Affordable senior complex residents reach a breaking point after death goes unnoticed for days.

Marilyn Winton told one neighbor she was antisocial after he attempted to make friendly conversation two years ago. After that, the neighbor almost never saw her, except only in flashes as she entered her apartment at the 200-unit Pacific Meadows affordable senior apartment complex off of Carmel Valley Road. When he and other residents didn’t see the 76-year-old woman for an extended period of time in June, it wasn’t that unusual. It was the odor that started around mid-June that was a tipoff that there might be something amiss.

Monterey County Sheriff’s deputies discovered Winton’s body on June 24, after a visitor called 911. According to the deputies’ report, some tenants recalled first smelling something off around June 19 or 20. The visitor reported it to the administration office on June 20, and when they returned four days later the smell was stronger. Finding no one at the office, they called authorities just before 12:30pm. Deputies called CalFire to bring a skeleton key, which arrived over an hour later. “They opened the door and wow, it was really bad,” a witness says.

(Residents spoke to the Weekly on the condition of anonymity, due to fear of losing their affordable apartments. They are specifically for very-low-income people aged 62 and older.)

A newly formed group of tenants calling themselves Associated Neighbors is upset about the delay. “Our team was off-site for a lunch meeting and there was no delay,” says Kendra Roberts, vice president of operations for property owners HumanGood. Group members and others who spoke to the Weekly also expressed a wish that administrators would check on residents when there might be trouble, although officials contend that’s outside of their scope. “Pacific Meadows is an independent living community. We don’t provide any assisted living,” Roberts says.

For residents, the circumstances around Winton’s death are indicative of ongoing problems since HumanGood took over in 2019. They allege rude behavior by some staff and high turnover of property managers.

The state Department of Housing and Community Development inspected the site in May and found “a lack of onsite property management and unit maintenance,” according to a written statement from HCD. HumanGood has until Aug. 6 to respond.

Company officials say they are actively seeking a permanent onsite property manager and that a new service coordinator came on board on July 5 to connect residents to community services. The coordinator will oversee deliveries of food from the Food Bank for Monterey County, which recently became another flashpoint for residents. A group spokesperson says deliveries were discontinued, but company officials say they were reduced from twice to once a month. (A Food Bank official confirms deliveries were not discontinued.)

As antisocial as Winton professed to be, it’s her death that has spurred neighbors to connect. Another new tenant group, the Ad Hoc Neighbors Group, distributed flyers to all 200 units with suggestions to avoid dying unnoticed. On the list: “Ask a neighbor to look in on you – the ‘buddy system.’”