26 Angels: The Shocking Way Motels4Now Memorialized The Deaths of Their Residents!

By Logan Foster | Redress South Bend

March 18, 2024 Over the past several months, Our Lady of the Road, also known as Motels4Now or the New Day Intake Center, has reported a 78 percent success rate among residents who stayed at its facility.

An investigation by Redress South Bend on Jan. 30 found a substantially lower figure. Based on available records and outcome tracking, the actual success rate was approximately 21.4 percent.

The review also identified another issue that has received little public attention: the number of deaths associated with residents of the Motels4Now program.

Evidence of those deaths appears in a photograph published by the South Bend Tribune on July 28, 2023. The image, taken by photojournalist Mattie Neretin, shows a memorial painting displayed at the Motels4Now site at the former Knights Inn property at Bendix Drive and Lincoln Way. The painting is titled, “In Loving Memory, you’ll not be forgotten.”

The artwork depicts 26 angels rising from clouds, each bearing a name and the month and year of death. Several inscriptions include “R.I.P.”

Based on the dates shown in the photograph, the deaths break down as follows: two with no recorded dates, five in 2021, fourteen in 2022, and three in 2023, as of July 28, with five months remaining in that year. The total reflects 26 deaths over approximately three and a half years, or an average of about 7.4 deaths per year during the period the program has operated.

The mortality figures raise additional questions about the program’s publicly stated success rate, which Redress South Bend has already found to be significantly overstated.

They also raise broader concerns about oversight and public accountability, given that Motels4Now has received approximately $4 million in public funding and an annual operating stipend of $500,000 from the City of South Bend.

Redress South Bend is seeking clarification on how outcomes are defined, why the mortality data has not been publicly disclosed, and what safeguards are in place to protect residents in the program.

The outlet is also calling for a full accounting of resident outcomes, independent review of program performance, and transparency regarding the deaths documented at the site.