Undiscovered for 39 days: State probes recovery center death Justice Center, Inspector General's office review incident at Troy site

Raolik Walls, left, and his daughter, Zaylii (provided) Raolik Walls, left, and his daughter, Zaylii (provided) Image 1 of / 12 Caption Close Undiscovered for 39 days: State probes recovery center death 1 / 12 Back to Gallery

TROY, N.Y. — Raolik Walls checked into Hudson Mohawk Recovery Center's Supportive Living for Men on Nov. 30 last year, but he never checked out.

The 27-year-old father and aspiring rapper from New Jersey was trying to turn his life around after struggling for years with an addiction to marijuana and the drug Molly, a supposedly pure form of MDMA that's often cut with other drugs, his mother Yvonne Ketter-Walls said.

When he decided last spring that he was ready to get clean, his extended family in Schenectady helped him enroll at the St. Peter's Addiction Recovery Center in Troy to detox, then got him into a halfway house in Troy, and finally into supportive living at the Hudson Mohawk center, which has a men's living facility, in Troy. It was supposed to be his last stop before returning home to his daughter.

But four days after Walls entered the facility no one ever heard from him again. Wondering why he hadn't called, his aunt visited the center on Dec. 9 to see him in person and was told he had packed all his stuff and left five days earlier, said Ketter-Walls. Surprised and worried, his family and friends began asking around town for him. Did he relapse and was hiding out? Did he overdose and die? They called morgues and hospitals. They checked local drug hangouts. They visited a Burger King he frequented and showed his picture to staff. Nothing.

On Jan. 11, 39 days after the family last spoke to Walls, a pest control worker entered his room at the Hudson Mohawk center and found a badly decomposed body on the bed. It was Walls. He had been there the whole time.

How exactly that could have happened is now under investigation by the Justice Center for the Protection of People with Special Needs, as first reported this week by television station WRGB. The state agency investigates reports of abuse and neglect at state-operated, certified or licensed facilities. Hudson Mohawk Recovery Center, though privately run, is certified through the state Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS).

Its executive director, director of residential services and board president did not respond to requests for comment Friday.

The Justice Center confirmed that an "open and active" investigation is under way, but declined further comment.

OASAS said Friday it was "cooperating fully" with the investigation, and has been monitoring the program since they were notified of Walls' death, including conducting unannounced site visits.

"Due to patient confidentiality laws, we cannot comment further on the details," spokesman Evan Frost wrote in an email.

A medical examiner informed the family this month that Walls likely died of a cardiac arrhythmia the night of Dec. 3, and did not find any drugs in his system beyond legal prescriptions, his mother said.

That her son with the infectious laugh and big dreams is dead is hard enough, she said. That he was left to rot hurts all the more. How is it possible that no one could have checked on his room for that long, she wonders? The facility is designed to offer a supportive environment for men looking to re-enter society after battling drug or alcohol addiction. It's supervised, and has strict rules in place for residents.

"They said he stormed out of a meeting because they told him about the rules and he didn't like them," Ketter-Walls said. "You would think if somebody is upset, especially if they're a new person and this is their first house meeting, you would go check on them to make sure they're OK. Apparently nobody cared because nobody checked on him for more than a month."

The family also wants to know why a staff member would tell them he had left when he clearly hadn't. His body was discovered in his assigned room, surrounded by his belongings.

It's unclear if Troy police ever visited the facility after the family reported him missing Dec. 9. Assistant Chief Daniel DeWolf confirmed a missing person's report for Walls was filed that day, and said one of their detectives was informed by staff that Walls had checked out of the facility on Dec. 2.

"I'm not sure if the detective personally visited the facility or spoke with someone on the phone," he said.

A source with knowledge of the matter confirmed Friday that the case is also under investigation by the Office of the Inspector General, which investigates Medicaid fraud, corruption, criminal activity and conflicts of interest, among other things.

Ketter-Walls said her family met this winter with a local Department of Social Services employee, who said they were surprised to hear Walls had died since the center was still receiving state reimbursement for his stay into the month of February — nearly two months after he died.

"I miss him to death," his mother said. "He was just a good person. Even though he had his challenges he always meant the best and was always trying to help everybody around him. He never wanted to see anybody hurt. That's why we never gave up on him. As long as he wanted to help himself, we wanted to help him."