Mental health group says system failed before Mobile deaths

MOBILE, Ala. — A mental health advocacy group says a chain of failures left two Mobile women without protection before they were killed in a brutal chainsaw attack. The National Shattering Silence Coalition argues that a 911 call, a family’s plea, and a diagnosed mental illness should have triggered help — but instead, authorities did nothing until it was too late.

Updated June 20, 2026

Thomas Steele, 47, faces two counts of capital murder for the deaths of Christy DeLoach and Dora Boone, authorities said. Investigators say he used a chainsaw to kill them on Oct. 12 inside their home on Carolina Court. Steele was later taken to the Alabama Department of Mental Health for an emergency evaluation. The events that led to the attack are still under review, but what happened on the phone before the killings has become the focus of intense criticism.

The National Shattering Silence Coalition, which advocates for people living with severe mental illness, says the system missed at least four clear warning signs. Alabama state director Leslie Strayer pointed to the 911 transcript as the most obvious missed opportunity.

One of the victims called 911 before the attack. According to a transcript obtained by FOX10 News, the woman said her nephew had bipolar disorder and was off his lithium medication. She described him as giving away his phone and car and doing “bizarre things.” She also told the dispatcher that her nephew was “following God.”

The dispatcher asked whether the man was dangerous. The caller responded that he was calm and not violent. She said she had already called 988, the national mental health crisis line, and talked to someone. Then she said: “I just needed to figure out what to do. I called 988 and tried to talk to him. He’s calm! He’s not violent or anything. So, I guess I’ll just let it play itself out.”

Instead of transferring the call or sending an officer to the home, the dispatcher gave the woman a phone number for the police department. The call ended with no action.

The Mobile County Communications District later admitted the dispatcher made a poor decision. The agency’s director said the operator should have transferred the caller rather than handing out a number. The dispatcher involved now faces disciplinary action and retraining.

For Strayer, that call shows how disconnected the mental health crisis system has become. The caller had already reached out to two different numbers — 911 and 988 — but neither side connected with the other. No one followed up. No mobile crisis team was dispatched. No police officer knocked on the door.

“Our system is set up to respond after a tragedy occurs,” Strayer said. “You have a person with a diagnosed mental illness. You have a family member saying he is off his medication. You have someone giving away his possessions. Those aren’t subtle signs. Those are blaring alarms.”

Strayer said the problem is not limited to one city or one state. She called it a systemic failure across the country. She noted that 911 dispatchers often receive little to no training on psychiatric emergencies, and that 988 call takers cannot always dispatch emergency services.

“This is not just an Alabama issue,” she said. “Hundreds of families across the country are dealing with the same wall of confusion. They don’t know whether to call 911, call 988, or call the police station. And in many cases, they end up calling all three and still getting nowhere.”

The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline was launched as a simple three-digit number to help people in crisis. But advocates point out that 988 is not always connected to local emergency response systems. A person can call 988 and receive calm words over the phone, yet no one is sent to check on them. The Mobile case, Strayer said, shows exactly why coordination is urgently needed.

Medical experts also say the family’s concern about medication was grounded in real danger. Dr. Lipi Roy, an internal medicine physician board-certified in addiction medicine, explained that lithium is a mood stabilizer commonly used for bipolar disorder. It is not a drug a patient should stop suddenly.

Roy said lithium is usually intended for long-term use. Stopping it without medical supervision can cause a rapid return of symptoms. Blood levels fall dramatically within one to three days, and in a person with normal kidney function, the drug is usually completely gone within a week.

“Within days to weeks, symptoms of mania or depression may return in people with bipolar disorder,” Roy said. She pushed back on the idea that bipolar disorder makes people dangerous, though: most people with the condition are not violent when treated, and even off medication, they rarely become physically aggressive.

The problem, Roy added, is that sudden loss of medication can cause the brain to swing into a high-energy manic state. That state can include erratic behavior, poor judgment, paranoia, and in rare cases, dangerous decisions. Without someone stepping in, the window for intervention closes quickly.

The National Shattering Silence Coalition is now pushing for a new state law to fix the gap. Strayer says the group is asking Republican state Rep. Parker Moore to sponsor a bill that would create a 72-hour psychiatric emergency alert.

The alert would coordinate 911, EMS, law enforcement, and 988 during psychiatric emergencies, so that a family calling from their living room does not have to figure out which agency to contact. Instead, the system would kick into gear on its own.

“You should not be told to call a different number and then be left alone,” Strayer said. “This bill would make mental health emergencies just as urgent as heart attacks and strokes. It’s about connecting the dots before someone dies.”

Strayer said the coalition is also calling for better training for dispatchers and first responders. A 911 operator should know how to talk to a family member reporting medication noncompliance, she said, and should know when to send someone to the scene.

She acknowledged that the changes may not come quickly. “We may not see the changes that are needed in our lifetime,” she said, “but we’re fighting tooth and nail to get them.”

The criminal case against Steele is still moving through the courts. He remains charged with two counts of capital murder, and no trial date has been announced.

Strayer said she hopes Mobile goes down in history not as the place where the system failed, but as the place where the country started to change. “Too many families are staying silent because they feel like there’s no answer,” she said. “We can’t stay silent anymore.”

If you or someone you know is in a mental health crisis, call or text 988 for free, confidential support.