45-year-old with intellectual disability weighed 70 lbs. and had mutilated flesh, Hitchcock PD says
The man's stepdad and biological mom face felony charges.
HITCHCOCK, Texas (KTRK) -- A 45-year-old man with an intellectual disability may have been neglected to the point where he weighed 70 pounds and had multiple disfigurements, including flesh rot and mutilation.
Hitchcock police also said he was missing teeth and part of his lower lip when officers were called to the Highland Bayou RV Park on Highway 6 this past Wednesday night.
First-responding medical workers were already at the man's home, where police said he was unresponsive and needed life-saving aid. He was mentally and physically incapacitated, the police department wrote in a graphically descriptive news release.
In addition, officers saw that he had severe muscular atrophy and was covered in bedsores, feces, and urine.
The police department went on to describe the abuse alleged to have happened by the two people who were supposed to take care of him.
According to an investigation, the man was tethered to his room at the back of his RV home for about two weeks, evidenced by scars and scabs on his body. Police said he was restrained by his stepfather, Timothy Ray Ellis, 51, and his biological mother, Billie Jean Barnes, 66.
Officers learned that Ellis appeared to have tried treating his stepson's ailments through holistic methods, though he doesn't have formal training. All of this happened as Barnes allegedly allowed the treatment to continue.
The news release also states that Ellis restrained his stepson by binding his wrists together and around his neck to prevent him from acting out. And for added measure, police said Ellis cut open and removed the victim's "cauliflower ear," which is a blood collection that causes the ear to look swollen, before stitching the wound closed with a fishing line.
The victim was rushed to HCA Houston - Mainland, where doctors discovered more signs of neglect, including his disfigured flesh.
Police arrested the couple, who were charged with injury to a disabled individual, which is a first-degree felony. Bond was set at $250,000 each, and they're being held in the Galveston County Jail.
