By Spencer Hunt and Debra Jasper
The Cincinnati Enquirer

A tombstone marks the grave of Jason Standafer, who drowned unsupervised in a bathtub. (Photo by Michael E. Keating)

Jason Standafer had a seizure and drowned in a bathtub he managed to get into while no one was watching.

The state Health Department cited his Mason nursing home, Community Concepts 1, for not having enough staff to keep an eye on the 26-year-old man, who died on Feb. 15, 1999.

The state also faulted home workers for not telling managers on three other occasions that they had found Mr. Standafer in the tub unsupervised.

Mr. Standafer's mother, Penny Miller of Middletown, says she had warned the home's staff not to let him bathe alone.

"Most of the people cared for him in a very caring way," she says. "I don't think the care workers were paid enough to want to make them stay there."

Because the home was owned by Mason's mayor, Betty Davis, local police called in the Ohio attorney general to investigate. That office closed the case six weeks later, finding no evidence of neglect or abuse.

Ms. Davis says she welcomed the state's scrutiny, put two people instead of one on the night shift and took other steps that convinced the state to drop its March 1999 threat to decertify the home.

Ms. Davis, who is no longer Mason's mayor, says Mr. Standafer's death "tore our hearts out. He was the favorite of everybody."