LAKEPORT— The resident who expired at the warming shelter on Monday, Oct. 2, 2023 has still not been identified by law enforcement, nor any other details regarding his passing have been revealed.
The day of his death, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office responded to the Shelter at the old juvenile hall location for a coroner investigation. The Sheriff’s Office noted the man who died was last seen at 2 a.m. according to shelter staff and then was discovered to have died in his bed when personnel made the morning round at about 6:30 a.m., said Lauren Berlinn, the Sheriff’s spokesperson.
The Sheriff’s Office also said the day of death an autopsy would be conducted to determine the cause of death. There were no signs of foul play, they noted. The Sheriff’s Office also pointed out shelter staff remembered the decedent to be respectful
and rule-abiding. The Sheriff’s Office is working to locate the next of kin, so his identity will not be revealed and there will
be no additional details disclosed at this time.
Ryan Aava, the chief executive officer of Sunrise Special Services, which took over management of the shelter after Elijah House,recalled the deceased. “This particular gentleman knew he had a terminal disease,” he said in a phone interview on Thursday.
“But he didn’t have anywhere to go.” Aava also noted that the deceased spent his final day in bed and the man had known
for a while he had been seriously ill.
On Jan. 24, the Board of Supervisors approved a contract with the Sunrise Special Services Foundation to run a warming shelter at the facility for three months, according to earlier reports. The shelter is located at 1111 Whalen Way in Lakeport, in a facility that previously facilitated as Lake County’s juvenile hall. Elijah House discontinued operating the shelter in September 2022. The contract has been renewed since then for extended operations, with Redwood Community Services expected to assume operations later this year and then persist to operate it to provide housing for homeless individuals.
