Perhaps the mother of Guy Mitchell can find some comfort knowing that when her childlike son was found dead at the bottom of a well, he inadvertently rescued two other vulnerable souls from the hell they lived in.

Police officers who responded to the well call in Ancaster stumbled upon a group home so squalid that two veteran police told a courtroom it was the worst house they had ever seen.

There was no heat or running water. Toilets and bathtubs were full of human waste. Feces was smeared on walls, floors and furniture. The fridge was a filthy mess containing nothing more than old condiments. Beds were stripped bare and smeared with vomit.

The smell was horrendous.

Yet this is where Guy Mitchell, 38, lived.

With him, in that house, was another man with profound special needs, David, and an 11-year-old girl with autism, Jennifer.

It is believed Guy — who had difficulty seeing and hearing and was "clumsy" — was fetching water from a deep cistern when he fell in and drowned.

On Monday, a coroner's inquest began searching for answers to basic questions about Guy's death on April 29, 2012. The jury of two women and three men will spend two weeks determining where, when, how and by what means Guy died, at the end of which they may make recommendations in the hopes of preventing another similar death.

Guy was three when his mother, Diane Paton, took him to doctors. Though a specific diagnosis has never been arrived at, he was determined to have a "developmental delay."

All his life, he couldn't read or write or dress himself. He could not cross a road and was "clumsy," says Paton, tripping over things regularly. He didn't speak much and could be a handful.

"He had outbursts and wouldn't want to do what he needed to do," Paton explained during her sometimes tearful testimony. "He just became kind of hard to handle at times."

Paton was raising Guy on her own and when he turned 12, the Children's Aid Society introduced her to Karen and Bill Santor. They took Guy into their Jerseyville Road West home in Ancaster.

That was 26 years ago.

Oversight of Guy's care transferred to an agency called Choices, which operates with funding from the Ministry of Community and Social Services (MCSS). The Santors moved in 2000 from a small house on their property to a larger one they built farther back from the road.

For many years Paton — who remained very involved with her son — was pleased with the care Guy received from the Santors, she told the inquest.

"Guy was a very happy person. Always wanted to talk to people." The Spectator has previously reported that Guy was a Special Olympian, earning medals for snowshoeing. He was also a championship bowler.

Bill died in 1999, Karen died suddenly in August 2011.

The Santors' daughter, Keri Santor was 26 when her mother passed. She vowed to continue her mother's work and care for Guy as well as David and Jennifer.

Under Keri's watch, the house became unfit for living. And Guy died.

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But Keri will not be testifying at the inquest. Coroner's counsel Karen Shea told the jury police have no idea where Keri is.

Parties with standing at the inquest are Diane Paton, Choices and MCSS.

Weeks before Guy's death, Paton had dinner at the Jerseyville Road home. She described the house as "cluttered" but said the first floor — the only floor she saw of the three storey home — gave her no great concern. However, she also testified she once heard Keri shouting at her son, and that made her worry.

Just after 7 p.m. on a Sunday night three years ago, Const. Adam Brown answered a 911 call. He pulled Guy from the open cistern. He had no vital signs.

Meanwhile, Acting Sgt. Doug Hall arrived at the scene and went into the house.

"It stunk ... It was absolutely disgusting," he testified. "It's probably one of the worst homes I've ever been in in 32-plus years of policing."

"It was very dirty ... There was vomit. The bathtub was full of feces. It was terrible."

Forensic officer Det. Const. Doug Moon took photos and measurements.

"As soon as I walked in the home itself ... there was a very foul odour of feces and urine," he told the jury. "It was the worst I have seen."

"Deplorable."

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