JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – On July 7, a 70-year-old Jacksonville man with dementia wandered from an assisted living facility and was found dead in nearby woods. His family is now questioning whether staff acted quickly enough to save him.
His family says critical warning signs were missed.
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Victor Montano was reported missing to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office on the morning of July 7. He was later found dead, and investigators say no foul play is suspected.
But his niece, Melissa Pais, who also served as his healthcare proxy, says the way the facility handled the situation has left her with serious questions.
According to a JSO incident report, officers were dispatched to Westchester Assisted Living in the Baymeadows area around 7:30 a.m. after staff reported Montano missing.
Staff told officers the last time Montano was seen was around 12:45 a.m., after he was involved in an incident in which a trash bin caught fire.
Once that was handled, JSO said staff told them they did not notice he was gone until around 7:30 a.m., nearly seven hours later.
“He kept to himself. Very, almost innocent and adolescent,” Pais said about her uncle.
Around 2:50 p.m., Jacksonville Fire Rescue’s K9 team found him in a wooded area just south of the facility, near a fence line. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Pais said she was devastated by the news.
“Loved the New York Mets, even when they lost. Loved a good cup of coffee,” Pais continued.
But Pais says as she learned what happened, she started asking questions about how it all unfolded.
She says she got a message about the fire incident earlier that morning, but not that he was missing.
Pais shared the messages with News4JAX. The first text she received came at 5:39 a.m. from someone at the facility.
It said they needed to talk and mentioned the fire but ended with “he needs immediate placement elsewhere.”
After asking some questions, the staff member says at 6 a.m.:
“He walked off and I haven’t been able to interview him yet.”
Minutes later, the staff member restated, “First and foremost, we do need placement, so we will need an update on that since his 45 days already expired.”
Then at 7:45 a.m., they said he had not been found and police were called, adding, “I think he saw what he did and took off.”
“And he was found in the woods,” Pais said, pausing to process the emotion, “Hours later.”
“This is just not what I was expecting. I moved him here, hoping he would be safe,” Pais continued.
News4JAX reached out to the facility to ask about its policies and what happened.
A staff member cited HIPAA and declined to answer any questions, including general policy questions, before hanging up.
A written message sent through the facility’s website returned an error. A follow-up message sent via Facebook had not received a response as of publication.
What News4JAX also found was a state inspection report from October 2025 that cited the facility for not maintaining documentation showing it completed the required number of resident elopement response drills, drills to respond when a resident goes missing.
“And had I known this I wouldn’t have chosen here,” Pais said. “And I would have worked harder to get him out sooner. But I’ll have to live with that.”