Kelli Bryant (Sheriff's photo)
Prosecutor Karen McDonald at press conference
A 34-year-old mom accused of leaving her three children alone in “absolute squalor” in a house of hell in Pontiac was charged Wednesday with three counts of first-degree child abuse.
Kelli Bryant, 34, faces up to life in prison if convicted.
The children, two girls, 12 and 13, and a boy, 15, survived only on weekly drop-offs of prepared food the mother or a stranger left on the front porch
"It was unbelieveble what they were living in," said Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald, who announced the charges at a press conference.
She said when police entered the home on Friday, the children were hiding and afraid to speak to police.
"The daughters were hiding in a bathroom that was filled with feces, piles of trash and completely non-functional, while her son was hiding in another room," McDonald said. "Police were astonished to find anyone in the location because it appeared to be uninhabitable with piles of garbage and refuse several feet high, including large amounts of human excrement."
Kelli Bryant (Sheriff's photo)
She said the children were taken to the hospital for examinations. She said the girls had difficulty walking and the kids were filthy.
The son told authorities that he would text the mother when they were out of food. She provided no toilet paper or soap.
The mother concealed from friends and family any information about the children or who was caring for them, McDonald said.
The children had not been to school since being abandoned either in 2020 or 2021, the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office said.
They watched TV or played games.Deputies on Friday discovered the children after the landlord requested a welfare check at the home in the 600 block of Lydia Lane. The rent had last been paid in October and the landlord had last heard from the mother in December.
Garbage in the home was piled as high as four feet in some rooms and mold and human waste was found in the home, the press release said. The toilet was overflowing and feces were found in the bathtub.
The mother reportedly was in touch with the son but not the daughters. The son slept on a matress on the floor while the girls slept on pizza boxes, the sheriff's department said.
The sheriff's department said the girls had not left the house in years.
Child Protective Services have placed the three children in the custody of a relative.
