Kentucky mother searching for answers in son’s death after his escape from hospital

LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) – A grieving Kentucky mother is pleading for answers after her son died earlier this month.

On Nov. 1, 28-year-old Clay Wooten was admitted to the University of Kentucky hospital in Lexington as he experienced a mental health episode, according to his mother, Lauralee Yocom.

She says plans were in place to transfer him to Eastern State Hospital, but at some point, she says Wooten was moved from a highly secure hospital room to a different part of UK hospital.

Her son then escaped and ran toward the train tracks on Transcript Avenue. His mother says Wooten was “wearing a hospital gown” and was barefoot as he ran.

“Someone had to see something,” Yocom says. “Someone knows something, and I need answers, and I will not rest until I have these answers.”

Yocom says it was no more than 20 minutes later than UK police found her son and brought him back to the hospital. However, she says he had massive head trauma and head wounds that caused his death.

Wooten died on Nov. 3.

Yocom says hospital staff told the family that he passed away from lacerations to his neck, but the coroner’s report is still open.

She says her mother’s intuition tells her the details don’t add up, and she’s desperate to know what happened between when her son escaped and when he was brought back.

She is begging the community to check their security footage and ring cameras and think back to Nov. 3.