Chapter 5 - Dr. Keane Had Never Examined My Father That Morning
The answer was not:
she bought a hospital.
There was no hospital.
That was the vulnerability Monica exploited.
Dr. Alan Keane was a licensed physician doing private:
home-care consulting,
medical-record review,
and occasional end-of-life certification work.
He had previously treated:
Peter.
He had met Monica socially.
Months before, Monica contacted him about:
Richard’s supposed cognitive decline.
Dr. Keane later admitted he had reviewed:
selected medical records
provided by Monica.
Not the complete chart.
The records showed:
high blood pressure,
mild sleep problems,
postoperative medication history,
one note about forgetfulness.
Nothing terminal.
Monica then told him Dad had recently experienced:
fainting,
confusion,
shortness of breath.
Dad denied most of:
that.
Keane recommended formal:
evaluation.
Monica never scheduled it.
Instead, days before Dad’s supposed death, she sent Keane copies of what appeared to be:
home palliative-care paperwork.
The forms were:
false or materially misleading.
He should have verified:
them.
He didn’t.
Then early Sunday morning Monica called:
Keane.
She said Richard had died overnight after an expected decline.
Keane did not physically examine:
him.
That became one of the most serious failures in the entire case.
He relied on:
Monica’s report,
false supporting documentation,
and communication with a private transport coordinator.
The legal mechanics became complicated.
Dad had not actually completed every step required for a final registered death certificate before:
I opened the bag.
But enough provisional paperwork existed to move him into:
mortuary custody.
In ordinary circumstances, professionals assume other professionals have done:
their jobs.
Monica exploited:
that trust.
Keane later said:
“I believed I was certifying an expected home death.”
Expected by:
whom?
Monica.
Then investigators looked at:
money.
Keane had received:
$7,500
from North Laurel three weeks earlier.
He described it as consulting work on a future senior-living project.
Maybe legitimate.
Maybe not.
Invoices existed.
Work product was:
thin.
That payment alone did not prove he knowingly signed a false pronouncement.
But it destroyed the appearance of:
independence.
Then came the transport contractor.
Keystone Mortuary Transfer, a subcontractor connected to the similarly named coordination company.
Its owner, Wesley Hart, had received:
$18,000
from North Laurel.
Description:
facility logistics consulting.
Again:
possible legitimate service.
Timing:
bad.
Then investigators interviewed the driver who transported:
Dad.
The driver said Richard was initially:
very still.
Then, halfway to the funeral home, the bag moved.
“What did you do?”
“I told my supervisor.”
“What did he say?”
The driver’s statement:
You have paperwork. Complete the transfer.
Then Richard moved again.
The driver stopped.
His partner checked:
the bag.
Richard made a sound.
The supervisor was called:
again.
This time the instruction was:
Secure the bag and finish the job.
Secure.
That was when tape ended up across:
Dad’s mouth.
The driver claimed he panicked and followed:
orders.
Terrible.
But he eventually cooperated.
Then investigators asked the supervisor:
who gave the instruction.
Phone records did not magically contain:
content.
But call timing showed Wesley Hart contacted Monica between:
the first
and:
second driver calls.
At 5:02 a.m.
The bag was secured at approximately:
5:09.
That seven-minute window became one of the most important pieces of:
circumstantial evidence.
And then investigators found one text Monica had sent Wesley immediately afterward.
Only four words:
May you like
Do not bring him back.
---
