The husband of a Maryland woman who was found dead inside the restroom of a restaurant is speaking out.
Craig Winn said he and Verna had been together for more than 40 years before she passed away early last week.
“That was my soul mate, my life partner, my best friend, my lover,” Winn told FOX 5 DC.
The Odenton, Maryland couple was having lunch at Jasper’s in Largo on Wednesday when Craig noticed everyone had returned from the restroom following the meal – except for his wife.
MARYLAND JASPER’S RESTAURANT REMAINED OPEN WITH DEAD WOMAN FOUND IN RESTROOM: REPORT
“I asked her female cousin to go in and check on her,” he recalled.
Verna’s cousin ran back out.
“I just immediately jumped up and ran into the restroom and saw my wife lying on the floor and that was the last image of my wife. Lying on the stall floor in the lady’s restroom,” Winn told the station.
While someone in the restaurant performed CPR until EMS arrived, it was too late.
Verna most likely died from a heart attack.
Winn said police told him he would have to wait for a funeral home to come and pick up her body.
However, Jasper’s remained open and, while the woman’s restroom was closed, the men’s was still open.
“It’s not something that we are accustomed to,” Miguel Perea, one of the managers at Jasper’s, told the outlet. “At the moment, we thought we were doing the right thing, and we realized maybe we were wrong.”
The restaurant issued a statement on its website noting the death of a customer.
“Last night one of our customers tragically passed away within our establishment. On behalf of our ownership, management, and staff we send the sincerest and most heartfelt support and condolences to the deceased’s family,” the statement said. “We will be reaching out to the family to see if there is any way we can support them in this time of grief.”
“We immediately contacted county authorities and followed their protocol and procedure,” it continued. “Under the authorities’ guidance, we closed the area to patrons until all emergency services could arrive and followed the direction of the authorities.”
Winn told FOX 5 that, although servers consoled him, he wishes management would have done more.
“The only thing that would’ve made me feel better is if somebody, a management person who was working that night, would’ve come over and asked what they could do to make the situation better,” he said, adding that he did not want the community to “indict the restaurant” and that he didn’t think it could “improvise on how to deal with a situation like that.”
Winn said the owner of Jasper’s did reach out to him and offered to provide support.
FOX Business’ Louis Casiano contributed to this report.
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