Family says Connecticut police failed to notify them after brother died and was buried for years

New Haven, Conn. — For more than four years, the family of Angelo T. Younger believed he was living quietly, recovering from major surgery and keeping his distance.

The family respected Angelo’s wishes for distance but as time lapsed, they became concerned.

On June 23, 2025, a relative decided to type his name into a $1 people‑search app. The result stunned them: Angelo had died on Jan. 10, 2021, inside a New Haven hotel room. His family alleges no one, not police, not the state, ever notified them. What followed, his sister Robin says, was a search for answers marked by conflicting accounts, missing information, and the realization that they had lost the chance to say goodbye.

A Brother They Loved, A Loss They Never Saw Coming

In early 2021, the family began asking whether anyone had heard from Angelo. He had recently turned 56, undergone open‑heart surgery, and was recovering at a rehabilitation center in Fairfield, Conn. Robin said Angelo’s plans was to stay with her or with their oldest sibling after his discharge on Jan 8, 2021.

When a few days passed with any contact, the family assumed he had traveled south to stay with their oldest sibling. Robin called to confirm, only to learn he had not arrived and said he had chosen to keep his distance. Believing he wanted space, they waited for him to reconnect.

On Jan 9, 2021, Angelo checked into a hotel room and would later died. The Connecticut medical examiner ruled the death an accidental overdose complicated by underlying cardiovascular issues. The family would not learn of it for four years.

A Mysterious Check‑In and a Vanishing Companion

According to police reports provided to Unheard Voices Magazine, New Haven police responded to the hotel on January 10, 2021, after a report of a deceased person. Hotel staff conducting their routine housekeeping rounds realized something was wrong when Angelo had not checked out by the designated time. Using a master key to enter the room, they discovered his body inside.

When police arrived, paramedics had already pronounced Angelo dead.

Records show Angelo had checked in the day before, but not alone. An unidentified man used Angelo’s identification to rent the room. He told staff he was a family member and that Angelo could not sign because he wore a medical boot. Employees recalled seeing the man withdraw cash from the lobby ATM before returning to the room. By the next morning, Angelo was dead and the man had vanished.

Police reportedly never identified or questioned the man who checked Angelo in — the possible last person to see him alive.

A Search That Stopped at OpCenter

According to the report, the responding officer used a single internal system, OpCenter, to search for relatives.

A former police officer, now a private investigator who reviewed the case for Unheard Voices, described OpCenter as generally a database of prior police contacts and addresses.

“It is normally a first step in the notification process,” the investigator said, requesting anonymity due to the nature of his profession.

The report listed the officer found Angelo’s last known address as a rehabilitation center in the database, but there is no mention in the report that the officer contacted the facility.

After the officer reported that no next of kin could be found, the department referred the case to Investigative Services. Two New Haven detectives were reported on the scene of Angelo’s death. It’s unclear what their investigation entailed. The police report offered very little information and contained no documentation that detectives attempted to locate Angelo’s family members.

No Notification, No Funeral, No Closure

Because police reported they could not identify relatives, Angelo’s body was turned over to the Connecticut Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME).

In an Internal Affairs report obtained by Unheard Voices, New Haven police said OCME was responsible for next‑of‑kin notification once they released the body to the agency.

With no next of kin identified, the family says the state authorized Angelo’s cremation and burial. It’s unclear how long the state held Angelo’s body before moving forward with the process. His family alleges they were never contacted by OCME, depriving them of properly saying goodbye to their loved one.

Unheard Voices requested documentation of both agencies’ next‑of‑kin procedures and actions in Angelo’s case. Both acknowledged the request but did not release records. In an earlier email, the OCME did state that police are responsible for notifying next of kin.

According to the OCME website, the agency says it maintains medical and identification records but states that police, not the OCME, are responsible for next‑of‑kin notification.

The private investigator who reviewed the case said that police are typically responsible for notifying next of kin, not medical examiners. While a medical examiner’s office can make a notification in limited circumstances, the investigator says it is not standard practice.

The Family Begins Its Own Investigation

Once the family learned of Angelo’s death, Robin began piecing together what happened. She became the driving force behind the family’s search for answers.

During her search, she alleges that someone had collected Angelo’s Social Security benefits for nearly three years after his death. She believes the person who was with Angelo in the hotel room must be questioned about the circumstances of his death and the benefits abuse.

Robin contacted New Haven police immediately after learning of Angelo’s death to express her outrage over the family not being notified. Also, to request police to question the person who was possibly the last seen with Angelo and investigate the fraud allegations. The family says they had the information readily available about the person who they believed was in the room with Angelo; they just needed New Haven police to act.

But the process, Robin says, quickly became exhausting.

She began obtaining records and identified the detectives in Angelo’s death investigation.

Robin moved steadfastly to out why New Haven police led Angelo’s death investigation in the manner they did. She was able to file an Internal Affairs complaint against the lead detective on July 3, 2025, alleging investigative failures contributed to the four‑year delay in notification.

Due to current legal proceedings, Unheard Voices has temporarily redacted the detectives and officers’ names. 

Internal Affairs Raises More Questions

After filing the complaint, Robin says she received an initial call from a New Haven detective assigned to the Internal Affairs review. She immediately returned the call but never heard back. Weeks later, she says she received a call from the detective she had reported — a development she says left her stunned.

Messages provided to Unheard Voices show the two attempted to schedule a call, but the conversation appeared to never occurred.

The first time, the detective reached out while the family was giving Angelo a proper burial. The second time, Robin had prior obligations and asked to reschedule. The next communication she says she received was a letter dated September 19, 2025, stating the complaint was closed as “unfounded,” without an explanation or a case number.

Robin says she attempted numerous times to retrieve the report and its assigned case number from the New Haven Police but no one responded.

The Internal Affairs report, later obtained by Unheard Voices, now had the case number and said police stopped communicating because Robin allegedly informed them she had retained an attorney, a claim she vehemently denies.

“No one ever interviewed me,” she said.

Discrepancies in Autopsy and Toxicology Records

Robin then began piecing together the autopsy and toxicology reports which raised additional concerns.

The autopsy reportedly noted two beer bottles in the room, yet toxicology reportedly showed no ethanol in Angelo’s system. The bottles were reportedly never tested. Two empty glassine bags were documented, but no follow‑up appeared in the file. This detail alarmed the family. If beer bottles were documented in the room but no ethanol appeared in Angelo’s toxicology report, they asked, who else was in the room with Angelo? Were they in the room when Angelo passed? If so, why did they leave Angelo during a medical emergency and not notify family?

How Police in Connecticut Locate Next of Kin

Under Connecticut law, police are required to make “reasonable efforts” to identify and notify a deceased person’s next of kin. They are to do so “as soon as practicable,” but no later than 24 hours after confirming the person’s identity. Officers must also document every attempt they make, including any delays or failures to locate family members.

Internal databases

In practice, those “reasonable efforts” typically involve multiple investigative avenues. Police can search internal department databases that contain prior contacts, addresses, and emergency information. They also have access to state DMV records, which provide verified addresses and identity data through law‑enforcement access systems.

Medical

Hospitals and rehabilitation centers are permitted under federal HIPAA regulations to release emergency‑contact information to police for the purpose of notifying family members of a patient’s death or medical emergency.

Criminal database

If the deceased had prior involvement with the criminal justice system, officers may also review probation files, court records, and pre‑sentence investigation reports, all of which routinely contain next‑of‑kin information.

Social Security

Police may request information from the Social Security Administration when investigating a death or potential fraud involving benefits.

Online people search tools

Officers may also use public records, commercial people‑search tools, property databases, and social media — all standard investigative resources recognized in Connecticut FOI rulings and law‑enforcement training materials, according to the Connecticut Freedom of Information Commission.

Next-of-Kin Notification Reportedly Stopped short

In theory, these steps form a layered system designed to prevent families from being left unaware of a loved one’s death. In Angelo’s case, however, the police report documents only a single search of an internal system called OpCenter, with no recorded outreach to hospitals, rehabilitation centers, state agencies, or relatives. For the family, the absence of these basic investigative steps in the police report remains one of the most troubling aspects of the case.

Angelo had been at a rehabilitation center, his family says he was on probation, and Unheard Voices can confirm he was receiving Social Security benefits.

Additionally, a basic public records search conducted online by Unheard Voices identified multiple relatives, including his siblings with contact information.

The man who reportedly signed Angelo into the hotel, possibly the last known person to see him alive, was also a source police were legally permitted to use when attempting to locate next of kin.

These are all avenues Connecticut law allows law enforcement to use to locate next of kin, yet according to the report, the New Haven officer appears to have stopped at OpCenter.

A Family Still Seeking Justice

The family has filed complaints with state and federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division. They say they plan to pursue a wrongful‑death lawsuit against the individual who allegedly left Angelo during a medical emergency and anyone who may have concealed his death.

Unheard Voices requested comment from the New Haven Police Department regarding the death investigation and notification process. The department did not respond.

When asked what justice would look like, the family said accountability.

“Justice means accountability,” Robin said. “Someone left him, used his identity. Someone collected his benefits. And no one told us he died.”

“Angelo was a good person,” she added. “He loved his family, he loved his son, and he loved God.”