Found Deceased MO - Donna Eye, 44, medical cond causing MH issue, sheriff's dep gave her ride from hosp 11pm & left her in Mark Twain Natl Forest, Potosi, 8 Jan 2024

[OckhamsRazor22]

Assuming the officer was not involved in foul play, this is a great example of why LE should not get involved in transporting people. If she wanted to leave, she should have been required to find her own way home. Maybe the hospital thought it was good CYA to involve LE but people can leave hospitals against medical advice.

The info of the case seems to reveal that the hospital did not know she was leaving. She called the dispatch herself and requested a sheriff to take her home. Maybe that’s common or normal in her area and state. Again, the hospital would have assisted her with transportation from the hospital IF SHE WERE properly discharged. She left on her own accord.

 

[OckhamsRazor22]

Although the circumstances are different it reminds me of the death of Mitrice Richardson after she was released by police in the middle of the night while not in her right mind and with no means to get home.

This is the FIRST case which came to mind when I read this post. Mitrice may have fallen victim to a LEO supposedly giving her a ride out of that outpost substation. It is in the middle of nowhere. Her story is so tragic. From beginning to end. The similarities are eerie. Right down to a forest being a drop off point. Something seems off in both of these cases. Just look at the Sarah Everhard case with Wayne Cousins (The Met copper who kidnapped, transported, raped and killed her, before dismembering and burning her body and dumping in a creek on his own property (one he had purchased). It’s a sick and twisted nightmare, the one most all women have in the back of their mind. All women think about falling victim to a man. Just as Margaret Atwood claimed:

Men are afraid that women will laugh at them. Women are afraid that men will kill them.

So true.

 

[OckhamsRazor22]

Exactly -- especially a woman with no one with her -- and apparently there was no house, apartment, etc. for her to enter and be safe. (I may have misunderstood that situation...but I don't think I did.)
And yes, especially at night. By herself. She just left a hospital. SMH

Yes. There was an apparent breakdown of both entities which resulted in this tragedy. The hospital and the LE agency who came and assisted her in departing without speaking with someone on staff. Both bear responsibility as they took on the liability. There has to be someone caught and held accountable for her death.

 

[LadyL]

yes, people can leave a hospital against ama. sounds like the brother contends she was not capable of making an informed decision about that. I haven't read all the links, working my way through. But it can be hard for a hospital to keep someone from leaving ama if they are determined to do so and not under any sort of court ordered conservatorship or guardianship.

I completely understand his frustration. But what puzzles me is the involvement of LE. They are not uber or taxi cabs. Why did the hospital call them? Why did they take the woman? Why, then, did they leave her on the side of the road in the natl forest?? why on earth would they assume that liability when it surely wasn't apart of their job?

they transport people having mental health issues here too - to and from the hospital
I think because they don't want ambulances used for non-emergencies
no, they're not Ubers but some people have no family or claim family is not supportive

 

[Moonstrawbs]

Although the circumstances are different it reminds me of the death of Mitrice Richardson after she was released by police in the middle of the night while not in her right mind and with no means to get home.

This is what came to my mind too!

 

[GraceG]

This is the FIRST case which came to mind when I read this post. Mitrice may have fallen victim to a LEO supposedly giving her a ride out of that outpost substation. It is in the middle of nowhere. Her story is so tragic. From beginning to end. The similarities are eerie. Right down to a forest being a drop off point. Something seems off in both of these cases. Just look at the Sarah Everhard case with Wayne Cousins (The Met copper who kidnapped, transported, raped and killed her, before dismembering and burning her body and dumping in a creek on his own property (one he had purchased). It’s a sick and twisted nightmare, the one most all women have in the back of their mind. All women think about falling victim to a man. Just as Margaret Atwood claimed:

So true.

The Deputy that gave Donna a ride was a woman, not a man. Probably trying to go the right thing without thinking beyond what the missing woman asked of her. Horrific situation for everyone involved. My hearts go out to everyone affected and grieving. Mother, missing 8 days, last seen in Mark Twain National Forest

 

[PNW]

I volunteer with the city and we are co-located within the police department. We are called out by police to scenes where there is domestic violence, sexual assault, trafficking, or unhoused people needing help and resources. One of the things we do is transportation, so the police don’t have to spend their time doing it. I can absolutely see the police calling us in this case to provide a ride. I’m no great fan of LEO at all, but transportation is a thing they do, at least in my large city.

 

[mickey2942]

Yes. There was an apparent breakdown of both entities which resulted in this tragedy. The hospital and the LE agency who came and assisted her in departing without speaking with someone on staff. Both bear responsibility as they took on the liability. There has to be someone caught and held accountable for her death.

Why? She was an adult. Who had the right to leave a medical facility.

Do we make a person who dropped her off accountable for her death? All that will do is ensure that LEO will absolutely never give anyone a ride again.

 

[mst]

Why? She was an adult. Who had the right to leave a medical facility.

Do we make a person who dropped her off accountable for her death? All that will do is ensure that LEO will absolutely never give anyone a ride again.

And that's just it, not knowing she had a mental episode and maybe insisting it was her driveway and she wanted to get out, I'm not so sure LE officer could legally keep her in the car

 

[OckhamsRazor22]

Why? She was an adult. Who had the right to leave a medical facility.

Do we make a person who dropped her off accountable for her death? All that will do is ensure that LEO will absolutely never give anyone a ride again.

No. Not simply because she was an adult. She has the right to leave the hospital and wasn’t under arrest or being held against her will. It’s just that she needed to be technically processed and “checked out” of the facility as a formality which most comprehend. It records info, that of which is absent in this situation and incident.

 

[Breazy]

This is so sad. It will be interesting to find out what she died from.

 

[mickey2942]

No. Not simply because she was an adult. She has the right to leave the hospital and wasn’t under arrest or being held against her will. It’s just that she needed to be technically processed and “checked out” of the facility as a formality which most comprehend. It records info, that of which is absent in this situation and incident.

A lot of people leave a facility AMA, Against Medical Advice. They don't care about documentation or anything else. Usually the situation is highly charged. In general, the quicker the process goes, the better. No one really cares about the paperwork when a patient wants to leave and is creating a scene.

It is a patient rights issue. Huge Joint Commission mess if a patient is held against their will, without documentation that they are on a 72 hour hold, with a judge sign off.

She wanted to leave, they found her a ride, ASAP.

 

[OckhamsRazor22]

A lot of people leave a facility AMA, Against Medical Advice. They don't care about documentation or anything else. Usually the situation is highly charged. In general, the quicker the process goes, the better. No one really cares about the paperwork when a patient wants to leave and is creating a scene.

It is a patient rights issue. Huge Joint Commission mess if a patient is held against their will, without documentation that they are on a 72 hour hold, with a judge sign off.

She wanted to leave, they found her a ride, ASAP.

Was she creating a big scene? I missed that. I get it that the patient didn’t care. I’m just asserting that the facility also doesn’t seem to care. There was a lot of “ambivalence and passing of the buck” in the air on that night. Either way, she lost her life, and the authorities are no closer to finding the opportunistic killer in this tragedy.

 

[tlcya]

“Due to the complexity of this investigation and the misinformation circulating specifically on social media we feel that is pertinent to release the investigative timeline of this investigation,” said the Mineral Area Major Case Squad via a news release.

The case squad shared the following timeline below:

Major Case Squad releases timeline in disappearance of Donna Eye

 

[mickey2942]

Was she creating a big scene? I missed that. I get it that the patient didn’t care. I’m just asserting that the facility also doesn’t seem to care. There was a lot of “ambivalence and passing of the buck” in the air on that night. Either way, she lost her life, and the authorities are no closer to finding the opportunistic killer in this tragedy.

We don't know if she "created a scene". I am generalizing that when patients leave "AMA", it is usually done quickly, no paperwork. Let them go.

"Opportunistic killer"? A law enforcement officer who, as far as we know, dropped a woman off where she wanted to go.

Where is the crime here?

 

[tlcya]

Timeline has been released which provides more info about her demeanor at the hospital etc. Personally, I think the hospital AND LEO are at fault. per the timeline Donna went to hospital by ambulance in the afternoon. the hospital staff discharged her around 6pm. At which point Donna went to sit in the ER area (probably because she arrived by ambulance and had no means to get back home now that she'd been discharged).

An officer there on another matter at around 11:30 pm is contacted by a staffer who requests the LEO give Donna a ride home. The LEO Is concerned for Donna's wellbeing upon making contact with her and speaking with her, so much so that he asks ER staff to examine/assess her.

Hospital responds NOT by assessing Donna, but by providing Donna's brother's address to LEO.

That LEO then contacts Washington County because her destination is outside his range/jurisdiction. He requests deputy come to hospital to pick up and escort Donna safely to brother's house.

Female deputy arrives and she and Donna depart hospital at 11:40 pm. At the intersection of Forest Service road and Shirley School Road Donna asks to be let out of the vehicle and is at approx. 12:11 am.

 

[tlcya]

IF the timeline provided is to be believed:

She did not leave hospital AMA but was in fact discharged.

She had no means of getting home but did not herself summon LEO. after 5 plus hours of her sitting in ER waiting area post discharge a hospital staffer flagged down an officer who was already there for another reason.

That officer contacted the county sheriff's office because Donna wasn't in his jurisdiction

That deputy in turn dropped Donna off by the side of the road after midnight, in the dead of winter, in the heavily wooded national forest.

WHY DID THE HOSPITAL NOT SIMPLY CALL HER BROTHER???
LEO was worried to the point of asking ER staff to assess/reassess her.
MOO the hospital staff was over her and her issues. They wanted her gone and were looking to pawn her off onto law enforcement to deal with.

Deputy who ultimately gave her the ride may not have known anything about what took place prior with other LEO or hospital visit.

 

[TwinkieDefense]

Jan 19, 2024 article

New clues about what happened before mother’s forest death

The family of Donna Eye is demanding accountability after searchers found the 44-year-old dead more than a week after a sheriff’s deputy dropped her off in the Mark Twain National Forest.

www.ozarksfirst.com

[…]

Washington County Sheriff Zach Jacobsen said Tuesday the female deputy dropped Eye off on Shirley School Road and Forest Service 2375.

“The deputy was providing a community service by transporting her from the hospital to her residence,” Jacobsen said. “They get to Shirley School Road and Donna tells the deputy, ‘This is where I want out; this is the beginning of my driveway.’”

[…]

 

[tlcya]

The sheriff said he wants an independent body to review the entire situation and determine whether civilians should be given rides in patrol vehicles.

“It should never be repeated without a solid review,” he said.

Jacobsen said he wants the independent group to question if it’s a service worth providing or if additional safeguards are needed.

The sheriff said he would encourage and “welcome” the entire case file to be released after the investigation is over and the case is closed.

An autopsy has been scheduled for Friday. Investigators said it’s too soon to know if any foul play is involved.
New clues about what happened before mother’s forest death

the video at the link shows the area and terrain where Donna was dropped off.

 

[airportwoman]

We don't know if she "created a scene". I am generalizing that when patients leave "AMA", it is usually done quickly, no paperwork. Let them go.

"Opportunistic killer"? A law enforcement officer who, as far as we know, dropped a woman off where she wanted to go.

Where is the crime here?

A FEMALE officer, no less.

With Potosi being a small town, it's also not unlikely that they personally knew each other.