Oakland Co. Mom Charged After Abandoning Kids In Garbage-Filled Home

PONTIAC, MI — A mother who abandoned her kids inside a garbage-filled home years ago has been charged, Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald announced Wednesday.

Kelli Marie Bryant, 34, was charged with three-counts of child abuse. She was placed in the Oakland County Jail and is expected to be formally charged Thursday.

If convicted, she faces up to life in prison.

Prosecutors are also seeking to terminate Bryant’s parental rights.

"The three children in this case suffered unimaginable abuse and neglect over a long period of time," Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald said. "Thankfully, they've now been rescued from that, and our first priority has been and will continue to be, their safety and wellbeing."

McDonald said Bryant lived in the Pontiac house with her four kids before leaving sometime during the summer of 2020. She left three of them (15-year-old boy and 12- and 13-year-old girls) at the home while a fourth went to live with their father, prosecutors said.

The home's landlord had contacted the sheriff’s office because the rent had not been paid since October, and he had not spoken to Bryant since December and was concerned something may have happened, officials said.

When officers arrived at the home last Friday, they found the kids inside the home that was filled with mold, trash and feces, officials said.

McDonald said the boy would text his mother when their food supply was running low. Food was then periodically delivered either by the mother or by a third party delivery service, who left the food on the porch and never entered the home, officials said.

McDonald also said investigators believe the mother told the children to never answer the door or leave the house. The kids were then scared to leave the house, she said.

After the arrest of their mother, the children were taken to a nearby hospital for evaluation and placed in the custody of a relative by Child Protective Services, officials said.

McDonald said the children appear to be doing OK, despite what they experienced.

Prosecutors did not say why the mother abandoned the children or what she was doing when she wasn't at the home.

McDonald would not comment if Bryant had any prior contact with child services before leaving the kids.

No one else was immediately charged in the case.

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