Sean was a 44-year old former salesman, church volunteer and father of two whose severe neurological disorder left him wasting away, unable to speak or care for himself.
At half his age, Markeith Loyd Jr. was an accused carjacker and son of a convicted cop killer, who had cold-cocked a nurse in the face at a hospital for criminal defendants. His severe mental illness left him prone to outbursts of rage.
When they were assigned rooms on opposite sides of the hall at a North Florida state psychiatric hospital, that decision would eventually lead to Sean’s death.
It also would spawn five lawsuits, three adult protection investigations, two inspector general reports, two licensing probes and an administrative inquiry. The state already has paid nearly $800,000 to one whistleblower, and is facing another in court in April.
But if there were lessons to be learned from Sean’s abuse and death, administrators at the state Department of Children and Families seemed determined not to learn them. In the wake of Sean’s Jan. 12, 2021, death at Northeast Florida State Hospital, the state has faced repeated accusations from his family, attorneys, its own employees and even the local sheriff’s office of covering up its mistakes.