The assisted living facility where a resident temporarily lived when she disappeared gave up its license late last year.
Ashley Cerasole left Cary Adult Home December 3, 2020. She was a 29-year-old woman with schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder and epilepsy.
Surveyors found her body in a swamp more than a month later. A state medical examiner’s report said the cause of death could not be determined.
An investigation by WHRO uncovered dozens of state code violations at Cary in 2020, including a previous incident where another resident disappeared from the facility and died.
From 2017 to 2021, the Gloucester County Sheriff’s Office responded to 424 calls at the building, according to law enforcement records. There were reports of assault, arson, missing persons cases and threats of suicide.
The facility lost its permanent license for several months before receiving a short-term license that expired December 2021.
According to an email from the Virginia Department of Social Services, Cary returned its license and stopped providing assisted living services. It's now an independent living facility.
Assisted living facilities provide or coordinate personal services and health care. They may provide some degree of supervision as well, according to VDSS.
Independent living facilities provide services like housekeeping or laundry for residents, but they do not provide medical or nursing care.
The facility that used to be Cary is now called Forest View. The company that owned Cary registered the name in October, two months before the license was due to expire.
The management and lawyer for the facility did not respond to requests for comment for this story.
