HITCHCOCK, Texas — A man has died after police said he was tied up and neglected for around two weeks by a Hitchcock Couple.
Editor's note: The above video is from KHOU 11's previous coverage of this story.
Edwin Colleson, 45, was pronounced dead at a hospital on Sunday.
The Hitchcock Police Department said they were called to the Highland Bayou RV Park on Nov. 30 for a medical call involving an unresponsive person. Police said when they got there, medics were already rendering life-saving aid to a "frail, mentally and physically incapacitated" man who weighed about 70 pounds.
The man's mother, Billie Jean Barnes, 66, and stepfather, Timothy Ellis, 51, have both been charged with injury to a disabled person.
Police said the man suffered from severe muscular atrophy and was covered in bedsores, feces and urine. He was also missing part of his bottom lip and some of his teeth, according to police.
The man was taken to a hospital in critical condition where police said they found out he was mutilated and rotting from significant neglect. He later died at the hospital.
During an investigation, police said they learned the man had an intellectual disability and had been tied to his room for about two weeks. They said the man had several scars and scabs where it appeared he had been forcibly restrained by Barnes and Ellis to prevent him from acting out.
Police said they also learned Ellis tried to heal all of the man's medical and cognitive disorders holistically but he had no formal training. Police said Barnes allowed this treatment to happen to her son.
Barnes was notified of Colleson's death while in custody at the Galveston County Jail, where she and Ellis are being held on a $250,000 bond each.