Actor John Amos’ daughter hires a lawyer to investigate the care he got in his final months

Actor John Amos' daughter has hired a lawyer to investigate the circumstances surrounding her father’s death, the latest development in an ongoing verbal dispute with her brother regarding their father’s care in his final months.

Amos, 84, best known for his 1970s television roles on “Good Times” and “Roots,” died Aug. 21 of congestive heart failure, his publicist, Belinda Foster, said Oct. 1. 

Shannon Amos, 58, a co-trustee of her father’s estate, five other family members and two people close to John Amos said in a statement that they had not learned of his death until it was reported by the news media that day.

Shannon Amos’ brother, K.C. Amos, 54, said it had been their father’s wish that his sister and other family members not be immediately notified of his death. 

“There was a discussion of contacting other family members and Pops said not to contact anyone, and I honored his request,” K.C. Amos said last month. 

Shannon Amos said in a recent interview that she has made three formal requests for her father’s medical records from Centinela Hospital Medical Center in Los Angeles, where he died, but that she has not received a response. 

Hospital officials said they could not comment because of patient privacy laws. 

James H. Davis III, the lawyer Shannon Amos retained to investigate her father’s death, said in an undated news release received by NBC News on Dec. 24 that the “family deserves to know the full circumstances surrounding Mr. Amos’ care and the events that led to his passing.”

“We are committed to pursuing all available avenues to ensure that these questions are answered,” Davis said in the statement.  

Davis’ hiring is the latest development in an ongoing dispute between John Amos’ two children. Shannon Amos said that while K.C. Amos and Foster are in frequent contact with each other, neither speak with her because of the rift. 

According to Shannon Amos, the split between her and her brother began with differences over their mother’s care and the handling of her estate. Their mother, Noel Mickelson, died in 2016 from sepsis caused by bed sores, and a malignant tumor, according to Shannon Amos.

Though the siblings had reconciled after their mother’s death, Shannon Amos said, K.C. Amos' struggles with “addiction and financial mismanagement” led to a “mutual parting” in August 2020, after which he moved in with their father. 

“It became increasingly difficult for family, friends, business associates and caregivers to contact my father,” Shannon Amos said. 

K.C. Amos disputes that he struggled with addiction or managing finances, calling the claims "baseless." 

“I am committed to leading a balanced and healthy life, particularly to honor the memory of my mother and father with strength and dignity,” he said.

John Amos in "Roots."ABC Photo Archives / Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images

 Shannon Amos said in an Instagram post on June 8, 2023, that her father was a victim of elder abuse and that she had opened a GoFundMe account to cover “care, legal fees, and aftercare” for the actor, whose life was “hanging by a thread.” The GoFundMe was later removed by the platform with no explanation, she said. 

“Upon being informed that Mr. Amos wished to decline the funds raised on his behalf, the GoFundMe was put under review by our Trust & Safety team,” a GoFundMe spokesperson said last week. “The fundraiser was subsequently removed from the platform and all donors refunded.” 

The Colorado Bureau of Investigation and the Custer County Sheriff’s Office in Colorado opened an investigation on June 9, 2023, into allegations that John Amos was being subjected to elder abuse, according to a news release from the sheriff’s office. John Amos had been living in Westcliffe, Colorado, at the time.

“We did conduct a criminal investigation. We did collect and analyze some evidence,” Custer County Sheriff Lloyd Smith said. “In the end, the district attorney did not believe there was enough evidence to file charges.”

In a video K.C. Amos posted on Instagram on June 15, 2023, John Amos said that he had “ongoing issues” with his daughter and that he believed she was taking advantage of him. 

“She’s the one that I would attribute my elderly abuse to,” he said. “It’s definitely a case of elderly abuse.”

He offered no details in the video of the purported abuse. Kevin Faler, a private investigator hired by John Amos, characterized it in a Dec. 24 interview with NBC News as “financial elder abuse,” but he provided no further details. Shannon Amos said that when Goudy asked John Amos about the allegation against Shannon Amos, he said, “I have no recollection of that.” 

Shannon Amos said her father was in a “vulnerable state” because the video was recorded while he was in the hospital with congestive heart failure and was on pain medication and suffering from dementia, which she said made him “susceptible to K.C.’s manipulation.” Shannon Amos was not able to provide documentation of a diagnosis of dementia.

Foster disputed that John Amos had been diagnosed with dementia.

“John Amos had his right mind,” Foster said last month, adding that her client spent his final months working on projects and writing scripts.

K.C. Amos was arrested on July 15, 2023, in West Orange, New Jersey, after Shannon Amos filed a complaint with the West Orange Police Department, saying he had threatened her life. 

The criminal complaint states that Shannon was in “imminent fear of death” and believed ”the immediacy of the threat and the likelihood it could be carried out, specifically by sending text messages with photos of firearms.” 

Shannon Amos said last week that the threats were “part of a pattern of escalating harassment and intimidation” intended to separate her from her father. 

Faler said there was “no merit” to the allegations.

“Our legal defense team consisting of K.C.'s attorney and John Amos’ psychologist, investigators, publicist and others are and will continue to work closely with law enforcement and state prosecutors in relation to our own investigation,” he said. 

No charges were filed, and the case was closed Dec. 17, according to Marta Estrella, a spokesperson for the New Jersey judiciary. 

The Los Angeles Police Department also launched an elder abuse investigation in February 2024 after Shannon Amos filed a complaint. The LAPD does not appear to have found any wrongdoing in the case, a department spokesperson said last week.  

While Shannon Amos and other family members said the actor was “isolated” from them by K.C. Amos and Foster in his final months, Foster denied it. She said Shannon Amos and other family members had not attempted to contact John Amos. 

“These people had not been in touch with John Amos in over a year because he didn’t want to talk to them,” Foster said.

K.C. Amos disputes that he engaged in elder abuse. 

“Let me be clear and transparent. There has been no physical, financial, emotional, psychological elder abuse or neglect committed against my father by me,” he said.