A wrongful death lawsuit filed against Denton County, Sheriff Tracy Murphree and other officials claims that staff neglected a man who died of dehydration in jail last September.
Heath Aaron Vandeventer, 27, was arrested on July 7, 2023, after his grandmother called 911 to report he was experiencing a mental health crisis at their Argyle home. He was charged with assault against an elderly or disabled individual, according to jail records.
In two months he spent incarcerated, the lawsuit alleges he lost over 100 pounds. His cause of death was ruled as dehydration with malnutrition as a contributing cause.
The federal lawsuit alleges Denton County Jail staff were made aware that Vandeventer suffered from schizoaffective paranoid disorder and schizophrenia and was previously treated at Denton County MHMR.
County officials and staff did not take any action to prevent Vandeventer’s death, the lawsuit alleges. He had no psychoactive substances in his body to treat his active and acute mental illness, the lawsuit says.
Vandeventer was unresponsive and immobile for days before his corpse was removed from the jail on Sept. 13, according to the lawsuit.
Throughout his incarceration, Vandeventer’s grandmother communicated several times with staff about providing proper care and supervision for him and was repeatedly assured that his mental and physical needs were being taken care of, according to the suit.
The lawsuit states county policies and a lack of training allowed Vandeventer “to slowly and painfully die over the two month period he was in the Denton County jail.”
Ten months after his death, Vandeventer’s grandmother filed the wrongful death and negligence suit against the following defendants: Denton County; Sheriff Tracy Murphree; John Kissinger, the correctional health administrator for Denton County Public Health; Barry Caver, jail administrator and an assistant chief deputy; Marty Buchanan, public health division manager and health authority; Matt Richardson, director of Denton County Public Health; Bruce Elsey, a sheriff’s office captain; and 25 other unnamed county employees.
Although a Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office report listed dehydration as a cause of death, The Dallas Morning News reports that the medical examiner also noted suicide could not be “entirely excluded.”
The report noted Vandeventer weighed 300 pounds upon booking and 195.5 pounds at death, The News reported. However, Denton County Jail records list his weight at booking was 215 pounds.
The News reported that the medical examiner report states Vandeventer refused to engage with medical staff, was violent toward jailers, refused medical care and food, and remained unclothed and unhygienic.
Denton County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Capt. Orlando Hinojosa confirmed he’d received the Denton Record-Chronicle’s request for comment but did not immediately provide comment Friday afternoon.
Denton County spokesperson Dawn Cobb said Friday afternoon the county does not have comment on the lawsuit.