Texas assisted living home and two staff indicted after resident froze to death during 2021 storm
Prosecutors say Harvest Renaissance employees left a disabled 73-year-old in an unheated room with windows open during Winter Storm Uri; indictment charges injury to an elderly person.
An Austin assisted living facility and two of its employees were indicted this week on charges that they neglected a 73-year-old disabled resident who later died of hypothermia during Winter Storm Uri in February 2021.
Prosecutors allege that staff at Harvest Renaissance left Cynthia Pierce inside an unheated room with the windows wide open on Feb. 17, 2021, as the historic winter storm moved through the region. The facility and two employees — Executive Director Mendi Ramsay and Wellness Director Rochelle Alvarado — were indicted on counts of injury to an elderly person. The indictment says employees “failed to promptly move and transport” Pierce to a warmer area and did not notify the Texas Health and Human Services Commission after losing power during the storm.
According to the indictment, Pierce was rushed to a hospital with a body temperature of 94 degrees Fahrenheit and later died of hypothermia. The document further alleges that the staff’s conduct was authorized by high-level managerial agents, specifically naming Ramsay and Alvarado.
Winter Storm Uri, which struck Texas in February 2021, caused widespread power outages and subzero indoor temperatures in many parts of the state. Long-term care facilities and other vulnerable institutions faced intense scrutiny after the storm as officials and families questioned how residents were protected during prolonged blackouts and severe cold.
The indictment returned this week alleges criminal neglect by the business that operated the assisted living home and by the two named employees. Under Texas law, injury to an elderly person is a felony offense when conduct results in serious bodily injury or death; the indictment does not set a sentencing outcome, which would be determined only if the defendants are convicted.
Authorities said the facility failed to move Pierce to a warmer location despite losing power, and also did not follow reporting requirements that call for notifying state health officials of power outages affecting residents. The indictment frames those failures as contributing to Pierce’s hypothermia and subsequent death.
Family members and facility representatives have not been quoted in the indictment. The defendants are entitled to a presumption of innocence as the criminal process moves forward; court dates and defense statements have not been detailed in public filings reviewed by prosecutors.
The case adds to a series of legal and regulatory reviews into how long-term care providers handled the emergency created by Winter Storm Uri. State and local authorities continue to investigate and, in some cases, pursue civil and criminal actions where they determine that failures of care or reporting contributed to resident harm.
Prosecutors said the indictment was returned after an investigation into the circumstances surrounding Pierce’s death. The matter will proceed through the criminal justice system, where the allegations in the indictment will be tested in court.