7 Investigates: Man disappears after entering hospital, wife still searching for truth

The woods behind Heywood Hospital are quiet. The silence broken only by the sound of a K-9 unit on the move. Members of the Central Massachusetts Search and Rescue team follow closely behind. They are looking for a missing patient. 

The focus of the search shifts to a lake where investigators believe Leonard Mercury, 57, was last seen on Halloween night.

“He’s not here, but then the question is where? Where are you,” asked Leonard’s wife Nicole La Guerre. 

That question remains unanswered for Nicole and her family. She keeps coming back to the woods behind the hospital looking for clues.

“I’ve been out here so many times,” said Nicole. 

Nicole and Leonard have been together since they were teenagers. She was there when he was admitted to the hospital during a mental health crisis.  

A struggle they have faced before.

“I explained what he needed. I explained what could happen,” said Nicole. 

Just hours later, the police were at Nicole’s door. Leonard was missing.

“That’s when he told me that he broke the window,” said Nicole. 

Nicole says she was told Leonard got onto the roof, jumped to the ground, and ran into the woods. In an email sent to the family, the hospital’s risk management director wrote, “no one at the hospital has firsthand knowledge of what happened.”

 “You’re supposed to make sure that he’s safe and when he breaks a window, where was everyone,” Nicole said. 

Since then, Gardner police, volunteers, and private investigators have covered the woods and parts of the lake. Still no sign of Leonard.

“He only had hospital pants and a shirt on, so he wasn’t well insulated. You would have to look at hypothermia right away,” said Private Investigator Patrick Aubuchon. “We are trying to just clear this area to give the family the answer that he’s not here.”

7 Investigates asked Heywood Hospital whether proper procedures were followed. No one has not responded.

“I spend most days really angry,” said Nicole. “Like really, really angry. Like mad because I don’t have answers.”

Nicole has followed tips across the state looking for any sign of Leonard.

If you think you’ve seen him, please call Gardner police at (978) 632-5600.