Man who died at city safe camping site found decomposing, was unaccounted for more than 2 days

A 65-year-old man who died in September at a city of San Diego-designated camping site was last accounted for 2 ½ days before his decomposing corpse was discovered in his tent.

A report released last week by the San Diego County Medical Examiner in response to an inewsource Public Records Act request provides new details on the death of Ralph Threatt on Sept. 20. 

He died from an overdose of fentanyl and methamphetamine, and his death was ruled an accident.

Yet the circumstances surrounding Threatt’s death have not been widely known. The report raises questions about some policies and procedures at the encampment, the first of two designated locations for unhoused people to legally camp in the city that is run by the nonprofit Dreams for Change under a $1.4 million contract.

According to the medical examiner’s report, for two days before Threatt’s body was found workers were bothered by a noxious odor — likely decomposition — that blanketed the site. 

And it notes that staff there said the record used to approximate the last time Threatt could be accounted for in the camp — a sign-in sheet for a meal — is not reliable, and does not necessarily mean he actually signed the document.  

The report described a sequence of events from Sept. 18 to Sept. 20 that may have contributed to Threatt lying undiscovered in his tent. 

On Sept. 19, the day before his body was discovered, a worker at the site, which is at 20th and B Street downtown, smelled a “foul odor” wafting through the encampment. 

The report says the staff member, whose name was redacted, thought the smell was caused by rotting food. She told residents of the site to throw out any rotting food they had. 

But the next day the stench had not gone away, the report said. The staff worker then traced the origin of the smell to tent space 98, where Threatt was living. 

Inside the tent Threatt lay on a cot, partially covered by a sleeping bag. His body had begun to decompose and had bloating, loose skin and insect infestation.

Two program directors at the site told an investigator with the Medical Examiner that Threatt could last be accounted for on the morning of Sept. 18. That’s because his name appears on a sign-in sheet for breakfast, they told the investigator.  

However, neither of the staff members said they actually saw Threatt sign in, the investigator wrote. Moreover, the pair reported that “the clipboard was not necessarily always monitored, and someone could have signed in for him.”

Dreams for Change declined to comment and instead referred questions about Threatt’s death to the city. 

Matt Hoffman, a spokesperson for the city, said that some procedures have been altered at the site, though it was unclear if those were due to Threatt’s death.

“Regular wellness checks are conducted and, out of an abundance of caution, staff have implemented more thorough procedures to verify a person’s status during a wellness check,” he wrote in an email.

It is unknown if any of the staff members who noticed the smell nearly two full days before the body was discovered are still working there. Hoffman said that question would have to be answered by Dreams for Change.

The report by the medical examiner investigator noted that when Threatt’s body was discovered there was “no rigor in the extremities.” Rigor mortis — a stiffening of the limbs that can be useful in estimating the time of death — generally sets in a few hours after death, and lasts up to two days, according to the National Institutes of Health. 

Bloating, a sign of decomposition, normally starts two days after death. 

Janis Wilds, an outreach specialist for the nonprofit Housing 4 the Homeless and who has had clients at the site, was critical of how it is run. 

“When you are wondering how this man was in his tent deceased for a couple of days,” she said, “it’s because their tracking system does not work very well.”

She also said it would not be difficult for someone else to sign in for breakfast because individuals do not have to wear any identification.

“They don’t have an ID, so it could be anybody that says their name for meals,” Wilds said. 

It has been nearly a year since city councilmembers narrowly passed an unauthorized camping ordinance. The law makes it illegal to camp citywide if shelter beds are available, and anytime, regardless of shelter availability, near schools, parks, transit hubs and waterways.

The city set up two sites to allow legal camping, calling it the Safe Sleeping Program. The 20th and B location opened in June with some 130 tents. City officials heralded it as “a safe and secure alternative to traditional congregate shelters.” 

A second site known as “O Lot” on the edge of Balboa Park near the Naval Medical Center opened in October with 400, two-person tents. 

Threatt was one of four people who are known to have died while at the camping sites. 

A woman, Rita Chambers, died on Jan. 12 at the same 20th and B site. Full reports on her death have not been released by the Medical Examiner.

Two other people died within days of each other, on Feb. 5 and Feb. 8, but it is unclear at which location each died. The city is not identifying the individuals.

Dreams for Change has a contract for up to $1.4 million that ends in June to run the 20th and B site, though the contract includes four, one-year options to extend. Each year would pay out $1.5 million maximum to the organization, according to an April report to the City Council. 

The organization also runs the O Lot site in conjunction with the Downtown San Diego Partnership. 

The staff report from the city Homelessness Strategies and Solutions Department prepared for the latest contract extension said by the end of February the 20th and B site had served 577 people since opening. A total of 19 had obtained ”permanent or other forms of long-term housing,” it said. 

It was not known how long Threatt had been in the camp. He was 5 feet, 8 inches tall and weighed 125 pounds. His tent was cluttered with food, personal items and drug paraphernalia, the report noted. 

No relatives of Threatt’s could be located by inewsource. He had two sons, according to a summary of a phone conversation an investigator had with one. The names of both were redacted in the report. 

No one claimed Threatt’s remains, according to the report.

Hoffman said when people are admitted into the site they sign a code of conduct that prohibits possession and use of drugs and alcohol.

The staff report for the latest contract extension in April did not note the four deaths, which have cast a shadow over the camping sites — which came under criticism from some homeless advocates when opened. But city officials say the sites have led to a steep drop in the number of homeless people downtown.

Councilmember Stephen Whitburn, whose district includes the sites and the downtown area, wrote in a commentary in The San Diego Union-Tribune that “the results speak for themselves.” 

“There are now nearly 500 people living in the safe sleeping sites at the city maintenance yard at 20th and B streets and the O Lot near the Naval Medical Center San Diego,” he wrote in April. “People moving off the sidewalks and into these two locations have contributed to a 44 percent drop in the number of people living in encampments Downtown, according to data from the Downtown San Diego Partnership.”

However, data from the annual point-in-time census conducted in January by the Regional Task Force on Homelessness showed the homeless population increased in the county by 3% this year. In the city of San Diego, it rose 4%.