GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The man who owns the home where a young Grand Rapids mother was almost beat to death is recalling what he witnessed in the moments after the attack.
The suspect, Adam Phillips, 22, is being held for assault with the intent to murder.
Friends have identified the alleged victim as 18-year-old Elizabeth Batchelder.
Clifford Mead owns the home where the assault happened. He said that Phillips had been renting a room in the house since April. Phillips and Batchelder got into an argument after Phillips alleged that Batchelder had been ‘sexting’ other men, Mead said.
“They got into an argument, and I was outside at the time, and I could hear her screaming.”
Mead claims that by the time he got inside the home, Phillips had already fled the scene.
“She was laying in the hallway floor,” recalled Mead. “Her face was covered with blood. Her lip was cut, nose was bleeding. Over on the floor in the other bedroom was a chunk of hair, a big gob of hair and scalp.”
Mead also said that he attempted to render aid to Batchelder while she gasped for air. “I got a wash cloth, washed her face down to get some blood off of her face, by that time one of the neighbors had heard all of the commotion and they had called 9-1-1.”
Mead said that the couple’s young daughter had witnessed the attack.
“The kid was just running around. She had just got out of the bathtub and running around.”
In 2012, Phillips was found guilty on a misdemeanor domestic violence charge. Mead claims the victim in that case was also Batchelder.
