Alabama: Sheriff says Tana Brooks and Gilmer Edwards' house, full of feces and trash, one of worst he's seen: 'A community health risk'

ALABAMA -- During Hali Stewart's visits to her mother's mobile home in rural Baldwin County, she said she would encounter a teenage boy and his parents who would ask for money or trips to a store.

That family, it was discovered Saturday, were living inside a house of filth - garbage and fecal matter strewn throughout an otherwise innocuous mobile home at the end of the street.

But ask any of the neighbors about what they know about Tana C. Brooks and Gilmer P. Edwards - some of whom live less than 40 yards away - and you'll get the same answer: "We didn't know them. They stuck to themselves."

  

 

"Like my mom said," Stewart, of Loxley, said Monday. "You never know what happens next door."

Deplorable findings

Baldwin County Sheriff's deputies arrested the couple on Saturday and booked them into the Baldwin County Corrections Center on charges related to keeping a house full of garbage and human or animal waste.

Animals were found in a malnourished state: Two dogs, a bird, and more than 10 cats. Authorities say they are still searching to see if other animals will be found.

Baldwin County Sheriff Huey "Hoss" Mack calls the deplorable condition inside the home as one of the worst cases of hoarding he's seen in his more than 20-year law enforcement career.

Authorities said that all three people living inside - Brooks, Edwards and boy - had fecal matter on them at the time they arrived to the home.

Tara C. Brooks and Gilmer P. Edwards, both 44, of rural Baldwin County, face criminal charges related to keeping an uninhabitable house where authorities found animals and a teenage boy inside.

  

 

"This particular case is to the point where it's a community health risk with we saw in there not only with the individuals and a minor but with multiple animals," Mack said.

'A quiet park'

The mobile home is at the end of a short side street within the Wales West Light Railway & RV Resort, a neighborhood south of Silverhill that consists of a mix of permanent mobile homes and campers temporarily parked by snow birds vacationing in South Alabama during winter months.

The resort's tagline is "A Train & Garden Lover's Paradise." It's also known as being a place where bluegrass fans gather for shows on Tuesday and Friday nights.

"It's a quiet park," said one woman whose mobile home is a short distance from Brooks' and Edwards' uninhabitable abode. "It's a retirement community and most of us don't lock our doors."

 

The woman, who has lived within the resort community for five years and asked her name not be revealed, said she rarely saw the family. The teenage boy, she said, was only seen whenever he was leaving a school bus to go home.

"You never know what's happening behind closed doors unless they have an open house like I do," the woman said.

Other neighbors, who live even closer to the family, said they didn't know the couple or the boy. Residents also said they never noticed any animals outside.

"If you look at the outside and from a distance, there is no great indicator," Mack said. "The deputies had not indication."

The conditions inside the house were first discovered by Sheriff's deputies when they went to the home Saturday to serve a warrant to Edwards for public intoxication, possession of drug paraphernalia, and an alias warrant for fraudulent use of a credit card.

Horrible findings

Upon arriving to the home, deputies were confronted by an overwhelming odor of fecal matter.

Inside, they observed a large collection of household garbage as well as fecal matter, several cats and at least one dog which all appeared malnourished with open sores visible. The animals are now in care of Baldwin County Animal Control.

Baldwin County Sheriff's Maj. Anthony Lowery said earlier Monday that deputies needed respirator devices in order to go inside and inspect the mobile home.

 

Stewart said last summer, her mother would comment about a stench in the neighborhood. She didn't link the odor to the nearby home.

"When it was warm outside, she said there would be a funny smell," Stewart said. "We never knew what it was and no one expected it might be (what was discovered inside the couple's home)."

'Pay attention'

Mack said while neighbors might publicly claim to not knowing the couple, he "can't help but believe" that "some people have some knowledge or suspicion" about what might have been going on "whether it's a child being kept from school or who was (coming to school) unkempt."

The boy was placed into protective custody with the Alabama Department of Human Resources.

  

 

Brooks and Edwards, who are awaiting bail at the Baldwin County Corrections Center, face charges of endangering the welfare of a child and cruelty to a dog and cat in the 2nd degree.

"We have to rely on the public if they do have a suspicion about the welfare of a child or an animal that they do call law enforcement," Mack said.

(AL.com - Feb 3, 2015)

Earlier:

• Alabama: Tana Brooks and her husband Gilmer Edwards arrested after child, animals found in feces-filled home