Olive Chase was 94 when she died at Sunrise at Fleetwood, an expensive assisted-living home in Mount Vernon, in February 2007.

Sunrise staff told Chase's son that she had died in her sleep. The son said he was told his mother had breakfast, was left alone at one point, and the aide returned to find she had died peacefully in her sleep.

The report from Mount Vernon police shows workers said Chase was sleeping at 7:30 a.m., but was "unresponsive" four hours later. Days after Chase was cremated, however, her family got a tip from someone with second hand knowledge of her death that the woman did not die peacefully.

Bob Chase, son of the woman who died, spoke with some of the staff and to the source who no longer works at Sunrise but said she was the first nurse on the scene after his mother's death.

The nurse, who told News 4 New York she would speak on condition of anonymity because she feared retaliation, said she saw Olive's head caught between the bars of her hospital bed with her feet hanging off the side. The nurse said it appeared as if she struggled and then died of strangulation.

"Her tongue was protruding. It was purple," the nurse said.

The nurse said one of the maintenance workers then lifted Olive's legs while she held onto one of her shoulders.

"We brought her up, laid her flat on her bed," said the nurse. "I brushed her hair. This nursing coordinator told us, 'Don't say anything.'"

The nurse said the last person to treat Olive for a bedsore raised the bed for the treatment but did not lower it after, despite instructions to do so. Olive was known to wander, the nurse said.

"We had a sign on the top of the bed, readily visible, stating to lower the bed at its lowest level when finishing care," the nurse said.

An anonymous call to the state Department of Health days after Olive's death reported that the woman appeared to have died of asphyxiation after her head was caught in the bars, which triggered an investigation.

The department concluded the caller's complaint was valid. The department found that Olive's body had been rearranged after her death, but it was not reported that way in Sunrise's records, authorities told News 4 New York.

The Chase family filed a lawsuit in the state Supreme Court against Sunrise, alleging the staff tried to "cover up the horrific and ghastly manner" of Olive Chase's death, and that she died because of the "negligence, carelessness and recklessness" of Sunrise workers, according to court papers.

Sunrise released the following statement to News 4 New York:

"The state conducted a thorough investigation and nothing was found to substantiate the claim that Mrs. Chase's death was due to anything other than natural causes. (That is) Sunrise's position that the allegations are unsubstantiated."