Inset: Blair Hamilton Hayes (Carteret County Sheriff’s Office). Background: Wildwood Road in Newport, N.C., where Hayes allegedly left a woman to freeze in an unheated trailer (Google Maps).
A 61-year-old man in North Carolina has been arrested after he allegedly left a “medically fragile” and semi-blind 47-year-old woman to die in a freezing trailer with no heat or electricity while he stayed in a nearby hotel.
Blair Hamilton Hayes was taken into custody last week and charged with one count of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Emma Jean Teague, records reviewed by Law&Crime show.
According to a news release from the Carteret County Sheriff’s Office, the arrest came following a “lengthy investigation” by detectives into the circumstances of 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,” the release states. “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 in the unlivable camper, Hayes chose to get himself a room at a nearby hotel during the same span of time.
Emergency medical personnel on Feb. 20 responded to the camper’s location on Wildwood Road after Hayes called 911 and told the dispatcher that he went to the camper to check on Teague and “noticed she was not well.”
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The victim was rushed to Carteret Health Care Hospital where she was admitted in critical condition. The sheriff’s office said that the severity of Teague’s condition was attributable to “chronic medical issues aggravated by acute hypothermia from her exposure to the cold temperatures due to her living conditions.”
Teague ultimately succumbed to her condition and was pronounced dead on March 4. Following a subsequent autopsy, her cause of death was determined to be “end-stage cirrhosis of the liver” with “hypothermia” listed as a contributing factor.
According to the sheriff’s office, investigators found that Hayes was negligent when he left Teague in the camper “knowing there was no electricity, heat, or other means for her to care for herself. Teague was medically fragile and also had significant trouble ambulating on her [own], in addition to some degree of blindness.”
Following the investigation, the sheriff’s office consulted with the district attorney’s office before Hayes was formally charged.
In addition to the case of Teague’s death, authorities said that at the time of his arrest, Hayes had charges pending against him in Craven County, North Carolina, including one count of assault on a female and one count of assault on a disabled individual. It was not immediately clear if the pending charges involved Teague.
Hayes is currently being held in the Carteret County Detention Center in lieu of $100,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in court on Sept. 5.
The post Man left semi-blind ‘medically fragile’ woman to freeze in unheated camper while he stayed in nearby hotel: Police first appeared on Law & Crime.
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Author: Jerry Lambe
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