"The boy we knew was gone," she says today. "It was too much."

He lived at Landmark until his death at 12:16 a.m. April 7, 1990. That night, workers said Daniels was restless, endlessly complaining and repeatedly asking for a pitcher that he used as a urinal.

"To relieve him from screaming, I gave it to him," wrote David Medy, a Landmark aide, in a statement to HRS authorities. "Five minutes later, he was complaining about the room temperature and that he was cold. I gave him a blanket and covered him with it."

At 10:45 p.m. the night shift came on.

Betty Williams, another worker, told investigators that Daniels was acting erratically, that he kept asking for the urinal even after he already had it. Saliva was coming out of his mouth. In the shift log later, she wrote:

"I looked at Richard, and he was very quiet. I called his name and got no response."

Minutes later, he was dead.

An autopsy found that Daniels died of blunt abdominal trauma, an injury he likely suffered in the days before his death. His ribs were fractured, his body badly bruised.

Landmark's official explanation at the time was that Daniels must have fallen against the arm of his wheelchair, fatally wounding himself.

"That was the only explanation they could come up with, and that's troubling," said Karen Curran, an attorney for Daniels' family. "The guy was beaten, it's pretty apparent. When is there going to be some justice for that?"

On March 31 -- seven days before his death -- Daniels' medical records show he had several darkened areas over his right lower rib cage area.

"Does not appear to be new," records said. "Client, when asked, stated it hurt. Referring to clinic to be evaluated by physician."

On April 1, Daniels was seen by a Landmark doctor, who also recorded bruising over the ribs. No X-rays or other testing was done to follow up on the injury, however.

"No need for treatment," the records said.

Cottage log entries showed Daniels had been restless in the days before his death even though staff members, when interviewed, said he didn't complain of pain or illness.

On March 27: "Awake and complaining."

On March 28: "Awake and complaining."

On March 31: "Up all night."

On April 1 : "Up all night, screaming for urinal, although already wet and complaining of being cold."

Daniels was slowly dying. But no one noticed.

Dr. Roger Mittleman, who performed the autopsy on Daniels, waited almost five months to close the case. He interviewed workers himself, visited Landmark personally and asked the police to conduct a more thorough investigation. He noted the extent of Daniels injuries, which he said "did not necessarily occur on the night of his death."

Finally, on Sept. 16 1990, he concluded:

"Extensive police interviews did not reveal evidence of an intentful force applied to the abdomen. . . . At this point in time, in the absence of suspicion of foul play, the MOD (manner of death) will be accident unless subsequent information renders evidence which would change . . . to homicide."

Meanwhile, HRS adult abuse investigators got involved in the case. Jeanette Henao, an investigator, said it was clear Daniels had been mistreated and denied proper medical care when he needed it, but she couldn't say who was responsible. Henao turned to Lawrence Remer, an HRS physician, for advice. In a confidential report, he told her: