Veteran missing for month found dead in VA facility stairwell, Massachusetts cops say

A veteran was found dead in a stairwell in a Veterans Affairs building in Massachusetts after he was last seen at the facility more than a month ago, officials say.

The 62-year-old man was living in Bedford Veterans Quarters, an independent-living facility for formerly homeless veterans at the Bedford VA campus, when he was reported missing on May 13, Boston.com reported. He was last seen several days earlier on May 8, according to the outlet.

A resident found the man dead in a stairwell on the campus Friday, a month after he was last seen, CNN reported. He was found in the same clothes he’d been wearing when he was reported missing, according to the outlet.

“It appears that he’s been there from the eighth of May,” Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan told WBZ-TV.

Residents told the outlet that some exits had been closed off for months due to concerns over the coronavirus, according to the outlet.

Bedford Veterans Quarters is operated by Caritas Communities, a non-profit homelessness prevention organization, which leases a portion of a building on the Bedford VA campus, according to the organization.

The stairwell where the man was found is not within the parameters of Caritas Communities’ lease and is “alarmed and solely controlled by the VA,” the organization said in a statement.

“Caritas Communities is committed to the health and safety of our residents, and follows strict protocols when a resident is discovered missing,” the organization said. “On May 13 we filed a missing persons report for a BVQ resident, and had been working with the VA and the Bedford Police to ascertain the whereabouts of this resident.”

Meghan Kelly, a spokesperson for the district attorney’s office, told CNN that officials have no reason to believe the man’s death was related to COVID-19, according to the outlet

“We are going to be looking at all those circumstances and making an assessment whether appropriate action was taken,” Ryan said, according to WBZ-TV.

The man’s name has not been released.

This story was originally published June 16, 2020 at 1:37 PM with the headline "Veteran missing for month found dead in VA facility stairwell, Massachusetts cops say."