By Cindy Peterson and Kyle Coppola

The mother of 27-year-old Jeremiah Montoute is demanding answers after her son died while under court-ordered care at LifeStream Behavioral Center in Leesburg.

According to a report filed with the Leesburg Police Department, Jeremiah, who had been a long-term patient of LifeStream since 2006, was admitted voluntarily on March 10 but was later held involuntarily under the Baker Act after an arrest at the facility. He escaped three times during his stay, eventually returning home on March 18. That same day, law enforcement brought him back to LifeStream due to the active Baker Act order.

“The day before he passed, Jeremiah came home and took a bath at my house,” Tralonie says. “He was paranoid saying ‘they coming to get me, they coming for me.’ When the cops began to put handcuffs on him he began to cry. ‘I just wanna go home, mama they hit me,’ he said. I was thinking I am doing the right thing sending him back to the facility to get help.”

Later that evening, his mother, Tralonie Montoute, called LifeStream to check on him. She was told he had been given Benadryl and was resting. Hours later, at 1:45 a.m., she received a phone call from a staff member advising her to head to the hospital, saying she probably wanted to go up there. Tralonie said the staff member offered little additional information and no sense of urgency, so she was going to wait until morning.

When she arrived, doctors told her that her son had gone into cardiac arrest and was unresponsive despite extensive efforts to revive him. He was pronounced dead at 2:38 a.m.

Tralonie says a doctor mentioned there “was an altercation,” but declined to elaborate.

In the hours following his death, Tralonie called LifeStream demanding answers. “Why is my child dead?” she asked. Staff responded they were unaware of his death until her call. They claimed Jeremiah had walked into the common area and began seizing prior to EMS being called.

Tralonie later received Jeremiah’s medical records, which referenced injuries consistent with falling. That conflicted with the initial explanation she was given. “The account of the incident did not exactly line up with what she was informed over the phone,” the report states. She contacted Adult Protective Services and the Department of Children and Families to launch separate investigations.

Video footage reviewed by police showed Jeremiah leaving his room at 1:34 a.m., walking into the common area, and collapsing within seconds. He appeared to be convulsing. Staff responded about 30 seconds later.

Despite her repeated calls, Tralonie said LifeStream’s assigned case agent has not contacted her since the incident.

According to the official autopsy report, Jeremiah died of hypertensive cardiovascular disease, with contributing factors including morbid obesity, a seizure disorder and schizoaffective disorder. His death was ruled natural. No signs of trauma were found on his body, and a prosecutor later determined that no criminal liability was found against LifeStream.

Still, Tralonie is not satisfied. She insists something more happened and remains focused on uncovering what she believes has not been told. During a call with police, she stated, “They killed my son,” and accused the facility of “destroying evidence in an attempt to cover it up.” She said she intended to contact the FBI and has obtained legal counsel.

“I will not stop until I get justice,” Tralonie says. “I gave them my child, they handed me back a death certificate. I do think we need a mental health facility in Lake County, but this needs to stop and this facility needs to either clean house or be shut down.”

Jeremiah’s case remains under active review by DCF.