Hitchcock man who ‘tortured, restrained, starved” disabled stepson found guilty of murder • Jury takes less than two hours to find Timothy Ray Ellis guilty; sentenced to 60 years in prison The stepfather of an adult disabled man was found guilty in the man’s death on Wednesday and sentenced to 60 years in prison. It took a jury of 8 men and 5 women in Judge Patricia Grady’s 212th District Court less than two hours of deliberation to find Timothy Ray Ellis, 53, was responsible for the death of Edwin Colleson. During a two-day trial that started Monday (9/30/2024), prosecutors detailed how Ellis would hog-tie his stepson to the top bunk of an RV, make him lie in his feces, and deny him access to food. Bags of trash and human waste were left inside the trailer. One of those trash bags served as Colleson’s pillow. Ellis also performed surgery on his stepson using a hook and fishing line to suture his infected ear. The stepfather had cut in an attempt to remove the infected area. Ellis then shoved a cotton swap into his stepson’s ear and used tape to close up the ear. In a recorded interview with police investigators, Ellis seemed to brag about his medical skills and said they were better than what the hospital could perform. Colleson died three days after he was found unresponsive in a Hitchcock RV Park that authorities said looked like a scene from the most horrific scenes of the “Hoarders” TV show. Images of the dilapidated RV drew strong reactions from jurors when shown in court. Seeing the images of the filth and inhumane conditions that Colleson lived in before his death brought back horrible memories for Hitchcock Police Detective Sgt. Louis Garcia. “That smell, it was horrible,” Garcia said soon after he testified in the murder trial of Colleson’s stepfather. It was Nov. 30, 2022, when a 911 call from Colleson’s mother, Billie Jean Barnes, alerted first responders to an unresponsive man inside a trailer in the Highland Bayou RV Park, 9202 State Highway 6 in Hitchcock. The police found what could only be described as a “house of horrors.” “Edwin Colleson was a man, a human, a son,” prosecutor Kate Willis told the jury during closing arguments on Tuesday. “This man was restrained, tortured, starved. “This man was murdered.” Colleson, 45, was a mentally disabled man who was forced to stay in a small cubby space at the rear of a filthy RV trailer. He had gangrene on several areas of his body, was lying in his own filth, and, as would be later uncovered, was often “hog-tied” to his bed. He died three days after he was taken to the hospital. His mother, who, despite having access to a mobile phone, did little to save her son and never called 911 until it was too late. Barnes was recently convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to injury to a disabled person for her role in her son’s death. During her testimony, Barnes said Ellis was controlling and would not let her leave their small RV and would refuse access to her son, saying he was “surrounded by demons.” Colleson was only 66 pounds when loaded on the ambulance and was taken to HCA Houston Healthcare’s Mainland Medical Center. Even experienced emergency room physicians and nurses noted they had never seen someone in such poor condition. He was put on a ventilator, a food tube was inserted, and physicians did what they could to keep him alive. Those efforts were “futile,” said Dr. Candice Dunn, then the hospital's medical director. “He had been starved for a long time,” Dunn told the jury of 8 men and 4 women. “Treatment was deemed futile,” she said. Gruesome photos presented in court showed several areas where dead flesh (gangrene) set in because of the restraints used to keep Colleson in his bed, which had no mattress and resembled a large shelf more than a bunk bed. His condition was so bad that the hospital’s ethics team was called to determine whether to continue life-saving treatment for Colleson. Before they could make a decision, Colleson died. Dunn, who wiped away tears several times during testimony, said she had never in her career seen anyone in as bad of shape as Colleson was when he came into the emergency room. Pictures shown at the trial showed a hoarder house lined with bottles full of urine as Colleson wasn’t allowed to use the bathroom inside the trailer. The refrigerator was padlocked so that Colleson was unable to retrieve food. Prosecutors said Ellis used a leather strap across Colleson’s neck, rope to tie down his feet, and zip ties to restrain his hands and placed him in a fetal position.

Posted by i45NOW TJ Aulds at 2024-10-02 15:15:01 UTC