Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Zone 7: The Search Warrant That Led Investigators to 16 Children _ Angenette Levy

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Zone 7: The Search Warrant That Led Investigators to 16 Children _ Angenette Levy · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Y'all, Anjanette Levy is a correspondent and host with Law
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: and Crime Network. Y'all know her. You respect her. You
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: can count on her when she tells you something. She
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: has been nominated for an Emmy when she worked for
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: TV in Ohio. She went to the University of Cincinnati.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: She actually, and I don't know if y'all know this,
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: but I find this extraordinary, that when she was covering
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: an Amber Alert case, she actually helped rescue the child.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: So she ain't just your average reporter. She ain't just
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: out there in the field saying, okay, we're going to
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: do a little bit of talking and then we're going
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: to get back in the van and leave. No, she
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: has boots on the ground. If something's going on, let's
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: handle it. So I could not think of anybody better
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: to bring on to talk about the updates, if there's any,
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: of the 16 children that were rescued in Ohio, again,
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: her home state. She doesn't just know the territory, she
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: knows how to put a case up ethically. So a
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: lot of people are already saying some of the stuff
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: we've heard isn't true, like the family, they weren't squatting
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: in that house. So let's just bring her in here
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: and see what we can find out from her, because again,
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: she lives it. She lives this every day. Anjanette Levy, welcome.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Zone 7.
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: Thank you for having me, Cheryl. I'm so happy to
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: be here.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: Are you kidding? This is an honor for us. You know,
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: looking at your ex account, it's like you move pretty quickly.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: But even though you're moving quickly, your stuff is pretty solid.
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: You don't just put a sound bite. Like I sometimes
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: think people know what I'm talking about. So I may
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: just say, hey, big news today on blank case. And
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: I move on. You don't ever do that. You explain
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: exactly what the reader needs to know a little past
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: and a little during and a little after. So I,
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: for one, appreciate it.
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: Oh, well, thank you. I appreciate it. Yeah, I strive
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: to be accurate and just tell people what I think
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: they need to know and explain it. you know, in
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: a way that everybody can understand because not everybody, you know,
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: is sitting around reading legal documents all day long, like
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: somebody like me does. And, you know, you know how
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: it is, Cheryl. I mean, you're a crime scene investigator.
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: So you read stuff all the time that other people
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: may not fully understand. So you got to break it down. And,
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: you know, you're.
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: You're hitting on something that I think we are watching
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: in real time with the Nolan Wells case. And that
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: is whoever says it first, that's who's believed. And it
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: may not even be true. It may be so far
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: from accurate that it's really doing a disservice to the
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: overall case. But again, let's talk about what we do
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: know here. We know there were 16 children in a house.
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: The law enforcement didn't even know it was going to
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: be there, correct? Because they were serving a warrant for
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: something else.
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's correct. You know, the law enforcement, you know,
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: the sheriff, the agents with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: Investigation went to that house with a search warrant. That
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: search warrant is sealed. So we don't even know what
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: they were looking for. At the same time, there was
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: also a warrant out for Gary Siders Jr., the father
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  Speaker 2: of the 16 children, a warrant for his arrest. There
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: was a claim that he or he's facing charges for
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: misdemeanor counts of public indecency for exposing himself to someone
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  Speaker 2: who's not a family member at his home. On four
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: occasions between May 23rd and May 31st. But really, they
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: went there armed with a search warrant. Like that's that
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: was the main thing that they went there for. And
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  Speaker 2: that's what they've told us. So they had no idea
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: when they went in that house. This is what they
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: claim that they were going to find 16 children, you know,
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  Speaker 2: ranging in age from a set of twins who are
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: one and a half up to an 18 year old.
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  Speaker 2: So and we came to discover that the mother of
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: the children, Elizabeth, that she's been pregnant nearly every year
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  Speaker 2: since 2008. So her last three, actually last four births
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: that she had, she gave birth to twins. One of
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: the twins, lots of twins was born, conjoined and died
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  Speaker 2: on the same day that the twins were born.
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: So.
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  Speaker 2: They went in there for one thing and then had
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: to go once they found the kids, went and got
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: a search warrant for another crime. So there you have it.
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  Speaker 2: It's shocking.
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  Speaker 1: It is shocking. And, you know, one thing that I
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  Speaker 1: thought about almost immediately when you're talking about 18 months
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  Speaker 1: old to 18 years, I thought, is there any chance
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: the 18 year old has had a child?
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and we were kind of wondering that too. We
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: have not been told that. As far as we know,
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  Speaker 2: because we've gotten birth certificates for the children, all 16
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  Speaker 2: belong to Elizabeth and Gary Jr. So that's our understanding
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: from the records. Whether or not the 18-year-old has given
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: birth to a child, we do not know.
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: But, you know, even his... accusation of exposing himself. That
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  Speaker 1: is concerning because you're talking about 16 children in a
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  Speaker 1: 12 by 12 space. I mean, there ain't a lot
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  Speaker 1: of places to hide, y'all.
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  Speaker 2: No. And, you know, the language was very specific in
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: the complaint. It said he exposed his private parts to
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  Speaker 2: someone who was not a member of his family and
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  Speaker 2: that it happened at the home. So did it happen outside?
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  Speaker 2: And I've seen people online saying, oh, he was He was,
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  Speaker 2: you know, going to the bathroom off the porch. He
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  Speaker 2: was peeing off the porch. We don't have any information
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  Speaker 2: to support that right now. And this was a very
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  Speaker 2: isolated area. I went out there and, you know, there's
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  Speaker 2: a set of railroad tracks across the street from the home.
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  Speaker 2: And then there's a neighbor like two or three lots down.
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  Speaker 2: And then a trailer across the mobile home, across the
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: railroad tracks that sits a distance away. So please tell
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  Speaker 2: me who you think he was exposing himself to, because
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: I talked to one of the neighbors and there was
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: no mention that he had exposed himself to her. So
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: something happened and we just don't know what it is.
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: And we don't know what that other crime is that
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: they went there to investigate with the search warrant. I
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  Speaker 2: don't think you get a search warrant. for four misdemeanor
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: counts of public indecency?
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  Speaker 1: Not at all. You've got to have probable cause for
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: a search warrant. And when you have four separate counts,
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: as you know, the, you know, accusations could change slightly.
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  Speaker 1: The victim could change. The location could change slightly from
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: the front porch to the back porch. But again, if
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: there's a pattern of behavior, they're going to, I'm sure
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  Speaker 1: they've already done it, but seize his cell phone, If
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: there's any other electronics in the house, they're going to
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: see if he's got anything that would substantiate that behavior.
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  Speaker 1: And here's all I'm going to say about somebody peeing
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: off the porch. If you're peeing off the front porch,
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: you need to go to jail anyway. Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, nobody really needs to see that.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: I mean, come on.
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  Speaker 2: Just go in your backyard. If you really want to
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: be one with nature, there are a lot of places
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  Speaker 2: you cannot be seen at that house because of all
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: the brush. So if that's what you feel you need
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  Speaker 2: to do, yes, I agree with you, Cheryl. Go to
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  Speaker 2: the back porch.
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: I mean, that's the advice from me and Angelette Levy.
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: If that's why you're here, you're welcome. Thank y'all. Go
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: to the backyard, get behind a tree. I mean, good Lord,
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  Speaker 1: that's pitiful. But when you have got 16 children and
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  Speaker 1: the oldest one can't read and they don't have social
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  Speaker 1: skills and they're basically nonverbal. That ain't poverty, y'all. And
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  Speaker 1: that to me is beyond neglect.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I would tend to agree with you, Cheryl. You know,
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  Speaker 2: these people.
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  Speaker 2: The last time that these children were registered for school
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  Speaker 2: and they and they had to have been was back
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  Speaker 2: in 2021 because they were living in a neighboring county.
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  Speaker 2: It's called Gallia County. And actually, you know, to step
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: back just a second, when I first started reporting on
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  Speaker 2: this case, I was told. that the children's services agencies
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: or one of them, something happened where the family had
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: had some contact with a children's services agency. In Gallia County.
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  Speaker 2: And that is why they moved. And so, you know,
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  Speaker 2: that was very curious when we heard that. And so
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: fast forward to what I was beginning to say about
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  Speaker 2: Gallia County. The last time we knew that the kids
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: were even registered in school, it was the six oldest children.
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: And that was back in 2021 because the school district
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  Speaker 2: went to court as they're required to do under the law.
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  Speaker 2: And filed truancy complaints against Gary Jr. and Elizabeth. And
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  Speaker 2: basically in those documents, the school district said your children
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  Speaker 2: during this 2021-2022 school year, and it was October when
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: they went and filed these, have not been in school.
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  Speaker 2: And they've exceeded the bar for truancy. They've missed 72
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: hours of school instruction time. And so they filed these
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  Speaker 2: complaints and they said, and you've been warned about this.
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  Speaker 2: They said that you've been warned that your kids need
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  Speaker 2: to be in school. So they go to serve these,
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  Speaker 2: the sheriff goes to serve these complaints on Gary Jr.
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  Speaker 2: and Elizabeth, and they go to the house, I guess,
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  Speaker 2: where they were living, the address listed on the complaints
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  Speaker 2: and they're gone. They're not there. So the kids would
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  Speaker 2: have to have been registered for school in order for
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  Speaker 2: them to be truant. So somebody at some point registered
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: those kids for school. I'd like to know who. I
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  Speaker 2: would tend to think it's possibly Elizabeth, the mother. Why
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  Speaker 2: wouldn't you want your kids going to school? You know,
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  Speaker 2: especially if you're poor, if you're poor, you can go
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: to school and schools will offer services to children. And
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  Speaker 2: a lot of times, and it's very sad, I've said
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  Speaker 2: this many times that Children who come from impoverished backgrounds
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: or their families just don't have a lot of money,
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  Speaker 2: sometimes that's where they get their meals is at school.
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  Speaker 1: Let's be real. Looking at the house they were taken from,
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: school's got toilet paper.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: School's got running water. School's got air conditioning and heat,
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  Speaker 1: plus the meal. Are you kidding? They would not have
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  Speaker 1: missed a day of school if they could have helped it.
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  Speaker 2: Of course. And you really wonder how are these children functioning? Because,
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: you know, you can't you can't say you're homeschooling a child,
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: but then just keep them home and not let the
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: state know that's not how it works. So how literate
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: are these children? Are they able to write? I would
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: I would say the younger ones more than likely, you know,
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: especially the ones who are like, you know, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10,
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  Speaker 2: you know, however old they are. I would think they
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: probably can't, but we don't know that for certain. Um,
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: but we know that, you know, and we're wondering and
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: still trying to figure that out. We're the older ones
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  Speaker 2: ever in school, you know, because the 18 year old
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  Speaker 2: in 2021, that's five years ago, about five years ago,
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  Speaker 2: she would have been 13. So did she ever attend
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  Speaker 2: school at all?
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  Speaker 1: And I'll tell you something that's amazing. It is a
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: standard maneuver for families. If they think social services is
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: on to them, they move.
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: Yep, most certainly. I mean, that's not uncommon. That's not uncommon.
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  Speaker 2: But I think that it is uncommon to have 16
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: children who you are basically hiding in a house. And
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  Speaker 2: that's the allegation here. I mean, these children were not outside.
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: I spoke with a neighbor out there at the Omer
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: Street address yesterday. And I asked her, I said, you know,
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: have you ever seen a child around here? And she said, well,
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: a couple of years ago, she said a couple of
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: years ago, she saw a couple of children outside in
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: the yard playing. And she said they were skinny. But
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: she said when those children saw her, they ran toward
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: the house as if they were hiding. I mean, that's
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: the feeling she got. And so that was the only time.
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: And that was two years ago. She said that she
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: saw children playing. outside that home, she actually thought that
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: the home was vacant because it had been so long
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: since she had seen somebody basically outside the house. And
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: she drives by it all the time. She said that
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: she used to see the grandpa, Gary senior sitting out
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: on a green bench that's out on the walkway and
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: she'd wave, you know, just neighborly thing to do. You
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: wave when you drive by and he'd wave back, but
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: she said she hadn't seen him in some time outside.
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: So she, she thought everybody moved out.
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: Now, Anjanette Levy, I know you have a sister. I
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: have four. How long could you and your sister be
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: stuck for a snow day or y'all got in trouble?
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: Whatever the reason was, you were stuck in your room.
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: How long would that last?
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: You know... I don't know. Not long. I'll tell you that.
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: Not long.
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: Go to your room and think about what you did. Maybe... Okay,
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: I'm going to my room. Think about what I did. Maybe,
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: you know, when you're a kid, time moves so much
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: more slowly. But I don't know. Maybe an hour. I
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: have no idea. But we, you know, when we were kids,
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: I remember even... we were told, you know, get out
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: of the house, go play, you know, go outside, go play.
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: Like we'd try to turn the TV on. My mom
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: would walk right up to that TV and turn it off.
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: And she'd say, go outside.
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: I'm just telling you, our neighbors knew there were five
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: girls in that house. You know, we would have parties.
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: We would play basketball. We would roller skate. I mean,
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: we were out doing stuff all the time and I
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: cannot fathom a small space with 16 children. And then again,
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: with some of the reports that we've heard, and we
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: don't know what all is accurate to your point, but
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: some of the stuff that they pulled out into the yard,
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: it was pretty clear that it wasn't the greatest living condition,
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: but they have made reports of human waste and trash
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: and cockroaches. I mean, that's just nightmarish. So You know,
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: you've got 20 people in a house. And I can
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: remember back in the days when Walt and I, we
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: might not have had too much money in college. But,
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: you know, we could get a condo at the beach
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: that had one bedroom, get 15 people in there and
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: have a great weekend.
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: I wouldn't want to do that today. No. But, you know,
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: for a weekend, and we're going to spend most of
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: your time, you know, out on the beach and carrying
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: on and then going to nightclubs and whatnot. But for
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: an extended period of time, You know, once it starts
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: to go bad, there ain't no cleaning up. And when
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: you're talking about human waste, there's no way to make
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: that OK.
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: Not at all. And the human waste part of this
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: is what really I don't understand. It is beyond me
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: how you have people and it appeared that. Cheryl, from
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: from the photos I've seen and none have officially been released,
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: of course, but people have gone into that house and
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: some have been posted online. It appears that there's actual feces,
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: human feces on the floor. That's what it looks like.
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: And it looks like bugs and trash. And, you know,
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: I don't care if you have a plumbing problem, like
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: figure it out. go call somebody call your landlord but
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: you can't call the landlord if you've trashed their house.
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: And you're hiding 16 children.
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: Correct so it makes about zero sense to me um
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: how this could have happened and elizabeth the mother from
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: everything we we know she was going to a diaper
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: bank at the um in hamden there that and it
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: may it may actually not have been in hamden actually
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: pardon me um They're in Vinton County. The village of
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: Hamden is very small, but she was going to a
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: diaper bank at least once a week. And sometimes she
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: would show up twice a week, but you're only supposed
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: to go once a week. She obviously needed items. But
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: the question I have, too, is why wasn't anybody working?
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: The older adults, the grandparents, I can understand that they're
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: not working. But if you have 16 children, why... first
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: of all, I don't know how anybody would do that
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: in this day and age. I remember my grandfather, he
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: was one of 14, but this was way back when,
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: you know, when they didn't have birth control. And you know,
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: that they were, they came over from Scotland and Wales,
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: his parents, and they had 14 children. And basically the old,
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: some of the older children were practically like mom and
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: dad to the younger kids, because you're basically the whole
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: family's raising each other. So That that's a different kind
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: of time in a different era that was in the
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: early 1900s, of course. But in this day and age,
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: I don't know how anybody could raise 16 children. And
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: if you are raising 16 children, why isn't one of
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: the parents going out and working to support the family
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: doing something? That boggles my mind.
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: And let's just say that all four on some type
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: of Social Security because they can't work. But if all
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: four adults are in the same house, that's at least
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: four checks. You should at least have food. You should
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: have formula. Yeah.
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: And we're still trying to gather information on that. The formula,
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: I think they might have been able to get at
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: the diaper bank, but I'm not sure there were four checks.
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: I've been trying to dig into that quite a bit.
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: And it's really hard to get that information from the
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: Social Security Administration. You know, it's private information. It contains
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: medical information if you're on a younger person who's got
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: a disability. But the older adults, for sure, grandma and
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: grandpa were getting benefits. And the prosecutor said those were
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: the two that they know of who are receiving benefits.
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: And then another curious part of this was I went
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: to the Dollar General and one of the employees told
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: me they would come in and pay with a food card,
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: which is basically a SNAP EBT food stamp card. You know,
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: it's what we used to call food stamps. Where did
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: they get that? Did it belong to the grandparents? Was
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: that their car? Where are you getting the SNAP benefits?
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: Because that is something that should be tracked as well.
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: Here's what's also blowing my mind. I say this a lot.
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: Teachers to me are basically profilers.
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: If you've been teaching seventh grade for 30 years, That
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: kid hits your doorway, you know. This kid is an
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: athlete or this kid is shy or this kid is
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: going to be my problem or this kid is going
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: to be valedictorian. You know. And you know in between, right? Right.
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: You can tell if somebody is a second born or
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: the baby. You already know. Day one, you ain't got
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: to talk to them. Watch the way they come in
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: your classroom. I am stunned, but I'm sure COVID had
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: something to do with it. that there isn't a teacher
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: or two that was raising the alarm to say where
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: did they go if they haven't been registered somewhere else. Because,
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: you know, teachers are mandated reporters, as you know. And
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: I can't believe that a handful of teachers weren't pitching
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: a fit. Of course.
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: And that's, that's another thing too. Why weren't you sending
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: your kids to school? Well, because teachers are mandated reporters.
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: So what was going on in that house? What was
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: going on with that dynamic with that family that you
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: wouldn't want to send your children to school? Was there
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: some sort of abuse taking place? Of course, you know,
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: Keeping a kid home from school and not sending them
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: to school and hiding them is abuse and neglect, most certainly.
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: But was there more going on? Was this a physically
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: abusive household? Was this an emotionally abusive household? Was there
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: something else happening? We don't know. But some of the
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: social media profiles, we are fairly certain are the children,
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: contain some information that really makes you wonder. what was
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: happening inside that home.
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: Well, it's pretty clear they were trained if they ran
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: toward that house when a neighbor who had no reason
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: to bother them at all, they knew stay hidden. They
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: knew that. Well, that comes from somewhere and it's not
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: a good place. And any house that gets into that shape,
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: I mean, this ain't in my wheelhouse, but I can
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: only imagine There has to be some type of mental
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: issue going on for anybody to live that way.
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: Most certainly. You know, it goes beyond what I would
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: think of as hoarding or any type of thing like that,
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: where people who hoard, I've read a lot about this,
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: people who hoard material objects, they sometimes do so because
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: they've got an emotional attachment to that, or it represents
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: like a feeling that they have for, for somebody. And it's,
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: it's a very hard disorder to treat. I actually had
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: a family member who was a hoarder. It's very, very
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: difficult to treat when you go to a therapeutic setting,
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: but You know, they surround themselves with these items that
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: that is not what this is. I mean, this is
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: literally throwing trash on the floor. You have trash service.
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: They had trash service. So why was nobody in that
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: house picking up trash? And and why are you letting
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: people go to the bathroom on the floor and animals?
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: And it wasn't just that house, Cheryl. We went to
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: the house in Gallia County, the one where they tried
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: to serve them with the paperwork for the truancy. And, uh,
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: you know, I was the photographer, um, said that he,
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: he met a woman and we're, you know, we're out
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: there talking to her. And she said that her, um,
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: boss rehabbed that house it's on honeysuckle and that he
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: had to rehab it when they moved out because it
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: was so trashed. There was human feces, urine, um, You know,
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: animal feces. They had a lot of cats. So I'm
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: assuming this was cat feces, which is super gross. I mean,
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: like cats, you know, you've smelled cat stuff before. It
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: stinks to high heaven. But it was the house had
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: all of that in it and that there were kids
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: clothes kind of up in the attic as if somebody
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: had been living up there. And she said, you know,
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: her boss had to redo this house. Because it was
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: so nasty after they left. So you've got a pattern
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: of living like that. Where does that come from? Because
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: if I'm a woman, I don't care how tired I am.
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: I don't care how, you know, whatever is going on.
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: I'm not letting my house have trash all over the
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: floor and poop on the floor. Let's just be frank.
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: I don't want to be disgusting, but that's what it is.
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: I mean, it doesn't make any sense.
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: You have got seven children that when they were taken
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: out of that house had to seek medical treatment. One
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: was airlifted. One was critical. Well, again, that to me
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: goes beyond, you know, OK, there was some trash. No,
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: the house is killing them.
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: That's an interesting point, too. And I actually think it
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: was I thought that more I knew at least one
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: had to be airlifted. I thought another one had been, too.
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: But some of the children were taken to level one
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: trauma centers. And those are the most serious trauma centers
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: that you can have as far as a hospital goes.
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: So all of the children were taken to the hospital
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: to be checked out. And some were thankfully treated and
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: evaluated and released. But then there were some that were
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: in there a few days. We don't know how many
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: because they won't tell us all of that information. It's
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: protected HIPAA information. But Yes. I mean, one of the
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: children had to be intubated, they said. So you don't
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: intubate somebody unless, you know, they're having trouble breathing.
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: That's right. Well, Anjanette Levy, let me tell you something.
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: I ain't gonna let you get out of here without
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: telling us about the child that you helped rescue.
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: So that, that's a crazy story. Um, it was a
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: Monday and I remember I was so tired and it
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: was right when, you know, our, our little guy, um,
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: we had brought, uh, you know, a couple of months
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: after we'd brought him home from the hospital. So you're
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: a new, you know, you're a new mom and you're
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: not sleeping at night, but I went to work and, um,
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: you know, he, I go out on this story. I was,
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: I already had my story shot for the day. So we,
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: my photographer and I were at a park wrapping up
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: our shoot and we get a phone call from the
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: news desk. You need to go to, you know, Milford.
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: There's an Amber alert for a child. The child was
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: taken by her step brother, her older step brother. And
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: they don't think he's going to hurt her, but he's,
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: he's a, man who's struggling with addiction. He was addicted
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: to drugs and he had gone to a pawn shop
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: to sell a TV to buy drugs. And his mother
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: saw him take the TV out of his biological father's
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: home and she knew what he was going to do.
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: So she drove to the pawn shop to stop him
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: and to tell the pawn shop, do not give him money.
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: He's an addict. Um, so don't buy that from him.
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: He just took it out of his dad's house. So
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: while this whole thing is going on, her son, she
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: left her keys in her car. Her son jumps in
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: the car, takes the car and goes downtown to buy drugs.
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: And the child was in the car. So they don't
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: think he's going to hurt the child, but they can't
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: find the child anywhere. They can't find the child anywhere.
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: And they're freaking out, of course. They're like, oh, my God,
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: bring my toddler back. Like, what are you going to
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: do to our toddler? So I go out to the neighborhood.
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: I start knocking on doors and You know, the parents
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: didn't want to talk. They were so upset. And of course,
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: you know, you're just waiting. Like, where's my car? Where's
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: my child? Where's my son? You know, son, the whole
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: nine yards. So I said, well, I'm going to go
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: down and knock on the father's door. And somebody was like, well,
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: he's out of town. He's not going to answer. Like, OK, well,
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: guess what? You do it anyway. It doesn't matter. So
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: I walked down the street with my photographer. Actually, we
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: drove and he was he he said, just come get
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: me if you need me. And I said, OK. So
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: I walked up to the door and I knock on
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: the door and all of a sudden this dog just
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: starts going crazy and barking. And I hear a child
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: crying and I'm like, and it it didn't really click
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: for a second. And then all of a sudden I
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: knock again and the dog's going crazy again, starts barking again.
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: And the child's screaming and crying, you know, the whole thing.
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: So I look through the window because they had some
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: Venetian blinds and I see a little girl standing in
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: the middle of the floor and a dog just kind
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: of walking around her in circles and barking. And I
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: was like, oh, my God, that's. that's gotta be the
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: baby going on. Like, so like my hands are like
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: shaking and I'm like, Oh my God, I think this
• 29:18
  Speaker 2: is the baby. So I call her, I call the
• 29:21
  Speaker 2: mom cause I had gotten their phone number. And I said, hi,
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: I know you don't want to talk to me. I
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: was just at your house, but I think I found
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: your daughter. And so I run over to the car
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: and I'm like banging. I was freaking out. Cause I'm like,
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: Oh my God. Like, cause you're still covering the story.
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: And so I bang on my foot, the news car window.
• 29:44
  Speaker 2: And I'm like, Brian, get out.
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: Of the car, get the camera.
• 29:49
  Speaker 2: I'm like, I said, I think I found the baby.
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: And he was like, what? And he's free. He just
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: jumps out of the car, grabs the camera out of
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: the trunk. I like go back to the I go
• 30:01
  Speaker 2: back to the window of the house and I'm trying
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: to get in there because I'm like, how do you
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: get this baby out of the house? I was afraid
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: the dog was going to hurt her. So I put
• 30:09
  Speaker 2: my hands up against the window and I'm like sliding
• 30:12
  Speaker 2: the glass, trying to open it with my hands to
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: get the window open. And then the mom comes running
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: down the street, the dad and the dad. He tries
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: to bust open the door. And I was like, don't
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: do that. You're going to hurt yourself. I'm opening the window.
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: And the dog's like poking its head out. And then
• 30:34
  Speaker 2: a neighbor's like, oh, let's the dad jumped headfirst through
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: the window. of the house it's all this is all
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: on camera i might have messed up a couple of
• 30:44
  Speaker 2: details but i don't think i did and then um
• 30:48
  Speaker 2: mom had gone around the back and gone in the
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: back of the house got the baby and they came.
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: Out unbelievable and you're just rolling tape the whole time Right.
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: And then I, I called the police chief. It's so funny.
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: I called the police chief and he's like, I said,
• 31:03
  Speaker 2: I found the baby. He's like, what? And I was like,
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: I found the baby. Cause I had, I had called
• 31:09
  Speaker 2: him earlier. He's like, what do you mean you found
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: the baby? And he's like, where did she, I said,
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: she was at, she was at, you know, the kid's
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: dad's house down the street. And he's like, what are
• 31:20
  Speaker 2: you talking about? We looked there. I'm like, well, I
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: don't think you looked enough.
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: Because the baby was in the, I'm sitting here looking
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: at her, sir.
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: So I call and then he called me back later
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: and I was shell shocked. Like I was just like,
• 31:35
  Speaker 2: I couldn't believe this. I was so like, I can't
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: believe this just happened. It freaked me out. I was like,
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: like my skin was tingling. And I remember the police
• 31:44
  Speaker 2: chief called me back and he was like, can you
• 31:46
  Speaker 2: tell me again what happened? Like how you found that?
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: I was like, I literally went and knocked on the
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: door and she was crying. She was there. He's like,
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: we looked. I'm like, well, you. You must not have
• 31:56
  Speaker 2: because she was there. So there you have it.
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: Unbelievable. And here you were a brand new mama. So
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: you you understood that feeling she must be having. I mean,
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: you would be losing your mind if your child wasn't
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: in front of you where you could see them.
• 32:11
  Speaker 2: So and that and that I think that's why it
• 32:14
  Speaker 2: shook me up so much. Um, because I, I know
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: like just from, there were times where my little guy
• 32:21
  Speaker 2: would run off in the store, you know, like we
• 32:23
  Speaker 2: were in a shoe carnival one time and he ran
• 32:25
  Speaker 2: down an aisle and I couldn't, I was like, come
• 32:27
  Speaker 2: back here. And I couldn't find him for like 30
• 32:29
  Speaker 2: seconds in my heart. Yep.
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: I get it. But you know, what great advice for
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: anybody listening, if they're a reporter, if they're a young detective,
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: if they're a rookie officer, if they're a new teacher,
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: go anyway.
• 32:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah. It doesn't matter if somebody says they're not home.
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: They're not home. They've already looked. Go anyway. Fabulous advice. Well,
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: thank you so much. I tell you what, Anjanette, just
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: I love what you do. I love the way you
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: do it. And I appreciate you being with us to
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: talk about a case that I think is going to
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: get a little more horrifying before it gets good. But
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: I just appreciate you. And you did tell me when
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: we were speaking off air. that the children are in
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: foster care that has some type of rehabilitation?
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's called therapeutic foster care. And yeah, those parents
• 33:24
  Speaker 2: are trained to deal with kids who have emotional and
• 33:28
  Speaker 2: behavioral issues. So they have additional training above and beyond
• 33:33
  Speaker 2: what a typical foster parent would receive.
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: Well, angels walk among us, y'all. There's some right there.
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: But Anjanette Levy, thank you, thank you, thank you.
• 33:45
  Speaker 2: Thanks for having me, Cheryl. I appreciate it.
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: Y'all, I'm going to end Zone 7 the way that
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: I always do, with a quote. Even if they survive
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: the squall, they emerge broken, having lost one of the
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: things that matters the most in the process, their childhood.
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: Anna Demir-Pollett. I'm Cheryl McCollum, and this is Zone 7.