Autopsy finds severely disabled North Carolina woman did drown in townhouse bathtub

Jessica Price, severely disabled by a genetic abnormality, was a few months shy of 40 when she was helped into a bathtub in an East Raleigh townhome.

She was left alone in the tub for just a few minutes, her caregivers told police, according to an autopsy released last week. But they returned to find her slumped with her nose and mouth underwater. Neither the caregivers nor an emergency crew could revive her.

The autopsy confirmed that Price accidentally drowned just before noon on Feb. 21, 2022, with soapy water found in her lungs. But a key question remains unanswered: Should she have been left alone in the tub?

Price required “supervision and needed help with most daily functions, including bathing, using the bathroom, and feeding herself,” the autopsy report states.

It also showed she had serious health issues that contributed to her death. She had long had an immune deficiency disease that required medication. But she had also developed non-alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver, requiring caregivers to drain fluid from her abdomen. Her sinuses were rife with infection, and she had seizures.

That information suggests someone should have been with her during the bath, said Lisa Poteat, a deputy director for The Arc of North Carolina, which serves those with mental disabilities.

“Just from reading that information, you would expect that she would have someone with her, assisting her – I mean literally helping her wash,” Poteat said, stressing that she could not be certain because she did not know Price.

If Price’s care was subsidized by taxpayers through Medicaid or some other program, the caregivers should have been following a detailed, written plan that would likely specify whether she needed supervision while bathing, Poteat said.

But the autopsy is silent on whether such a plan was in place. Neither the state Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the medical examiner’s office and Medicaid spending, nor a regional care manager responsible for handling Medicaid for those with developmental disabilities would answer questions about her death. Both cited privacy laws.

Pushed into the spotlight

Jessica Price’s death may have escaped scrutiny if her family had not thrust her into the public spotlight several years ago

Born with a genetic abnormality called Trisomy 16, Price had the mental acuity of a child. Despite that, her name appeared on campaign finance reports showing thousands of dollars in contributions to state and federal candidates in North Carolina and other states.

When her father, Larry Price, found out, he filed campaign finance complaints in North Carolina and other states against Jessica’s brother, Chad Price, the CEO of Mako, a Raleigh-based lab testing company. Chad Price became Jessica’s guardian in 2013.

Chad Price lives in Apex, but the autopsy reported that he had moved his sister to a townhome he owns in East Raleigh. Her caregiver and her caregiver’s husband lived in the home, the autopsy said.

The autopsy doesn’t name her, but Marquita Cross was pictured with Jessica in a photo with her obituary. Her Facebook page last summer noted she began working for ACI Support Specialists, which is now known as ACI-Dungarvin, in June 2017.

On what would have been her 41st birthday last week, Marquita Cross posted a picture of Jessica on her Facebook page with an all-in-caps message and two heart emojis: “MISSING YOU TODAY ON YOUR DAY OF BIRTH JESSICA! LOVE YOU DEARLY!! REST ON!”

A day later, ACI’s state director Rita Barnes, said that Cross no longer works for ACI. Barnes said the company would be releasing a statement about the case but did not provide one.

Cross’s husband, Tyrone, has a criminal record that includes serving six years in prison for felony identity theft and drug possession, The News & Observer reported last year. If Medicaid paid her bills through what is known as an alternative family living arrangement, ACI would have had to vet Tyrone Cross to determine whether his past made him a safety or financial risk.

The News & Observer tried to reach the Crosses and Chad Price to ask about Jessica Price’s death, with no success.

Residential care secrecy

State and regional officials involved with care for disabled people in North Carolina said multiple laws prevent them from commenting on Jessica Price’s death.

She was receiving Medicaid for her care before her brother became her guardian, her father said, but it’s not clear that her brother continued with public assistance.

“NCDHHS cannot provide individual specific information due to state and federal laws safeguarding the records and information of recipients of social benefit programs as well as an identifiable individual’s health records and information,” spokeswoman Bailey Pennington wrote in an email message.

Doug Fuller, a spokesman for Alliance Health, the regional Local Management Entity/Managed Care Organization that oversees Medicaid spending on people with developmental disabilities in Wake County, emailed a similar message.

Alliance can’t disclose its health plan members or what it has done when questions arise about care providers, he said.

“Any investigation regarding a member’s services, including any action taken against a provider as a result of the care provided to a member, would be considered protected health care information,” he said.

That leaves the public and advocates for people with disabilities, such as The Arc of North Carolina, in the dark.

“I don’t know how at this point we would get those questions answered,” said Poteat, with The Arc of North Carolina. “I would hope that the right reports have been done, the right investigations have been conducted, but we just don’t know that.”

Lacking answers

Jessica’s father said he hoped the autopsy would have provided more answers to his questions. Do the authorities know how long his daughter was left alone in the tub? Did she have a care plan? Did it say whether her bathing alone was permissible? How did her health deteriorate?

He and his wife, Susan, had not seen their daughter for years. The battle over her guardianship opened a rift between them and their son, Larry Price said, one that denies the couple access to the medical records that might answer those questions.

“In a situation like this there has to be accountability,” Larry Price said. “Someone needs to take responsibility.”

A DHHS communications director in May 2022 attempted to get the agency to release more information.

Robin Deacle, then senior communications director, asked Deputy Secretary Mark Benton and former Medicaid director Dave Richard to address an N&O reporter’s questions about Jessica Price’s care, according to email obtained by a New & Observer public records request.

“This is obviously an unusual situation,” she wrote in an email. Noting that several DHHS divisions have oversight or involvement along with Alliance and ACI, “it’s starting to look like no one’s in charge, and that’s bad for DHHS,” she wrote.

“I’m hoping one of you or a team member would be able to help [a reporter] see where we are and aren’t responsible. Further, it seems like we should be investigating, but if that’s not our role, that needs to be perfectly clear,” she wrote.

No one from the agency delivered on her request.

Jessica Price Autopsy by Dan Kane on Scribd