A set of 2-year-old twin boys are in critical condition after they were found locked in a “Hell on Earth” room, a West Virginia sheriff said.
The Jackson County Sheriff’s Department was notified about a possible child neglect case after one of the twins was found unresponsive on May 8, Sheriff Ross Mellinger said in a video posted on Facebook on May 9.
The child was brought to a hospital in “complete renal failure,” Mellinger said, and doctors are still unsure whether the child will survive.
The medical staff told the sheriff the toddler was in a state of “extreme” malnutrition and dehydration. The sheriff’s department was only alerted when the situation became dire, the sheriff said.
When deputies arrived at the home, they found a “very soiled condition type of bedroom,” Mellinger said, and investigators learned the twins’ parents would padlock them inside.
The sheriff said the twins would be locked in the room wearing nothing but diapers for as long as six weeks at a time. When they were inside, the parents would only feed them ground beef and Cheerios under the door, Mellinger said.
The parents also self-medicated the children for extended periods of time, Mellinger said, in order to “get them to sleep so they won’t have to provide parental care.”
The childrens’ mother was living in the basement of the apartment with her boyfriend, while her husband and the childrens’ father lived upstairs, Mellinger said.
“I think it’s fair to say, given the circumstances at hand, I think the average barnyard animal would probably provide better parental care and nurturing than what these kids were afforded through the three adults living in this home,” Mellinger said.
The sheriff said the twins and a third female child were removed from the home.
All three adults have been arraigned on related charges.
Jackson County is about 130 miles southeast of Columbus, Ohio.
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