Local

City condemns Jacksonville ‘house of horrors'

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — City code enforcement officially condemned the home of Russell Tillis on the 3500 block of Bowden Circle East known as the “house of horrors.”

Tillis is in jail facing several charges, including battery on a law enforcement officer. Action News Jax was there when investigators pulled a woman's body from the home in February. Tillis was in jail at the time.

No one has been charged in the woman’s death.

The "condemnation" and "unsafe structure" signs plastered all over the home were a welcome sign for neighbors who said Tillis terrorized them for years and his home had become an eyesore.

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“For the neighborhood you know it's an eyesore, and it's been that way and it's a reminder of who lived there and what he put us through for six years,” said neighbor Dave Eichenlaub.

The 911 calls made just weeks before Tillis was arrested in May 2015 were also released. In them, you can hear the worry in the voices of some neighbors.

“We were told by two officers, Officer Bailey that came to arrest him yesterday and some other officers that came to arrest him today, he hides. Now there’s officers out there that must not know this and they’re just talking to him. They’ve been trying to get this man for two days,” said the caller.

“The last name of the resident is Tillis. T-i-l-l-i-s. There’s yelling and everything over there. I don’t know what’s going on,” said another caller.

Tillis is set to go on trial next month.