PHOENIX — On the surface, it seemed like a heat-related death.
Bryan Rogers, 38, passed out at a bus stop near 18th St. and Camelback Road in Phoenix on a triple-digit August day.
But his mom knew something was off.
“I want people to know my son’s life mattered,” Heather Williams said. “He was loved. He was wanted.”
When police notified Williams that her son died on the streets, she thought he was safe and receiving treatment.
“To the best of my knowledge, my son was supposed to be in rehab," she shared.
'He lost touch with reality'
Bryan was one of five kids in his family.
“He was the sweetest, kindest, big-hearted, troubled young man,” his mom shared.
Williams said Bryan had several diagnoses as a young man, including schizoaffective disorder.
“He was about 20 when we realized it,” she said. “It really got bad when he was in his mid-20s to late 30s. And when I say bad, I mean he lost touch with reality.”
The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office said Bryan had been booked in jail more than 60 times since at least 2011 for cases around the Valley. Some were dismissed and most were petty crimes, like theft; crimes that aren’t uncommon for someone who is experiencing a mental illness, addiction and homelessness, like Bryan was.
“He was a wanderer,” Williams said.
His mother tried to keep him home, but Bryan was an adult. She wasn’t his legal guardian and he really needed specialized care.
“Does it surprise you that he had so much contact with the criminal justice system without getting any sort of help?” asked 12News investigative journalist Erica Stapleton.
“It surprises me that he could be arrested over 60 times and not get any help - Yes,” Williams asserted. "How does that happen?”
'He didn't have the wherewithal to help himself'
The 12News I-Team uncovered that Bryan was supposed to be getting help before he died.
His latest run-in with police led to a misdemeanor conviction in July 2023. He started probation and was supposed to go to mental health court. He remained in jail until July 28, when deputies took him from jail to a psychiatric facility per a court order, according to the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office.
All records from mental health court are sealed, but probation records detail where Bryan went.
He was first taken to a Community Bridges facility, according to the paperwork. The next day, on July 29, he moved to St. Luke’s Behavioral Health Center in Phoenix. The facility sees patients for psychiatric help and substance use, according to its website.
Bryan’s probation officer wrote that Bryan left St. Luke’s on August 7th against the advice of his mental health team. However, at the time of his discharge, the records also say his clinical team hadn’t “engaged” with him yet. The paperwork detailed that Bryan told St. Luke’s he wanted to go to a homeless shelter in downtown Phoenix.
On Aug. 8, one day after leaving St. Luke’s, Bryan was found dead on the street.
“He didn't have the wherewithal to help himself,” said Williams. “He was so deep into the mental illness that for him to be able to help himself, it just wasn't a possibility”
His death was listed as accidental, according to the medical examiner’s early findings. The cause listed was meth toxicity with heat exposure and alcoholism as contributing factors.
‘Little to no accountability’
Williams pieced together Bryan was at St. Luke’s after he called her once from the hospital.
Without being a legal guardian, she never got access to her son’s treatment plan.
Heather has tried calling St. Luke’s for more information on what happened, but said she keeps getting the runaround.
“When I called, they were like ‘We never had anybody here by that name.’” Williams said. “I'm like, ‘But you did. He was there. You did have him.’”
The 12News I-Team left several messages for St. Luke’s that all went unanswered. The I-Team stopped by the facility Tuesday morning, but was told no one was available to answer our questions at that time.
“There's no accountability once they're gone out of their sight,” Williams said. “Nobody checks. I’m sure that he walked out that door and nobody thought about him again. And that's heartbreaking.”
Given Bryan’s history, it makes sense that he would try to leave a place that’s supposed to be helping him. What doesn’t make sense is why no one made him stay.
“This was a preventable death,” said former Arizona State Sen. Nancy Barto.
In her time in the state legislature, she pushed to close gaps in the state’s mental healthcare system – but there wasn’t always buy-in. She still hears from families whose loved ones are struggling to get adequate help in Arizona.
“When you're talking about somebody in psychosis that doesn't want to take their meds, they walk away from treatment and nobody's there to hold that court order accountable,” Barto said.
A court spokesperson said it was up to the facility and law enforcement to enforce court orders for treatment. Phoenix Police said it didn’t have any calls about Bryan the day he left St. Luke’s.
“There is little to no accountability in the system,” added Deborah Geesling.
Geesling knows firsthand after years of navigating Arizona’s behavioral healthcare system with her own adult son. As an advocate now, she hears of people with serious mental illnesses being released to the streets all too often – whether it’s from jails, prisons or facilities that are supposed to be helping them.
She estimates that about a quarter of people living with a serious mental illness in Arizona get stuck in this cycle.
“They are just in this revolving door that just never seems to stop,” she said. “And through that revolving door, people get sicker and sicker.”
Dying while receiving state benefits
This year is the first time Arizona’s Medicaid system, AHCCCS, published mortality trends of people receiving mental health benefits from the state.
More than 1,700 people died in 2022 with a serious mental illness. About two-thirds of those deaths were listed as “natural.”
The report doesn’t detail the backstory of each death, but more than 400 people died by accident; 86 died by suicide; and 26 people were killed by someone else.
“If someone has a chronic serious mental illness and they don't have an advocate that's fighting for them, they're not going to make it,” Geesling shared.
Geesling had to push to be her son’s legal guardian.
“My son has been in the system for 10 years,” she said. “I'm still on deck every week for him, making sure that he doesn't fall through the cracks.
Although she was able to go through the guardian process herself, she said it’s not so easy for other families. Geesling believes including family members who are willing and able to be part of a care plan could help ensure people get the help they need.
“Providers and hospitals hide behind HIPAA and they don't speak with the family members,” Geesling said, detailing her experience and the experience of other families she’s met through advocacy work. “They discourage guardianship. Because once a family member gets guardianship, then they've got to include that guardian.”
Williams said she hit some of those roadblocks trying to advocate for Bryan. Had she been in the loop, she wonders whether she could have intervened before he left St. Luke’s.
“It's a hard thing to do because they don't want to hear from you if your child is an adult,” Williams said. “Your powers are limited.”
‘They’re not just throwaway people’
Court records show someone was looking for Bryan: his probation officer, who showed up at St. Luke’s two days after Bryan’s death.
The officer wrote Bryan up for probation violations when he wasn’t at St. Luke’s and a judge issued a warrant for his arrest.
There was a care plan added to his case file more than two weeks after his death. It’s sealed and his mom hasn’t been able to get a copy.
More than a month after his death, the court ordered Bryan to pay fees, sending the notice to the address for St. Luke’s.
It doesn’t seem like the court even knows Bryan is dead.
“You're asking taxpayers to support a system that's failing,” Barto said.
Bryan’s story struck a particular nerve with the former state senator. She shared that her brother, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia, was killed in 1985. At the time of his death, she said he was homeless in Tucson.
“My parents didn't know what to do,” Barto said. “He just was a wanderer.”
A wanderer. Just as Williams described Bryan. The two deaths, nearly 40 years apart. The system that’s failing – still the same.
“They're not just throwaway people,” Williams said, still demanding answers after Bryan’s death. “He was troubled and he was sick. And he needed help. He didn't get it. And he deserved that.”
If you or a loved one needs help, you can call the suicide and crisis lifeline in Arizona by dialing 9-8-8.
If you need help with homeless resources, you can call 2-1-1.
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