Caretaker Indicted in Vulnerable Woman’s Beating Death

June 14, 2021 – A caretaker at a non-licensed home for elderly and vulnerable adults has been indicted on first-degree murder and other felony charges involving a woman who was found dead in her metal-frame hospital bed, said Shelby County Dist. Atty. Gen. Amy Weirich.

Defendant Anthony Freeman, 53, also was indicted on counts of aggravated abuse, neglect of a vulnerable adult and tampering with evidence. He is being held on $150,000 bond.

On June 19, 2020, police were called to the residence in the 900 block of Hunters Point in Cordova where found 59-year-old Cynthia Garrison dead with blunt force injuries and cuts on her body.

Officers located and viewed a video-recording system that showed in the hours before her death, the victim fell out of bed and then for more than two hours was beaten with a board by Freeman.

She was left on the floor while Freeman sat in a nearby chair. He eventually got her back into the bed and was shown on the video cleaning up the area where he had beaten the victim.

The case is being handled by Chief Prosecutor Eric Christensen and Asst. Dist. Atty. Devon Dennis of the District Attorney’s Special Victims Unit which prosecutes cases involving rape, child sexual abuse, severe physical abuse of child victims, elder abuse, and abuse of vulnerable adults.