Death of man, 80, questioned
By Joann Groff joann@theacorn.com

Acting on a number of anonymous tips alleging foul play, officials last month exhumed the body of Elmore Kittower, an 80yearold resident of Silverado Senior Living in Calabasas for further investigation.

An unknown caller left phone messages with Kittower's widow and the Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff's Station, and an unsigned letter was sent to a nearby fire station.

Lt. Al Grotefend of the Los Angeles County Sheriff 's Department downtown homicide bureau said toxicology results are needed before the medical examiner's office can make a final determination of the cause of Kittower's Nov. 6 death.

Kittower was buried at a cemetery in the north San Fernando Valley. His remains were exhumed Nov. 14 at the request of the sheriff's department. He has been reburied.

The death at Silverado was originally attributed to natural causes, findings that a doctor at the facility signed off on.

"We are just waiting for him to make a ruling," Grotefend said. "We were hoping he would make a determination, but he's waiting until he gets everything back. We are just sort of in a holding pattern right now." Kittower's health had not been good recently, Grotefend said.

The sheriff's downtown homicide bureau is in charge of the investigation, and Silverado employees have been interviewed.

Deputies from the Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff's Station had arrested a Silverado employee in connection with allegations of elder abuse related to Kittower's death, but the case was rejected for filing by the district attorney's office due to insufficient evidence, Grotefend said.

The employee was released from custody but has been terminated by Silverado, according to Mark Mostow, vice president of the facility. Mostow said the person was let go due to an undisclosed "violation of policy" not related to Kittower's death.

"These are strictly allegations," Mostow said. "We don't believe there is any evidence to substantiate any concern. We are providing all the information that they are requesting, and we've done our own investigation internally and didn't identify anything that would appear to be abuse or trauma.

"Certainly we want to continue to support the investigators, but we have spent hundreds of hours of company time looking into this and have found nothing," Mostow said.

Sgt. William Cotter said this case is the only one he and his partner, Sgt. Sharon Laren, are currently working on.

"The reality of the matter is that we are conducting a death investigation," Cotter said. "It may eventually be ruled a homicide, it may not. . . . It's going to be a very laborious investigation. We're remaining very guarded about the information."

Mostow said there was the "potential" that the anonymous tips were made by a former Silverado employee, but he would not elaborate.

Cotter said the coroner's office could take months to pin down an exact cause of death.

"Our primary concern is for care and safety of all of our residents," Mostow said. "This is an unfortunate situation that these allegations have come up because we really work very hard to care for these individuals."