According to an incident report released Tuesday afternoon, Alexander was found by firefighters responding to a diabetic emergency involving a paralyzed 45-year-old man Sunday around 12:30 p.m. with open insect- and maggot-infested sores and with rotting flesh exposing his pelvic bones and the bottom of his spine.
The discovery at the home at 205 Mason Road in Crandall led to the arrest of his wife, 46-year-old Lisa Marie Alexander, on charges of neglect of a disabled adult, reckless conduct and six counts of cruelty to animals.
Georgia Bureau of Investigation Special-Agent-in-Charge Greg Ramey said the investigation is ongoing and more charges could be brought.
"Certainly there is the potential that more charges could be filed," Ramey said.
The Murray County Fire Department and a Murray County deputy responded to the call and discovered Phillip Alexander, who is now in the intensive care unit at Hamilton Medical Center in Dalton in "serious condition," Ramey said.
Alexander's daughter, 21-year-old Bethany Alexander, said when reached by phone Tuesday that her father was improving.
"He looks like he is getting better," she said. "Some of his lab work is getting slightly better. He is having surgery tomorrow I do believe."
Lisa Alexander was still being held at the Murray County jail on Tuesday on a $50,000 bond. Her daughter said her mother's arrest was unwarranted.
"It is complete crap," Bethany Alexander said. "There is no freaking way that we neglected him. None of us did."
"I work night shift and sleep during the day," Bethany Alexander claimed. "I hardly got to see him."
WHY HAVEN'T THE ADULT CHILDREN, WHO ALSO LIVED IN THE HOME, BEEN CHARGED AS WELL?
She and her 24-year-old brother Blake Alexander live in the house with her parents, she said. The incident report described the smell in the house as "animal waste mixed with rotting flesh" and the home filled with cobwebs and roaches.
"As I entered the residence, the smell emitting from inside was absolutely rancid," K9 Officer Joshua Malone wrote in the report. "It smelled as though there was animal waste mixed with rotting flesh inside of the house.
"While walking through what appeared to be the living room, I noticed an extremely large amount of cobwebs hanging from the ceiling. These webs contained numerous amounts of bugs and were throughout the entire house."
In the bedroom, Malone wrote that Phillip Alexander was on the bed wearing shorts, socks and running shoes, and the bed "appeared to be extremely dirty." He had gauze bandages taped to his legs.
The room was filled with cockroaches, and there were handheld plastic urinal receptacles that "had brown matter in them that appeared to be decomposing human waste."
Lisa Alexander told Malone the bandages on her husband's legs were "from recent bug bites he received while they were camping."
Bethany Alexander said the family had recently camped on Fort Mountain but did not say when the trip occurred.
While Malone was talking with Lisa Alexander, the report noted "her pupils appeared to be very dilated even when she would look into direct light. This is normally caused by either a medical condition or more commonly through the use of illegal stimulant-type drugs."
When EMS arrived, a stretcher couldn't be taken into the bedroom because of "the large amount of clutter in the residence," Malone wrote.
As Phillip Alexander was being moved on a sheet, Malone noted "a very alarming site on Mr. Alexander's bed, a large moist black spot that was infested with more insects. This spot was directly underneath where he was lying on the bed."
"I then noticed that more cockroaches were in fact crawling over the patient's body while they were placing him onto the stretcher as well," Malone wrote.
After Phillip Alexander was taken to Hamilton Medical Center, medical personnel there contacted the sheriff's office about the severity of his condition. A nurse said "the subject appeared to be extremely neglected and wished to file a report on the matter."
Malone went to the hospital. Phillip Alexander was in a room with a special notice for "precautions" on the door, and another doorway had been blocked off "due to the amount of bugs that came off the patient."
One of the nurses, who told Malone "these were some of the worst sores that she had ever seen on a patient," said Alexander had "both live and dead insects in the infected areas along with maggots."
Malone wrote that the wound on his lower back "was so grotesque that it appeared as though his entire buttocks had rotted from the body."
"The wound appeared to have several more infected and green tissue still connected to it," Malone wrote. "While continuing to look at the wound, it was so deep into the body that you could see what appeared to be the lowest portion of his spinal vertebrae along with his pelvic bones."
On Alexander's legs, Malone documented fresh and old wounds and areas of infection, and the flesh "was black with green 'puss-like' areas from where it was so decayed."
Malone reported Alexander's left foot was "pruning" and "starting to rot" and cockroaches were in the sores.
VICTIM'S MEDICATION EITHER BEING SOLD OR TAKEN BY FAMILY MEMBERS WHILE VICTIM SUFFERED...
The report said bottles of prescription drugs of oxycodone and hydrocodone which had been filled on Friday were missing pills.
A 60-pill bottle had only approximately 20 pills in it, and a 90-pill bottle had only approximately 30 pills in it.
In Phillip Alexander's drug screen prepared by the hospital, the only drug found in his system was Valium.
When asked about Phillip Alexander's condition, Lisa Alexander told Malone "the sores were from Phillip refusing to take care of himself."
"She stated that they had tried numerous times to help him but he just wanted to sit in a wheelchair in his own waste for two weeks before they were able to clean him up," Malone wrote. "This was very suspicious to me because earlier in the day she stated that they were camping two weeks prior and the sores on the legs were from bug bites."
Malone went back to Crandall and secured the home, and the GBI was called in to assist in the investigation. GBI and Murray County investigators searched the house in protective gear, each with the help of a breathing apparatus.
Animal Control was called to take custody of three dogs tied up outside the house and three cats found inside.
(The Daily Citizen Dalton - June 14, 2017)
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