Prentice Spriggs was released from rehab earlier this month, determined to get her life back together to support her three daughters and newborn grandson.
Instead, the 44-year-old’s body was found 11 days later, rolled up in a carpet and dumped in a trash can in a Harrisburg alley. He never got to see his grandson.
Spriggs had been receiving treatment for drug addiction and left the facility on May 6, his daughter, Honesty Davis, told PennLive. Police found his body around 2:45 p.m. on May 17 in the 1600 block of Ethel Street, an alley behind Market Street in the city’s Allison Hill neighborhood.
His cause of death remains a mystery. The Dauphin County Coroner’s Office said the cause and manner of his death are pending additional testing. Davis said she’s been told the family may not receive a final autopsy report for two to three months.
Police have described his death as suspicious but have not publicly classified it as a homicide. No charges have been filed.
Davis said his father used to work in manual labor but was homeless when he died. His family doesn’t know if he lived in the area where he died or what caused his death.
“This time, I really did feel in my heart that things would get better once he was released,” Davis said, “but unfortunately, this is what happened.”
Spriggs’ three daughters He set up a GoFundMe. to help cover unexpected funeral expenses. Funeral services are scheduled for Saturday at 1 p.m. in McConnellsburg. The account had raised more than $1,200 as of Thursday toward its $7,000 goal.
“We are devastated by his sudden and unjust passing,” his daughters wrote on GoFundMe. “Our only wish now is to give him a decent farewell that reflects the love and respect we have for him.”
Spriggs was born in Harrisburg but moved around a lot as an adult, sometimes living in the city and sometimes in McConnellsburg in Fulton County, where other family members lived. But he struggled from an early age, being raised by relatives as his father came in and out of his life, Davis said.
Dr. Davis said Spriggs’ mental health deteriorated after his parents died, 11 months apart, in February 2017 and January 2018. Dr. Davis recently told Spriggs he needed to focus on treating his anxiety and depression to fully kick his addiction.
“I think it all took a toll on him, but he was trying to get better,” she said. “I feel like people hear ‘addiction’ and write him off. He wasn’t that person at all.”
Davis said she hopes the drug rehabilitation system, with its focus on treating unresolved mental illness, will help others in a similar situation to her father, some of whom turn to illegal street drugs to self-medicate.
“If they don’t fight it, addicts will quickly go back to doing what they did before,” she said, “because the pain is still there.”
Those who seek inpatient treatment can struggle if they are returned to an unstable environment, according to UPMC psychologist Dr. Melissa Brown, who told PennLive earlier this year that health professionals have seen a sharp increase in the number of homeless people with mental illnesses since Pennsylvania closed its state hospital for the mentally ill. Harrisburg State Hospital closed in 2006.
“We’ve seen a lot of individuals who should be deployed. [in a facility]”But there’s no place to house them,” said Tina Nixon, UPMC’s vice president of mission effectiveness, diversity, equity and inclusion. “Homeless shelters are not equipped to help these people.”
More than 650,000 people experienced homelessness at least one night last year, according to federal data, and 31% of the homeless population in the U.S. suffers from a serious mental illness, a federal study found. National Alliance to End Homelessness24% had chronic substance abuse.
As Davis and her sisters hope for answers, they are planning Spriggs’ funeral and reminiscing about their memories of him.
When Davis was growing up, Spriggs would wait with her at the school bus stop every morning, and her favorite memory of him was cooking on the grill and playing guess the tail at her eighth birthday party.
“I was very attached to my father growing up and loved him dearly,” she says. “He never hesitated to talk about his children whenever he had the chance. He thought highly of each of us and was very proud of who we had become.”
“Mr. Prentiss was more than ‘just a body,'” she said. “He was a father, a grandfather, a brother, an uncle, a nephew, a son and so much more.”
His daughters say music was Spriggs’s outlet and favorite means of self-expression — his Facebook page is filled with YouTube clips of songs he listened to and shared — and he also loved basketball, drawing and reading.
“He was a unique person who was misunderstood by many, but we understood each other,” said his youngest daughter, Lijah Spriggs. “We stayed up late talking about life, his growing closer to God, and especially music. I will always love and cherish our relationship. I will miss him and do my best to make him proud.”
Anyone with information about Spriggs’ death is asked to call the Harrisburg Police Department at 717-558-6900. Donations toward funeral expenses can be made at Check out his family’s GoFundMe here.
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