More than a year has passed since a medical examiner ruled the Augusta deaths of two elderly women as homicide, but the case against the people charged with murder remains unresolved.
Celesta C. Lisenbee, 67, and Sammie F. Lisenbee, 73, were charged with two counts murder and three counts of neglect of a disabled or elderly adult in December 2020 in connection with what was discovered at one of their three personal care homes the morning of Oct. 18, 2020.
An employee at First Love personal care home at 2403 Wrightsboro Rd. called 911 that morning after finding 84-year-old Georgia Blount unconscious in her room. Deputies and paramedics discovered Blount was dead, as was 75-year-old Sylvia Reid. The other disabled or elderly patients in the home needed to be hospitalized.
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Among those responding to the scene were members of the Crimes Against the Vulnerable and Elderly task force. The temperature in the home was measured at 130 degrees. It was also infested with bed bugs. City code inspectors found the conditions so poor, a condemned label was slapped on the building.
What caused Blount’s and Reid’s deaths wasn’t known until December 2020 when a state medical examiner ruled the cause of death hyperthermia, and the manner of death homicide. Warrants were issued for the Lisenbees arrests Dec. 22.
In his first week on the job, Richmond County District Attorney Jared Williams consented to $26,000 bonds for each of the Lisenbees. A condition of their bonds was they were not to assume care for anyone.
Since the Jan. 6, 2021, consent bonds, there have been no public developments in the case. Last week, the district attorney said the matter is pending in his office, and he cannot comment on a pending case.
The Lisenbees and their three personal care homes were the subject of numerous media reports after the deaths of Blount and Reid. The state agency that regulates, licenses and inspects personal care homes had cited all three homes for numerous violations, and the 911 calls and sheriff’s incident reports provided more information about trouble in the homes.
The home where Blount and Reid died on Wrightsboro Road was revealed to have the fewest problems in comparison with the Lisenbees’ homes on Old Savannah and Milledgeville roads. But all three were cited repeatedly for health and safety violations by the state inspectors. The state never took any punitive action, however.
Following the condemnation of the Wrightsboro Road home after Blount’s and Reid’s death in October 2020, a fire department inspection closed the Old Savannah Road home in November 2020, the same day the Lisenbees closed the Milledgeville Road home.
Separate civil lawsuits were filed against the Lisenbees by family members of the victims who died at the Wrightsboro Road home. One was settled, the terms confidential, and the second is pending. The attorney representing Reid’s family said she was not able to discuss the case.
Michael Prieto, who represented the Blount family, said that he could not discuss the terms of the settlement, but he was surprised to learn nothing had come of the criminal case.
“If the owners are not indicted, it would be a complete travesty of justice and undermine the (CAVE) task force and its mission,” Prieto said via email.
Sandy Hodson is a staff reporter covering courts for The Augusta Press. Reach her at sandy@theaugustapress.com.
