A little boy who shared a room with Zachary Moore on the night he died later wrote a letter to Zachary’s mother. He also gave her a toy to place at the funeral. That boy is now in therapy — because he watched staff hold Zachary down until he stopped breathing.
Zachary Moore was 21 years old. He had the mental capacity of a 5-year-old due to a rare genetic condition called IQSEC2. He was someone’s son, someone’s roommate — and on the night of September 7, 2025, he became a statistic that his mother, Angela Stephens, refuses to let the world ignore.
According to authorities, employees at the Southeast Arkansas Human Development Center in Warren, Arkansas, restrained Moore for nearly 13 minutes and injected him with Geodon — an antipsychotic drug — after he became agitated at bedtime. Staff did not realize he had stopped breathing until it was too late.
All of it started because someone took away his tablet.
“He got aggravated — you don’t just take a tablet away, you talk to him,” Stephens said. A brief moment of frustration escalated because, she says, the facility’s staff had never learned how to properly care for her son. They had been told. They simply didn’t listen.
A Mother Who Warned Them — and Was Ignored
When Moore was transferred from a Conway facility to Warren in spring 2025, Stephens and his entire care team made the trip with him. They sat down with staff and explained everything — his helmet, his “blackouts,” the techniques that had kept him calm and safe for years.
“They just didn’t accept these things,” Stephens said. “So when he did have his fits or his blackouts, they were bad — because they didn’t want to try to do things that were safe.”
The calls and updates that had been a routine part of her life stopped almost immediately after the move. The next time she heard from the facility, a nurse called in the middle of the night, told her Zachary had “passed,” and hung up.
“I was left stunned, half-asleep, going — wait a second, did she just say my son passed?”
She spent hours trying to reach anyone who could tell her what had happened. The answer finally came from an ambulance driver, who told her it was “the most vicious thing he had ever seen.” No one at the facility had an explanation. No one knew when Moore had stopped breathing.
Six Charged. Eleven Suspended. One Mother Unsatisfied.
Following an investigation, Arkansas DHS placed 11 employees on administrative leave and fired one. The facility’s leadership was replaced. Six employees were charged with manslaughter and neglect of a vulnerable person. This week, they were due in court to enter pleas or declare intent to go to trial.
Stephens also received a $725,000 settlement from the state — but she is clear-eyed about what that means.
“Money doesn’t bring Zachary back,” she said. “But change can help the next Zachary.”
As part of the settlement, the state agreed to include Stephens in the reform process — not just for the Warren facility, but for all five Arkansas developmental centers. She says she intends to hold them to that promise.
What Happens Next
The six charged employees face a critical court appearance this week. Meanwhile, Stephens is pushing for stronger background checks, mandatory drug testing, and deeper training requirements at state-run care facilities across Arkansas.
“I believe a lot more training and thought needs to go into background checks, drug tests — when it comes to the care for our loved ones,” she said.
Arkansas DHS Secretary Janet Mann called Moore’s death “wholly unacceptable” and pledged accountability. Stephens says she will be watching closely to make sure those words become action.
Zachary Moore was born with a condition he never chose. He was placed in a facility by a system that was supposed to protect him. He died because that system failed him in the most final way possible.
His mother is still fighting — and this time, she’s making sure the whole state is listening.
