Massachusetts assisted living facility death under investigation after thermostat hit 99 degrees

Multiple authorities are investigating an unattended death inside a Hopkinton, Massachusetts, assisted living facility after both first responders and employees reported room temperatures of nearly 100 degrees.

WBZ-TV has learned an 86-year-old woman was found dead inside her unit at Golden Pond Assisted Living Facility on Wednesday morning, Sept. 30.

A police report from the incident explains that the woman was obviously deceased and reads, "The apartment was extremely hot with the thermostat indicating that the room temperature was 99 degrees Fahrenheit."

The resident had lived at Golden Pond for just seven weeks when she died, according to the police report.

The police spoke with the facilities manager for Golden Pond who, according to the police report, "stated that the building had been switched from A/C to heat the previous day. He stated that none of the other rooms in the building were experiencing heat issues, but that it was possible that Sheila could have attempted to use the 'cool' setting on her thermostat, which would have continued to blow warm air into the room."

Death at Golden Pond Assisted Living Facility

Employees who spoke with WBZ on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation have indicated otherwise.

"It was so hot you couldn't breathe," one employee said about the woman's room.

Employees claim that many rooms in the unit were experiencing soaring hot temperatures following the switchover to heat that week.

"[The heat] hit everyone in the face as you entered, you couldn't even – you had to keep going in and out of the apartment, it was so hot," an employee said.

Employees said they had to spend several days bringing residents to common areas for access to fans and air conditioners among what they believe to be a broken HVAC system.

"We had to move people to common areas, leave the door open and move them to common areas where we had more of the portable ACs and the fans going," they said.

Room temperatures were "unusually high"

Hopkinton Police Chief Scott van Raalten said his officers noted the extreme temperatures on Oct. 1, the day after the death was discovered, when they responded to Golden Pond for a medical call.

"We also returned on Oct. 1, 2026, for a medical call," van Raalten wrote to WBZ. "During this visit, an officer observed that the temperatures in the rooms and building were unusually high. This officer recalled the death investigation on Sept. 30, 2026, and noted that the HVAC system had not been repaired. As a result, the officer informed town and state officials to initiate further investigations regarding patient care."

The Middlesex District Attorney's Office and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner have confirmed to WBZ that they are investigating the incident, though an autopsy has not been completed.

"She was not expected to die," the anonymous employees told WBZ. "She was on a 2-hour shopping spree at Walmart that day. She went to activities that day. She's 86 – I mean, she has a heart condition, but it was an unanticipated death," they said.

WBZ has made efforts to reach out to the woman's family. According to the police report, her son told authorities that she "got confused easily" and "may have inadvertently turned the heat on too high in the apartment."

WBZ has reached out to the director of Golden Pond, as well as the facility's owners, but has not received a reply as of this writing. WBZ has also reached out to the state's Executive Office for Aging & Independence for more information.