A new lawsuit aimed at a South Carolina mental health assisted living facility accuses the establishment of gross negligence and wrongful death among other claims after they say their loved one was allegedly murdered and eaten by another resident in the facility. The victim was one of two who were allegedly cannibalized.

The lawsuit was filed by the family of Jared Ondrea, a 22-year-old man who was living at the Mental Health facility, Richland County’s New Hope Home Solutions. This facility is owned by Brittany Reynolds-Jackson and the South Carolina Department of Mental Health (SCDMH), Both entities are listed as defendants in the lawsuit.

Ondrea was placed in the facility by his grandmother in 2023 on the recommendation of SCDMH. Ondrea is reported to have suffered from varying mental disabilities and needed supportive around-the-clock care from experienced professionals.

When a family member came to the facility to pick up Ondrea on March 22 for a visit, the family and the facility were not able to locate him. The next day, the facility called the family to tell them Ondrea had been missing since March 20. On the 20th, Ondrea’s grandmother had picked him up for a visit and noticed he had bruising on his neck and face, though he didn't tell his grandmother where he got the bruising from.

During the same time, another patient in the facility, 25-year-old Marc-Anthony Cantrell, who has a history of violence including charges of animal cruelty, alerted staff of Ondrea’s disappearance. Cantrell allegedly told the staff they “should be alarmed that Jared was missing.”

Several months after Ondrea’s disappearance, another resident went missing. Surveillance footage captured Cantrell removing this second victim's body from the facility. He would later confess to police that he killed this resident and that he also killed Ondrea.

He allegedly provided police with “specific, graphic details as to how the murder was conducted” and that it was his “alternate personality” that killed the residents. He would go on to share that he killed the victims, ate parts of their bodies including their ears, and drank their blood “so he could gain their power.” Ondrea’s body has yet to be found, and criminal charges against Cantrell are still pending.

Ondrea’s family argues that the SCDMH should be held accountable for what they describe as placing a “budding serial killer” in a facility where he was able to live with other unsuspecting, vulnerable adults.

In addition to being negligent in their actions of protecting Ondrea and other residents, the family says that this mental health facility was operating without proper licensing. The lawsuit explained that the facility “had no business housing mental health patients of any sort—much less ones with the type of violent tendencies displayed by Cantrell.”

In addition to failing to exercise reasonable care through their claims of negligence, the family also says the defendants should be held accountable for gross negligence because of the danger Cantrell posed to all the other residents.

The family argues the assisted living facility and the South Carolina Department of Mental Health failed in their duty to protect Ondrea, leading to his tragic death.

The family has offered to settle the case for $600,000; however, the Department of Mental Health declined this settlement. The case is still pending.