Pontiac mother arrested after 3 kids found in 'absolute squalor' for years

( Detroit News )

A Pontiac mother who authorities say abandoned her young children in their home for several years was arrested Friday.

The 34-year-old woman, whose identity was not released, left her children on the 600 block of Lydia Lane to live in "absolute squalor," said the Oakland County Sheriff's Office release. They were surviving on weekly drop-offs of prepared food.

The children, a 15-year-old boy, and 12- and 13-year-old girls, police said, were taken to a hospital for evaluation and placed in the custody of a relative by Child Protective Services.

The Pontiac mother is in Oakland County Jail; Sheriff Michael Bouchard said in the release that the conditions in which the children "were forced to survive were unconscionable."“Throughout my extensive career in this field, I have never encountered a scenario as dire and prolonged as this one, involving abandonment, neglect, and abuse of the highest order,” Bouchard said.

“This situation would be deemed deplorable and intolerable for an animal, and it is utterly unacceptable for three children. They have been deprived of any interaction with their mother and have not received an education for years. The far-reaching consequences of this abuse must be acknowledged.

"We look forward to presenting this case to the prosecutor and ensuring that this mother faces the consequences of her actions.”

The children were in soiled clothing, their hair was matted and their toenails were several inches long, making it hard for them to walk. Police said the children did not know how to use personal hygiene items or how to flush a toilet.

Deputies were called by the landlord Friday afternoon to perform a welfare check of the occupants of the home, police said. The landlord said he had not heard from the mother since December, rent wasn't paid since October and he was concerned about the family's wellbeing.

Deputies searched the home for occupants and discovered the three children. The girls had locked themselves in the bathroom, but opened the door when they were asked.

Photographs of the home show piles of debris in the home. Police described the scene as "in deplorable shape," with garbage piled as high as 4 feet in some rooms, and mold and human waste found throughout the house. The toilet was overflowing and feces were found in the bathtub.

The 15-year-old said he and his sisters had been living alone in the home since 2020 or 2021 and they survived on the prepared food their mother or a stranger would leave on the front porch each week. The mother did not leave toilet paper or personal hygiene items. While she maintained contact with the boy, officials said it appears she had not seen the girls in years, police said.

An evidence technician in a HAZMAT suit processed the scene.

The row of townhouses sits on a short block that faces a complex with Oakland County Friend of the Court offices. On a window of one of the homes, a cease-and-desist notice could be seen.

Neighbors told deputies they were unaware the children lived in the home and never saw them outside. Residents said they saw the mother drop things off at the home each month, police said.

Emma Gross

Emma Gross, who lives a couple of streets away in an area of single-family homes, said she scrambled to learn more when she learned about the children found unattended in the home in the squalid conditions.

"I'm told that the facilities, the toilet wasn't working in the home and to have to use an alternative solution in your home where you're living at ..." she said. "Using the tub. That's pretty, it's pretty heartbreaking that the kids would have to live under those conditions."

Gross, an HOA board member, said she received text messages from neighbors when the news broke.

"Everybody's upset about it," she said. "Like, oh my God! This is right in our neighborhood. How could something like this happen to these children? How can people go living every day and not see something like this and report it sooner?"

She said some people tend to keep to themselves and may only interact with their neighbors through posts on the neighborhood association's Facebook page.

"As far as just kind of coming out talking to each other, I don't see a lot of that," she said. "Not in this section right here."

The children had not attended school in that time and passed time watching television or playing games. It appeared the girls had not left the home in several years. The boy slept on a mattress on the floor and the girls slept on pizza boxes, police said.

The mother was found at a different location and arrested without incident. The woman said the father of the children was not involved in their lives, according to the release.