A 61-year-old man in North Carolina has been arrested after allegedly abandoning a “medically fragile” and semi-blind 47-year-old woman to die in a freezing trailer with no heat or electricity while staying at a nearby hotel.
Blair Hamilton Hayes was arrested last week and charged with one count of involuntary manslaughter in Emma Jean Teague’s death, according to records reviewed by Law&Crime.
According to a news release from the Carteret County Sheriff’s Office, the arrest came after detectives conducted a “lengthy investigation” into the circumstances surrounding Teague’s death earlier this year.
“Teague was found to have been medically fragile and facts located during the investigation showed that she was left in a camper trailer in the Wildwood Road area of Newport by Hayes during the end of February 2025,” according to a release. “This investigation found there was no heat or electricity in the camper during this time period, and that the outside temperature was only in the low-mid 30s during the day and in the 20s at night.”
Detectives said that while forcing Teague into the unlivable camper, Hayes chose to stay at a nearby hotel during the same time period.
On February 20, emergency medical personnel responded to the camper’s location on Wildwood Road after Hayes called 911 and informed the dispatcher that he had gone to check on Teague and “noticed she was not well.”
The victim was rushed to Carteret Health Care Hospital and admitted in critical condition. The sheriff’s office stated that Teague’s condition was caused by “chronic medical issues aggravated by acute hypothermia from her exposure to cold temperatures due to her living conditions.”
Teague eventually succumbed to her condition and died on March 4. Her cause of death was determined to be “end-stage cirrhosis of the liver” with “hypothermia” listed as a contributing factor after a subsequent autopsy.
According to the sheriff’s office, investigators determined that Hayes was negligent when he left Teague in the camper with “no electricity, heat, or other means for her to care for herself.” Teague was medically fragile and had significant difficulty walking on her own, in addition to some degree of blindness.
After the investigation, the sheriff’s office consulted with the district attorney’s office before formally charging Hayes.
In addition to the death of Teague, authorities said Hayes was facing charges in Craven County, North Carolina, at the time of his arrest, including one count of assault on a female and one count of assault on a disabled person. It was unclear whether the pending charges involved Teague.
Hayes is currently being held at the Carteret County Detention Center in lieu of a $100,000 bond and is set to appear in court on September 5.
