Children kept in “deplorable conditions”
The children ranged from ages 1.5 to 18 and included both boys and girls, officials said. Several were in serious conditions when found, and two had to be flown to level one trauma centers because of their injuries.
Wilson said it was the worst scene he had ever encountered in his entire career, describing what he saw as “pure evil.”
Law enforcement were also executing a secondary search warrant at the home Tuesday, and the investigation is ongoing.
After observing more evidence, Wilson called what he saw as “third world” calling it “beyond comprehension.”
“If they had waited 24 hours, there is a very high probability that we’d be dealing with a death, or multiple deaths, of these children,” Wilson said.
“Most of the livestock was kept in better condition than the children,” Vinton County Sheriff Ryan Cain said, describing conditions with a high presence of bacterial, human feces.
Cain went on to describe the 16 children appeared to have been kept in a 12×12 area for “most of the last 4 years.”
Wilson said the children were “literally about to fall through the floor.”
The AG went on to say how some of the children were unable to even speak, saying the 18-year-old child was unable to spell her name, saying they were “kept like feral animals.”
Since the discovery, Wilson said the number one concern is the physical wellbeing of the children. All children were examined, 7 of them taken to Columbus Hospitals, two Care Flighted. One of the children was in the ICU and had to be intubated.
