© Ashlee Marie via Unsplash
In rural Ohio, police have rescued sixteen children from a true house of horrors, according to U.S. media reports. The children, ranging in age from 18 months to 18 years, had been living in appalling conditions in a single room for the past four years.
Authorities described the situation as “repulsive,” with human feces scattered around the house and children living in appalling conditions, which some compared to the way livestock is kept.
Some of the children could not speak, and an 18-year-old with a developmental disability could not even write her own name. The children were discovered when officers executed a search warrant as part of a separate investigation. It appeared that no one outside the family was aware of their existence: the children were not enrolled in school.
“They looked like almost feral animals,” Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson said on Wednesday during a press conference. “It was horrific.”
The parents and two grandparents have been charged with child endangerment. Prosecutors emphasized that this case involved “serious physical injury.” The children are now temporarily in the custody of the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services. Several of them are in the hospital, and one is in critical condition.
Illustration: © Ashlee Marie via Unsplash