Apartment Owner Fined $1,500 After 3 Women Died From Heat: Report

CHICAGO — The owner of a senior living apartment building where three women died in May due to excessive heat was fined only $1,500 following the deaths, according to a published report.

The three women died on May 14 at the James Sneider Apartments, where Chicago officials said that the temperatures inside the building were in the low 90s during an exceptionally warm stretch. The women, who were identified as Janice Reed, 68, Gwendolyn Osborne, 72, and Delores McNeely, 76, were found over the course of the day in the apartments, police said.

But the Chicago Sun-Times, citing records and reports filed since the women’s death, reported that the building’s owners were fined only $1,500 and paid $60 in court fees after Cook County officials determined there was no foul play in the women’s deaths.

Ald. Maria Hadden posted on social media following the deaths that the building had no air conditioning. Hadden, along with State Rep. Kelly Cassidy, were on site on the day the women were found and reported that by 11 p.m., the air conditioning was on and that some of the apartments were still warm as they take time to cool.

Air temperatures had twice reached the 90s that week, and that temperatures reached 84 degrees the day the women were found dead.

The women were found to have died from heat exposure.

The newspaper reported that after the women’s deaths, the Chicago Buildings Department was issued 11 code violations, including two that involved an air-conditioning chiller unit on the roof that did not appear to be suitable for outdoor use.

See the entire Sun-Times report here