Three adults have been arrested for child abuse after three children under the age of 12 were allegedly locked in an attic for several years while being beaten with bats, starved to death and even tortured with a cat.
Police rescued two 11- and 12-year-old boys and a nine-year-old girl last month after the older boy managed to escape from the house in Minersville, Pennsylvania, where they were detained.
The children’s father, Todd Richter, 32; her fiancé Jennifer Yost, 27; and her mother, Wendy Yost, 51, have been charged with child abuse.
Police told WFMZ that the horrific allegations filed against the three adults are different from anything they have seen before and only came to light after the 12-year-old boy escaped and alerted a stranger at a nearby school that called 911.
Todd Richter, 32, and his fiancée Jennifer Yost, 27, are charged with child abuse after allegedly abusing Richter’s three children, ages 9 to 12, at his home in Minersville, Pennsylvania.
The boy had told the stranger that his brother and sister were being held inside the house.
Police found the boy’s two disabled brothers covered in cuts and bruises inside the house.
Yost’s mother, Wendy Yost, 51, has also been charged with child abuse
Authorities said a week-long investigation had determined the adults had kept the children locked in the attic for at least two years and deprived them of food and water.
The children were regularly beaten with bats, mallets, wine bottles and belts, according to police.
They were also pushed down the stairs and kept underwater in the bathtub.
Adults are also accused of using the family cat to torture them by shaking the animal and then placing it in the children’s stomachs to scratch and scratch them.
The children also told police that they were often given leftover mold to eat and that they would fill an old jar of peanut butter with rainwater from a drain outside the window so they could drink. something.
When police raided the house, they reported a strong smell of urine coming from the attic area where the children said they were being kept.
They found containers full of urine and liquid feces in the attic.
Authorities said a weeks-long investigation had determined that the adults had kept the children locked in the attic of the house (pictured above) for at least two years and deprived them of food and water.
Richter, his fiancé and his mother have been accused of endangering the welfare of children, assaulting assaults, harassment and a host of other charges. All have been denied bail (above the court exit) and are scheduled to go to court on Tuesday.
Supposedly, a bed frame collapsed against the attic door.
Police said a fourth boy, a three-year-old girl, also lived at home, but showed no signs of malnutrition or abuse.
It is believed that this girl lived in a separate bedroom, away from the other three children.
Minersville police chief Michael Combs said the case of the three children will haunt him.
“We’ve certainly had cases of child abuse, child sexual exploitation and things like that, but that these kids have endured many years of this kind of treatment is beyond anything I’ve seen,” Combs said.
“The only advantage is that the children are now safe and receiving treatment and will not be put back in that environment.”
The four children have been placed in protective custody.
Richter, his fiancé and his mother have been accused of endangering the welfare of children, assaulting assaults, harassment and a host of other charges.
All have been denied bail and are scheduled to go to court on Tuesday.