By Shavonne Walker

shavonne.walker@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — In a 911 call, Curtis Wayne Trexler pleads for help to arrive for his 75-year-old grandmother, Joyce Ann Trexler, who was found dead in the kitchen of her Ellis Loop Road home, but he also makes a declaration that foreshadows his eventual arrest in her murder.

In an 11 minute, 9 second call to 911 obtained by the Post, Trexler, 31, describes a gruesome scene, interspersed with inaudible words, and a dispatcher telling him to remain calm.

On the tape, Trexler’s first words to the dispatcher are that his grandmother is dead in the kitchen. The dispatcher had a hard time hearing him throughout the recording.

About halfway into the recording, the dispatcher repeatedly asks if someone assaulted the woman or if she fell. Trexler tells the woman on the other end his grandmother’s face is “gashed open,” that “blood is everywhere … splattered everywhere.”

“Oh my God, it’s like somebody brutally murdered her,” Curtis Trexler declares on the recording.

The Rowan County Sheriff’s Office charged Curtis Trexler with murder in the brutal assault of his grandmother. In a press conference the afternoon of Trexler’s arrest, Rowan Sheriff Kevin Auten said the man did not confess, but was not truthful with investigators.

Auten said there was some concern Curtis Trexler had drug problems in the past and likely still had issues with drugs. Although Trexler told the dispatcher it appeared his grandmother had fallen, investigators said her injuries were not the result of a fall.

The 31-year-old had been living at his grandmother’s home for about six months officials said.

When the dispatcher asked what was happening at the address, Trexler can be heard saying “she’s dead and there’s blood all over the place.”

He repeatedly said throughout the recording there was blood everywhere.

The dispatcher, initially believing Trexler was a woman because of his loud screams, refers to him as “ma’am” multiple times.

“I need you to listen to my voice,” the dispatcher says.

“I’m listening,” Trexler can be heard saying.

She then asks Trexler if he said his grandmother’s face was smashed in and he answers yes.

The dispatcher tells Trexler to count with her as he does chest compressions. He stops to tell her it’s not working. The dispatcher tells him to keep going.

Trexler screams various unintelligible utterances and the dispatcher tells him to “stop hollering.”

“Keep going. You’re doing everything you can,” the dispatcher tells Trexler.

The dispatcher tries to explain how to perform CPR, but at one point Trexler says it’s not working.

He explains to the dispatcher there is blood all over the wall and broken glass on the floor.

Trexler declares he can’t continue chest compressions, but the dispatcher asks if there is someone else she could call to help him. Trexler said he didn’t know any of the neighbors so the dispatcher convinces him to continue.

“She’s gone. Oh my God. Oh my God,” he says.

He mumbles something to the dispatcher, who tells him not to look at his grandmother’s face, but to concentrate on chest compressions and looking at his own hands.

Trexler remains in the Rowan County jail without bond. Joyce Ann Trexler was buried a week ago.

Contact reporter Shavonne Walker at 704-797-4253.