69-year-old suffered stroke in his N.C. home; Realtor showing house left him there. He died Wednesday.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Randy Vaughan wouldn’t miss his grandson’s birthday.

“Never. He’d always at least call,” said Doug Vaughan, Randy’s younger brother.

But when that phone call never came, family members began to worry. Anyone would.

So Heather Jefferson, Randy Vaughan’s daughter, drove to his house and didn’t see his truck in the driveway. She spoke to her brother and she phoned authorities in Davidson County where he had a weekend place on High Rock Lake.

“(Deputies) called to say they saw his truck,” said Jamie Vaughan, Randy’s son. “We gave them the lockbox code since (the house) was for sale.”

Once inside, authorities found Randy Vaughan unresponsive. After local doctors determined that he’d suffered a stroke, he was airlifted to Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Hospital.

That was Tuesday, Feb. 14, Valentine’s Day.

As traumatic as that was, what the family learned in the days afterward made a horrible situation worse: A Realtor had visited the house the previous day for a showing, saw Randy Vaughan on the floor and left.

The agent apparently heard him groan, closed the door and left without calling 911.

“She did document it on a (real-estate) feedback form,” Doug Vaughan said. “To take the time to write that up instead of calling 911 … it’s about basic decency, caring for your fellow human beings and being a professional.”

Still in shock

It’s an understatement to say that the Vaughan family is upset.

Obviously they had to cope with the sudden news about his health: Doctors had determined he’d suffered multiple strokes and developed pneumonia.

Difficult conversations followed. Family members decided Monday to move him to hospice care. He died Wednesday afternoon.

“He had just retired,” Doug Vaughan said. “He worked all his life, had a heating and air business. We’re all just in shock.”

While they were working through difficult decisions about hospice, they began to piece together how Randy Vaughan had spent his last few hours at home.

“I went by there Thursday (Feb. 16) to get his truck,” Jamie Vaughan said. “I found his phone still plugged in by the bed.”

He found a text about a showing that had been scheduled for noon that Monday, the day after the Super Bowl, and learned that a Realtor named Ellen-Nora Deese had been at his dad’s place.

A Realtor who had been working with Randy Vaughan found the feedback form and read part out loud.

“He said ‘Oh my God, I wish I had seen this,” Jamie Vaughan said.

A screenshot of the entire message spelled out what happened.

“Gentleman was passed out naked in the floor between the bed and the wall!,” a screenshot of the feedback form reads. “All I could see at first was two feet sticking out from behind the bed! One foot with a sock hanging on to his toes.

“I was concerned that he was dead! I asked are you okay no response so I moved in closer and saw he was naked so I moved back but asked again and he moved and grunted but we ran out of the house! I didn’t want him waking up to me standing over him!

“I hope he is okay but maybe had too much to drink Superbowl Sunday.”

The note indicates that someone thought that a man might be dead, decided perhaps he’d consumed enough alcohol the night before so as to be incoherent — which can kill, too — and thought only to fill out a feedback form.

“I’m mortified. Disgusted to be honest, that someone would do that,” Jamie Vaughan said.

As they watched a loved one fighting for his life, the more they thought about it. And the angrier they became.

“We really believe this could have been prevented if she had called somebody,” Jefferson said. “It’s not fair. It’s just not.”

‘No liability here’

After asking his niece and nephew Jamie Vaughan if they wanted him to handle the fallout from the feedback form — they had enough to worry about — Doug Vaughan started making calls.

He learned that Deese worked for JPAR, an agency based in Winston-Salem.

“I called the agency and got … the head agent,” Vaughan said. “That was Saturday night. She said she’d gone to bed and to get her in the morning.”

He also texted her but didn’t mention what it was regarding. He wanted to hear the immediate reaction.

The next day, Doug Vaughan said, he read the feedback form during a brief conversation. And then mentioned the state’s Good Samaritan law, which was enacted partly in response to the opioid epidemic.

The law says that anyone who renders first aid cannot be held liable in a civil lawsuit for any actions or omissions unless there was “intentional wrongdoing.”

“She said if there’s any litigation I’m going to have to refer you to my lawyer,” Doug Vaughan said. “I said nobody said anything about litigation. I just need you to be aware.”

That conversation, he said, took place Feb. 19. He hasn’t heard from the agency since.

Reached via cell phone, Deese cited legal concerns before declining further comment.

“I have an attorney involved. I have no liability there,” she said. “Without talking to the broker-in-charge first, I’ll allow her to comment.”

Neither the broker-in-charge nor an attorney have returned voice or emails.

Doug Vaughan also contacted the N.C. Real Estate Commission.

“I know she assumed he was drunk. That was a terribly wrong assumption — my brother doesn’t drink,” he wrote. “Simply, as a professional and as a human in this life, assumptions are wrong and can be deadly. No one in their right mind would leave a 69-year-old individual on the floor who is non-responsive without reporting it.”

Commission officials responded immediately with a letter saying that a formal inquiry had been opened. An investigator has been in touch with Randy Vaughan’s family and scheduling interviews.

For the time being, that’s of little consolation. Planning a memorial service takes precedence.

“The reality is, it could have been a different story. With a stroke it’s critical to get care in the first few hours,” Jamie Vaughan said. “This is the world we live in today?”