CRANDALL, Ga. — A woman was arrested Sunday after her disabled husband was found covered with bugs and open sores in their home in a rural township in northern Georgia, according to a police report.

Lisa Alexander, 46, was arrested for neglect and abuse of a disabled adult.

Phillip Alexander, 45, was found in a house that smelled “absolutely rancid” by firefighters who responded to a diabetic emergency involving a paralyzed man on Sunday, responding officer Joshua Malone said.

According to an incident report released Tuesday afternoon, Phillip Alexander was found with open insect- and maggot-infested sores and with rotting flesh exposing his pelvic bones and the bottom of his spine. The discovery led to the arrest of his wife who is facing charges of neglect of a disabled adult, reckless conduct and six counts of cruelty to animals.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigations is assisting Murray County with the investigation. While searching the home, investigators were forced to wear protective gear, including breathing apparatus. 

Phillip Alexander is now in the intensive care unit at Hamilton Medical Center in Dalton and is 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.”

After Phillip Alexander was taken to the hospital, 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.”

On Tuesday, Lisa Alexander was still being held at the Murray County jail on a $50,000 bond. Her daughter said her mother’s arrest was unwarranted.

“It is complete crap,” said Bethany Alexander, who lives in the house with her parents and 24-year-old brother, Blake Alexander. “There is no freaking way that we neglected him. None of us did.”

When asked if she knew of the severity of her father’s condition, she said she didn’t.

“I work night shift and sleep during the day,” Bethany Alexander said. “I hardly got to see him.”

The incident report described the smell in the house as “animal waste mixed with rotting flesh,” and the home filled with cobwebs, roaches and other bugs.

“As I entered the residence, the smell emitting from inside was absolutely rancid,” Malone wrote in the report. 

Malone wrote that Phillip Alexander was on the bed wearing shorts, socks and running shoes, and the bed “appeared to be extremely dirty.” 

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 “large, moist black spot”: filled with bugs, underneath where Alexander was lying.

“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.

One of the nurses told Malone there were both live and dead insects, as well as maggots, in Alexander’s wounds, which were some of the worst sores she’s ever seen, the report said.

Malone’s report said that one of the wounds was deep enough to see parts of Alexander’s spine and pelvic bones.

The report said bottles of prescription drugs of oxycodone and hydrocodone had been filled on Friday were missing pills. 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.”

Malone wrote that Lisa Alexander said they, “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.”

The investigation is ongoing and more charges could be brought, said Greg Ramey, GBI Special-Agent-in-Charge.

Whitefield writes for the Dalton, Georgia Daily Citizen.