Blame
Death, Disability, and the Search for Justice for Guy Mitchell
-
- Pre-Order
-
- Expected Jul 7, 2026
-
- $11.99
Publisher Description
When a man in care dies under terrible conditions, who is responsible?
A gripping true story of death, disability, and systemic failure
On April 29, 2012, Guy Mitchell — a 38-year-old man with development disabilities — died alone and confused in a dark underground tank on the rural property where he lived.
When police arrived, they uncovered a disturbing scene: a house of horror. No running water. No heat. Human waste filled the bathrooms and spread across floors and walls. There was no food. The people responsible for Guy’s care had let his living conditions completely collapse.
Just two days earlier, the agency overseeing the home had approved it.
Blame reconstructs the events leading to Guy Mitchell’s death, unfolding in flashbacks between the coroner’s inquest and the months before everything went tragically wrong. As each layer of his care network is examined — caregivers, agencies, oversight bodies — a complex web of culpability emerges: warning signs missed, responsibilities deflected, and chances to intervene ignored.
Written with the urgency of investigative journalism and the tension of a legal thriller, and in consultation with those closest to Guy, Blame exposes how a system designed to protect society’s most vulnerable instead failed them at every level.
What emerges is a powerful indictment of a broken system, and a reminder that the duty to care for society’s most vulnerable ultimately lies with us all.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The latest from Canadian historian Galer (Beryl) is a harrowing account of the death of a developmentally disabled Ontario man. As a child, Guy Mitchell was placed in Canada's home-sharing system and taken in by an experienced couple who raised him alongside other disabled residents on their rural farm. Guy's parents remained in his life, but much of his upbringing took place under this arrangement, sustained by meager government funding that strained the household's resources. After the couple passed away, their 26-year-old daughter, Keri Santor, assumed responsibility for Guy and two others. Warning signs that Keri was ill-equipped mounted, including concerns from Guy's mother and reports from neighbors about neglected, starving animals on the farm. When Guy drowned in a cistern on the property, investigators uncovered shocking conditions, including rampant filth, a lack of running water, and little edible food. Galer structures the narrative around the ensuing inquest, interweaving testimony with flashbacks that build toward the devastating conclusion. The central question of whether Guy's death was accidental or the result of negligence proves tricky to answer, but Galey's indictment of disability care is unmistakable. This is a sobering portrait of a system failing the people it was meant to protect. Photos.
