besides the one against the sheriff, the coroner’s office, if they were able to identify my brother Jerry, then why wasn’t his driver’s license searched to see if any emergency information was listed there. This wasn’t the first time checks had been done on my brother Jerry. The information was in the sheriff’s computer, if they had run his license, they would have had that information, and I should have been contacted ASAP. You are talking about less than 30 minutes of time to find me. They also could have reached out to the MedRide since the driver is the one who reported it or business, and they had my information. From the driver, they could have asked where he was to take Jerry. It would have shown to DaVita. DaVita has all my information. They stating to me they couldn’t contact Jerry’s next-of-kin was nothing but lies and no one was doing their job.

Dove Witt was having issues getting their calls returned from both the P.A.’s office and the coroner. When they did get a hold of them, Christian Skaggs at Dove Witt stated to me that there was a new person, and she didn’t know what to do or what paperwork was needed.

On December 30, 2024, I left messages at the coroner at 8:16 a.m., the P.A.’s office at 8:22 a.m. The P.A.’s office called me at 9:22 a.m. and the call was less than a minute from Paula. She stated that she had spoken with Christian Skaggs and said she informed the coroner’s office that the family was taking over. She apologized for not getting back with me.

On 12/31/2024 Christian called and emailed me documents so Jerry could be picked up. Signed and returned ASAP. Then he tried to reach out to the coroner’s office. Calls were not returned. He was able to speak with one person, and she was new and didn’t know the process.

When I met at Dove Witt to get paperwork for service etc. set up, I was still unable to get this done because the coroner’s office only allowed pick-ups between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. and wasn’t sure they would be able to get Jerry that day but would do their best. He did call me at 4:26 p.m. to let me know they were able to pick up Jerry and his care team was going to let him know if we could have a viewing.

Now, tell me if this is acceptable for anyone to have to wait from December 19, 2024, until January 2, 2025, to get a person released. This is 16 days! Why do public offices like the coroner’s and the P.A.’s office not have an answering service to take calls and someone on call every day of the week? Holidays or not, people pass every day, and this is not an acceptable way to handle a deceased person's family! What are you going to do to rectify this situation for me and to keep this from happening to any other person’s family members?

All I received from the Colorado State Attorney's Office was a "Boiler Plate" response.

Any help will be so greatly appreciated and maybe someone can assist me with any information that can help so this doesn't continue to happen.