A Michigan mother has been arrested after she was found to have left her three children inside a home under deplorable conditions for four years and only came back once in a while to drop off food.
The 34-year-old woman was arrested on Friday for reportedly abandoning a 15-year-old boy and two girls, aged 12 and 13 years, for about four to five years. Officials said that the suspect left the children to live alone in "absolute squalor."
Mother Abandons Kids To Live In Deplorable Conditions
In a statement, Sheriff Michael J. Bouchard said that throughout his extensive career in the field, he has never encountered a scenario that was as dire and prolonged as this one. He added that the situation involved abandonment, neglect, and abuse of the highest order.
Officials found the three children on Friday afternoon after deputies received a call from a landlord to perform a welfare check. The house was located in the 600 block of Lydia Lane. The landlord became concerned after not hearing from the mother since December and not receiving rent payments since October, according to ABC News.
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Deputies who arrived at the home found the kids living alone inside the home under horrific conditions. They found some of the rooms of the house that had garbage piled up as high as four feet. They also discovered mold and human feces throughout the residence.
The deputies saw that the bathtub and toilets were overflowing with human excrement. Authorities also noted that the mother did not leave her children with toilet paper or personal hygiene products to clean themselves.
Arresting the Mother of the Children
The Oakland County Sheriff's Office said the suspect, who has not been identified, was arrested at a different location from her children. The Independent reported that she apparently had herself or a stranger bring the kids some food each month, which was left on the porch.
The children were found wearing soiled clothing, with matted hair and several-inch-long toenails, as they had not been grooming themselves properly. Bouchard noted that the boy slept on a mattress on the floor while his two younger sisters slept on pizza boxes.
Bouchard added that it would take some time to figure everything out about the case, as the kids are mentally and physically unfit. He said that they will also be looking into how the children fell through the cracks with relatives, the community, and the schools that they attend, as per KeyC.
