A Lincoln County mother is pleading with the community to come forward with information after her son died on Nov. 3.
According to Lauralee Yocom, her 28-year-old son, Clay Wooten, was being treated at UK Hospital for a mental illness episode beginning Nov. 1.
“We knew that Clay needed help with his mental health, and that’s why we got him to UK,” said Yocom.
According to Yocom, plans were in place to transfer Wooten to Eastern State Hospital to be treated further, but at some point, Yocom said her son was moved from a highly secure hospital room to a different part of UK Hospital.
At that time, Wooten escaped from the hospital and ran towards the train tracks on Transcript Avenue. The incident occurred on Nov. 3.
“This happened at 1 p.m. in broad daylight. He was wearing a hospital gown, he was barefooted and he was running,” said Yocom.
According to Yocom, it was no more than 20 minutes later when UK Police located her son and brought him back to the hospital.
“When he was brought back to UK Hospital in the pickup truck, he had massive head trauma and head wounds that he died from,” said Yocom.