An 86-year-old Massachusetts woman was found dead inside an assisted living apartment that first responders described as unbearably hot, with the thermostat reading a staggering 99 degrees.
Sheila Ann Szczypinski was discovered unresponsive in her bed at Golden Pond Assisted Living & Memory Care in Hopkinton on the morning of Sept. 30, according to police records and local reports.
The disturbing discovery came just one day after the facility had switched its building system from air conditioning to heat.
Police responded shortly before 10 a.m. after staff found Szczypinski in her apartment. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
An officer described the room as “uncomfortably hot,” while a member of the Hopkinton Fire Department reported that the thermostat displayed 99 degrees.
Firefighters opened windows in an effort to ventilate the sweltering apartment.
Szczypinski had moved into Golden Pond only about seven weeks earlier and was living in an independent-care section of the facility. Staff assisted her with certain needs, including bathing, but she managed her own medication and generally went to meals and activities independently.
She had reportedly shown no signs of illness before her death.
Investigators were told that Szczypinski had gone on a supervised shopping trip to Walmart the previous afternoon. A nurse said staff were trying to determine whether anyone had seen her later that evening at dinner.
The facility’s manager told police that Golden Pond had switched from air conditioning to heat the day before Szczypinski was found.
Initially, officials were told that no other apartments were experiencing similar heating problems.
The manager also suggested Szczypinski may have attempted to select the “cool” setting on her individual thermostat, which under the building’s configuration could have continued sending warm air into her apartment.
Her son told investigators that his mother could become confused and may have inadvertently adjusted the thermostat incorrectly.
But additional information emerging after Szczypinski’s death has raised broader questions about conditions inside the building.
Hopkinton Health Director Shaun McAuliffe said authorities received calls the following day reporting that Golden Pond was excessively warm.
Health and building officials inspected the facility and discovered multiple rooms with temperatures above what McAuliffe described as the state’s 78-degree threshold. Inspectors also reportedly encountered air returns pumping out air hotter than 100 degrees.
Officials worked with Golden Pond on an action plan that included moving residents into common areas and opening doors and windows where possible.
An HVAC contractor was brought in but was unable to immediately correct the heating problem, according to McAuliffe. The facility’s heat was ultimately turned off.
Golden Pond has pushed back against suggestions that its HVAC system was malfunctioning at the time Szczypinski died.
“Our HVAC system is professionally maintained by a licensed contractor on both a seasonal and as-needed basis and was working properly at the time of this incident,” Golden Pond director of operations Doug Noble said in a statement.
Noble said every apartment has an individual thermostat residents can control themselves, while adding that residents are encouraged to use their call buttons if they need assistance adjusting the temperature.
The facility said it is cooperating closely with regulatory agencies investigating Szczypinski’s death.
Authorities have not determined that the extreme temperature caused or contributed to her death.
The Middlesex District Attorney’s Office has confirmed that its investigation remains open and ongoing. McAuliffe said a cause of death had not yet been listed. Officials sought an autopsy, although he said the medical examiner indicated one was unlikely to be performed.
The case also comes against a backdrop of previous regulatory problems at Golden Pond.
Massachusetts officials ordered the facility to stop accepting new residents following compliance problems in 2023. Golden Pond failed two compliance reviews that year before submitting corrective measures.
The state again took emergency action in January 2025, requiring the facility to stop enrolling new residents after another compliance review found problems involving areas including staffing, emergency preparedness, records and resident services.
Golden Pond later submitted a corrective action plan that state regulators approved, allowing admissions to resume in February 2025.
Those earlier regulatory actions have not been linked to Szczypinski’s death, and the current investigation remains separate.
Golden Pond is a large assisted living community with more than 170 units, including traditional assisted living and special-care units.
Szczypinski’s family is now mourning a woman remembered for a long working life and devotion to those closest to her.
Born in Lowell, Massachusetts, Szczypinski worked at a cookie factory and as a waitress before becoming a personal banker. The mother of three later worked in real estate before retiring.
Her husband, Francis J. Szczypinski, died before her.
Her obituary remembered her as someone who enjoyed shopping trips, dinners out and a good glass of wine, but said what mattered most to her was spending time with family and close friends.
Exactly what happened during Szczypinski’s final hours — and whether the extraordinary heat inside her apartment played any role in her death — remains under investigation.
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