Three years after two people died at a Wrightsboro Road personal care home, the home’s owners are facing formal charges.
Carol and Sammie Lisenbsee were the married couple initially charged with murder in the Oct. 18, 2020, reported deaths of Georgia Blount, 85, and Sylvia Reid, 75, at 2403 Wrightsboro Road.
They were indicted this week instead on involuntary manslaughter and six counts of neglecting a disabled or elder person in their care.
The pair have been free on bond since early 2021, when the state medical examiner determined the women died from hyperthermia, caused by prolonged exposure to heat.
The neglect counts cover a host of alleged failings at the facility and apply to Blount and Reid as well as four other women living there who survived. One of the surviving victims was 106 years old.
The couple failed to appropriately staff the home, maintain proper heating, use smoke and carbon monoxide detectors or treat an infestation of bed bugs, the indictment states.
When employee Denise Ellick called 911 to report the residents were unresponsive, she informed the dispatcher she was working alone and did not know CPR, according to prior reports.
An inspection of the heating system revealed the thermostat did not cut off heat when the desired temperature was reached. Thermal imaging at the vent showed temperatures as high as 140 degrees. One staff member said the thermostat was in a locked box to which he or she did not have a key.
Supply vents were next to the victims’ beds, carbon monoxide levels were high and heating system coils and filters were extremely dirty.
The families of the two who died each have filed wrongful death lawsuits against the Lisenbees and the house’s former owner, Prescott Nead, that have been resolved in unspecified ways.
At one point, the couple had three personal care homes, including facilities on Milledgeville and Old Savannah roads.
Earlier inspections found the Lisenbees failed to require their employees have mandated health training or keep records of it. One had been a convicted felon involved in fraud and theft.
The cases and others involving abuse of the elderly and disabled had been the focus of the Crimes Against the Vulnerable and Elderly task force, created by former Augusta Circuit District Attorney Natalie Paine.
