Wrongful death lawsuit filed in Carl DeBrodie case

A wrongful death lawsuit has been filed in the Carl DeBrodie case by Carolyn Summers, the biological mother of Carl DeBrodie.

According to court documents, the wrongful death lawsuit was filed against 23 defendants, including Second Chance Homes, it’s operator Rachael Rowden and the Missouri Department of Mental Health.

On April 17, Fulton police received a missing person’s report from Second Chance Homes. They quickly realized DeBrodie had been missing a lot longer than the Second Chance workers had reported.

“We conducted a foot search, a search with drones, a tracking dog from the Highway Patrol,” Fulton police Lt. Bill Ladwig said. “It became pretty apparent by speaking to some other people that were in the area that Mr. DeBrodie was probably missing for longer than just 30 minutes on that morning.”

A week later, his body was found, encased in cement, in a storage facility.

The rest of the defendants in the lawsuit are listed below:

Sherry Paulo Callaway County Callaway County Public Administrator’s Office Karen Digh Allen The State of Missouri Mark Stringer Valerie Huhn Missouri Department of Mental Health-Division of Disabilities Wendy Witcig Missouri Department of Mental Health-Division of Mental Health Marcy Volner Missouri Department of Mental Health-Central Regional Office Wendy Davis Callaway County Special Services Julia Kaufmann John Doe 1 John Doe 2 John Doe 3 John Doe 4 Missouri Department of Mental Health-Community Operations

The lawsuit claims those involved in DeBrodie’s care failed to provide for his safety and attempted to cover up the circumstances of his death. The claims include wrongful death, negligence, civil rights violations and civil conspiracy.

Investigators with numerous agencies at the local, state and federal level continue to investigate DeBrodie’s death. No criminal charges have been filed in relation to the case.

The lawsuit puts responsibility on the Department of Mental Health’s targeted case management providers, including Callaway County Special Services, for not meeting with DeBrodie face-to-face every month, and falsified reports to say they were meeting. The lawsuit also claims the department lacks any rules to audit such meetings or know if providers aren’t holding these monthly meetings.

Gabriel Harris, attorney for the family, told ABC 17 News that they would comment on the lawsuit until Wednesday morning.