Man Went Missing, Was Recovered, From Cayce's Twilite Manor Assisted Living

An 81-year-old resident of the Twilite Manor assisted living in Cayce went missing Thursday before being found a few hours later.

The same facility was emptied of residents earlier this year after a man was found dead and Cayce Police deemed the remaining occupants were in imminent danger and exercised their authority to remove them.

A representative who answered the phone at Twilite Manor Friday morning  said they have no comment.

A spokesperson for the state Department of Health and Environmental Control said the agency is investigating the Thursday incident and will share findings once that process is complete.

A City of Cayce spokesperson reported that police were seeking Twilite Manor resident Lonnie Cheeks at 3:31 p.m. Thursday.

“The Cayce Police were contacted at 2:00 PM when someone from the Twilite Manor staff drove to police headquarters to make the report,” a news release reads.

Cheeks is diagnosed with dementia, the city said.

The city sent a subsequent update at 5:05 p.m. that Cheeks had “been safely located and is currently being assessed by local medical personnel.”

On the morning of Feb. 18, a resident of the facility was found dead by his roommate at Twilite Manor. When they responded, Cayce Police determined the 12 other residents were in imminent danger and chose to remove them, which they are empowered to do under such circumstances.

Per Lexington County Coroner Margaret Fisher, an autopsy showed that Timothy Frank Catalono, the 69-year-old who died, had severe pneumonia with abscess formation. An official cause of death has not been announced, and the coroner said on Feb. 23 that it remained the subject of investigation.

A spokesperson for the state Department of Health and Environmental Control told the Chronicle that as of March 15, Twilite Manor had submitted and had approved plans of correction to violations cited on Feb. 18 and March 11, and that while it was not required to do so, it worked through these issues with the state agency before reopening following Catalano’s death.