BREVARD COUNTY, Fla — Two employees at a Rockledge area senior living facility have been arrested. Detectives said an employee is accused of the abuse, and his boss is accused of trying to cover it up.

What You Need To Know

  • Two senior living facility employees have been charged

  • Police said it's a case of elder abuse

  • Police tell us what they know so far in the investigation

Officials said the victim’s daughter was visiting her in the memory care unit at Alura Senior Living on Christmas Day to take her to lunch.

They found her sitting in a wheelchair facing the bathroom with the lights off. When the daughter turned them on, she saw bruises on her mother’s forehead, both sides of the face, nose and side of the lip.​

Later it was determined she had a brain bleed.​

“Her eyes were swollen, marks on her face, marks on her neck,” Deputy Chief Donna Seyferth of the Rockledge Police Department tells us. “Her daughter picked her up and was just horrified, and took her straight to the hospital.”

The daughter and the hospital reported the injuries to Rockledge police. That began the investigation into the woman’s caregiver, Daniel Villarreal, who initially claimed he knew nothing about the injuries.​

Detectives brought him in for questioning, but they say it took some time for him to confess to the crime.

“Some very diligent police work by one of our detectives, and she was absolutely not going to let this go until she got to the truth,” Seyferth says.

Police said there was another person not being truthful during the investigation.

They arrested Alura Executive Director Kelly Shovlin for concealing evidence and trying to cover up the beating.

Police said she directed Villarreal to clean up the laundry, bedding and blood in the room.​

There are resources for families who have elderly loved ones who have endured this type of abuse. Lisa Conway is VP of One Senior Place in Viera.

The group can point people in the right direction.

“A support group, a counselor, or legal things that need to be done in elder care, an attorney or something like that,” Conway says.

Police fear there are more victims out there. More could be in other facilities where Villarreal worked.

“Here could be a fall that is accidental. Make no mistake, these injuries were not accidental,” Seyferth said. Police add they have made Alura’s corporate management aware of the arrests.