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State orders autopsy of developmentally disabled man

Source: By CHERYL WITTENAUER, Associated Press (MO), January 10, 2008

State officials have ordered an autopsy into the sudden death this week of a developmentally disabled man at a St. Louis-area group home.

Bob Bax, spokesman for the Missouri Department of Mental Health, said 47-year-old Jessie Thompson was found dead in his room Tuesday night.

........ Thompson was moved in August from the state-run Bellefontaine Habilitation Center in St. Louis County.

Under Gov. Matt Blunt, the state has been trying to close or reduce the Bellefontaine center, citing a belief that clients would be safer in private homes.