The husband and daughter of a 72-year-old southeast Alabama woman have been charged in her death after authorities say the woman was severely neglected and had lived in horrific conditions.
Valley police officers were called to the family’s home on March 16.
Police Chief Mike Reynolds said they arrived to find Janice Ramsey Hawkins dead in the living room. Because of the living conditions they observed, officers summoned investigators to the scene. Police immediately launched an investigation.
Janice Hawkins’ body was sent to Montgomery for autopsy.
Earlier this month, Reynolds said, investigators received the completed autopsy report. The findings concluded that Janice Hawkins’ cause of death was failure to thrive associated with complications of diabetes.
The report listed five key reasons the victim failed to thrive - malnutrition, body mass index 14 kilograms per meter squared (underweight according to NIH), sunken eyes and prominent ribs, dehydration as evidenced by skin tenting and deplorable living conditions, dirty clothing, foul odor and roach infestation.
Court records indicate the alleged neglect dated back to 2014. Janice Hawkins had not been seen by a doctor since 2019 and none of her nine prescription medications had been refilled since 2018.
The District Attorney’s Office of the Fifth Judicial Circuit issued warrants against Janice Hawkins’ husband, Walter Alfred Hawkins, and her daughter, Christy Lee Hawkins.
Walter Hawkins, 74, is charged with manslaughter and first-degree elderly abuse and neglect.
Christy Hawkins, 45, is charged with first-degree elderly abuse and neglect.
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