TV legend John Amos’ two children are locked in a bitter feud over the tragic final days of the late Good Times dad – and his daughter, Shannon Amos, is demanding a police probe and claiming “foul play” may have been responsible for his death.
In an exclusive interview with In Touch, Shannon, 58, accuses her brother, Kelly Christopher “K.C.” Amos, 54, of changing their father’s will at least five times to cut her out of the inheritance after draining the 84-year-old star’s accounts — and quickly having his body cremated to hide any evidence of alleged abuse.
The Emmy-nominated Roots actor passed in August of congestive heart failure at Inglewood’s Centinela Hospital Medical Center, where Shannon claims “he died alone” because K.C. didn’t notify family of his deteriorating condition. She also charges her brother kept the frail performer “isolated” from loved ones for years.
According to John’s death certificate, no autopsy was performed. “I want an investigation,” Shannon tells In Touch. “The hard part is they had my father cremated immediately — and that was strategic.”
“A concerned Los Angeles doctor contacted me, reporting severe neglect – including an instance where my father’s body was filled with fluid and he developed an infection in his foot, which was left unclean and untreated until maggots began infesting the wound,” she claims.
John’s death punctuates a long-running sibling dispute over the senior’s care following his 2016 stroke and subsequent dementia diagnosis that sparked elder abuse investigations in Colorado, New Jersey and Los Angeles, Shannon says.
Shannon claims K.C., John’s assistant turned publicist Belinda Foster and another man shuttled her ailing pop from state to state to stay ahead of probes by police and social service agencies.
A Facebook post from eight friends and family members of John — other than K.C. — says they learned of his death from media reports — 45 days after he was gone.
The entry states, “We fear he was likely cremated to avoid any potential investigation into the conditions surrounding his final days.”
“We suspect these actions may have been taken to alter potential wills and collect life insurance or other benefits.” John’s estate is estimated to be worth $300,000 — but Shannon believes most of her dad’s money was spent.
K.C. has vehemently denied all of the allegations and accuses his sister of publicly trying to portray him as an “unfit” caretaker. Earlier this year, John — who portrayed weatherman Gordy Howard on The Mary Tyler Moore Show — defended his filmmaker son and vowed they were working on a documentary to “shed light on the real truth as to the motives of those who have painted a false narrative about me.”
“Shannon’s claims that John was abused are false,” John’s longtime publicist Belinda Foster tells In Touch. “K.C., Eugene and I, along with numerous others cared for him. On several occasions when Shannon claimed that he was abused, law enforcement authorities sat with John and confirmed his well being.”
