Two children, 4 and 5 years old, in Bay County, Florida were rescued December 1 from a horrific situation in their home after they yelled through a broken window to neighbors “begging for help,” according to the Bay County Sheriff’s Office in a press release posted to their Facebook.
Both of the children’s parents are now facing charges, along with their grandfather, who also lived in the home. Kathy M. Merrill, 27, and John W. Merrill, 31, were each charged with two counts of Child Neglect, while Michael L. Beaubien, 73, was charged with Failure to Report Child Neglect.
BCSO deputies arrived on the scene after the young children had told neighbors they were locked in their room and needed to use the bathroom, per the release. Police reported finding “the children hanging out of a window of the house,” with the 4-year-old boy reiterating he had to use the bathroom but the door was locked.
Upon entering the home, deputies reported the children’s room had a “strong odor of urine and feces.” They described the room itself as containing “only one piece of furniture, a bed with no sheets and was covered in dirt.”
The bed had three blankets, per police, and one pillow on the floor. One window in the room was broken and covered with a piece of word, according to the release, while the room was filled with “broken toys, piles of trash on the floor, and cockroaches crawling on the floor, ceiling, and walls.”
Outside of the room, police reported observing a steel cable that was allegedly wrapped around the door handle from the outside to lock the children in.
The report further states that the Department of Children and Families was called to the scene, where they removed the children from the home and uncovered more details of their living conditions.
The children told DCF they were forced to stay in the room all night, but were usually let out to use the bathroom. They said they were cold as the room had no heat, with the 5-year-old boy reportedly saying he was “freezing” and “his lips were cold.” Police added that the house did not have heating.
Interviews were also conducted with the parents, per the police statement, with both saying the children were locked in the bedroom until they woke up when they were let out. According to the parents, they’d been locking them in every since since 2023.
The mother purportedly explained the trash in the room by saying she was “aware” of it, but “did not have the energy to clean the room,” per police. “The parents said they have been trying to teach the kids to clean their room,” police reported.
The children’s grandfather’s bedroom is right next door to the bedroom the children were locked in. He told police he was aware of their living conditions, and that they were locked in each night, per the release.
