CRANDALL, Ga. — Inside an insect-infested mobile home in north Murray County, law enforcement said a man was neglected to the point that parts of his body were rotting. The smell inside was so overpowering that authorities donned protective suits and used breathing apparatuses while searching the home.

The man’s wife was arrested and charged with neglect of a disabled person. 

Neglect was also prevalent outside of the home at 205 Mason Road in Crandall. In the yard were pieces of furniture and a workout machine. Three dogs were tied up. Multiple cars were parked in the backyard. Overgrown weeds enveloped a grill and a lawnmower.

Murray County Sole Commissioner Greg Hogan said those kind of scenes continue to be an eyesore for the county. 

“I have been very aggressive with how I feel about properties that are in disarray,” said Hogan, who was a strong proponent of tougher code enforcement before last year’s election which returned him to office. “Clutter, cars, garbage, all of it. We are limited with what we can do with code enforcement. We have one officer and it is hard. My future plans in the next budget, we will hire another code enforcement person and try to get things cleaned up.”

Murray County currently has one code enforcement official. 

On Sunday, a Murray County firefighter and a sheriff’s deputy responded to a 911 call at about 12:30 p.m. and found a man with wounds festering with maggots and cockroaches throughout the room. Phillip Alexander, who turned 46 on Saturday, continues to be treated in the intensive care unit of Hamilton Medical Center. His wife, Lisa Marie Alexander, 46, remained in custody Wednesday afternoon at the Murray County jail, and Greg Ramey with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said additional charges and additional arrests are possible. 

After Phillip Alexander was taken to the hospital, an incident report said Alexander “appeared as though his entire buttocks had rotted from the body” and portions of his pelvic bones and spine were visible. According to daughter Bethany Alexander, she and her brother and both parents lived in the house, which was described in the report as “absolutely rancid” and smelled of “animal waste mixed with rotting flesh inside of the house.”

Authorities were dispatched to the home after Lisa Alexander called 911. 

“I need an ambulance to come pick up my husband,” she said in the call released on Wednesday. “He is a paraplegic and he is diabetic (inaudible)… He’s got a really bad (inaudible) from sitting in a wheelchair all day… (inaudible) talking crazy nonsense, mumbling and I can’t get him in my car to get him to the hospital.”

The 911 operator then asked if she had checked her husband’s blood sugar. 

“No, I haven’t, his machine died,” she said. “But he has not been eating.”

In a press release from the GBI, Ramey said authorities are looking into condemning the home and working with county officials. 

“When you try to condemn a piece of property, that is a civil matter,” Ramey said. “We are working with the commissioners office and the county health department to hopefully resolve that. But because of the conditions, it isn’t right to let them live there. We are trying to take steps. If the health department doesn’t condemn it, we will look into what other steps can be taken.”

Hogan said he has been investigating the county’s options. 

“I have talked to our county attorney, and I don’t think that is something we can do,” Hogan said. “The property is in the woman’s name. We can make them clean the property up, but as far as taking the property, the state would have a lot more authority than we can have here. When you are dealing with disability, it throws it in a different gear. We could go through code enforcement, but that has very little teeth. We are looking into it to see exactly what we can do.”

Lisa Alexander was charged under legislation passed by the General Assembly in 2013, according to the GBI release. The felony charge of neglect of a disabled person carries a sentence of up to 20 years. She also faces a reckless conduct charge and six counts of cruelty to animals, which are all misdemeanors.