An 84-year-old woman tragically died after leaving an Ohio nursing home through an unsecured exit, becoming trapped outside in the cold, according to a lawsuit. The incident has led to criminal charges against a nurse alleged to have been inadequately trained.

The family of Alvera Meuti has filed a legal complaint in Cuyahoga County, claiming that she wandered away from her room at the Avenue at Warrensville Care and Rehabilitation Center in Cleveland on the night of December 23, 2024. The lawsuit details how she left through an exit door that locked behind her, resulting in her death from exposure to the freezing temperatures.

The lawsuit names Amber Henderson, a nurse at the facility, who now faces a felony charge of involuntary manslaughter. The complaint accuses Henderson and the rehabilitation center of failing to report Meuti’s disappearance and neglecting to provide adequate supervision, which allegedly contributed to the fatal incident.

The lawsuit states that around 9:30 p.m. on the night in question, Henderson realized Meuti was not in her room but failed to take any steps to report her absence or locate her. The family claims that proper checks and notifications to Meuti’s relatives were not carried out, which could have prevented the tragedy.

Furthermore, the complaint highlights that the exit door near Meuti’s room was left unlocked and lacked necessary security measures, such as a keypad or alarm, which are critical to prevent unsupervised exits. The absence of these precautions, according to the family, allowed Meuti to leave unnoticed.

“On the morning of December 24, 2024, Alvera was found on a patio outside the facility near the area she exited and near a door that locked behind her, with no ability to re-enter,” the complaint explains. “Alvera died from hypothermia as she froze to death.”

In a March 2025 press release, the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office described how Henderson “assumed Alvera left the facility with her family and continued her shift.” It wasn’t until three hours later that she allegedly began thinking something happened.

“Later that night, around 12:36 a.m., after not seeing Alvera, Henderson attempted to call Alvera’s family to check if she was with them,” the press release said. “The family did not answer, and Henderson continued her shift. The next morning, around 6:30 a.m., Henderson told her supervisor she had not seen Alvera her entire shift, and a ‘Code Purple’ was called.”

The Warrensville Heights Police Department was called to the facility and around 8 a.m., “other nurses” found Alvera outside on the patio “lying on her back,” according to the prosecutor’s office. She was transported to a local hospital and pronounced dead upon her arrival.

An investigation by WHPD later revealed that Henderson was allegedly not qualified to work at the nursing home and the facility was not properly secured.

“Every new nurse receives four weeks of training — which includes what to do if a resident is missing. It is also required for the nurses to check the residents every two hours,” the prosecutor’s office said. “Throughout the course of her shift, Henderson falsified completing several tasks that were required to be administered to Alvera. In addition, every door should have a keypad and be locked. There was an unlocked door near Alvera’s room that led to a staircase and the patio where Alvera was found. The door locks from the outside, making it impossible for Alvera to go back inside.”

Meuti’s family members blame her injuries and death on Henderson and the nursing home’s “failure to ensure that the facility was properly staffed and that the facility was properly secured to protect and meet the needs of its residents.” They allege that the center has a history of “inadequately staffing and/or training its employees” at the expense of its residents’ care, which ultimately led to what happened to Meuti.

“The lack of staff, training, and keeping the facility properly secured resulted in Alvera not being checked on, her absence not being promptly addressed, leaving the facility through an unlocked door, and not being able to re-enter the facility which caused Alvera’s injury and resulted to her freezing to death,” the family’s complaint concludes.

Henderson’s criminal case has a pretrial hearing set for Jan. 27. She has pleaded not guilty, with her lawyer telling local Fox affiliate WJW, “She did nothing wrong. I will vigorously defend her.”

Lawyers and representatives for Avenue at Warrensville Care and Rehabilitation Center could not be reached for comment on Sunday by Law&Crime. They told WJW they had no comment when reached last week.