The family of a Belleville man with dementia who wandered away from his nursing home last weekend and was found dead less than a block away wants answers.

Aubrey Giles, 75, was reported missing from Midwest Rehab and Respiratory nursing home at 727 N. 17th Street at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Giles' body was found Monday in a frozen ravine next to the nursing home.

Terri Dancy and Linda Woods, Giles' daughters, said they want to know how their father could have escaped and how long he may have been missing before the home reported his disappearance. They hired attorney Staci M. Yandle of Fairview Heights to help authorities investigate.

Midwest Rehab did not immediately respond to a call seeking comment.

"It's just a shame he was found in a frozen ravine cold and alone," Dancy said Thursday at a press conference at her lawyer's office. "He was not supposed to die that way. He was supposed to die in a bed in the nursing home surrounded by the people who were supposed to care for him. He was found in a ravine 100 feet away from the place that was supposed to take care of him."

Linda Woods choked back tears in speaking of her father. "He didn't die with dignity," she said. "He died outside alone. This is horrible."

Yandle said her office "will be working with law enforcement officials, state officials and others to investigate the circumstances of Mr. Giles' disappearance from the nursing home to determine not just what happened, but how and why.

"A long-time resident who suffers from dementia and other life threatening conditions should not be able to walk out the door to the nursing home unnoticed and unsupervised."

Yandle said after the investigation the family will decide if any additional actions will be taken.

The family said they did not have any complaints about their father's care prior to his death. He had been a resident of the home for seven years. 

Services for Giles were scheduled for noon on Saturday at Pilgrim Temple CME Church at 1800 Trendley Avenue in East St. Louis.