Inset: Kelli Bryant. Left, right: Home in Pontiac, Michigan, where Bryant abandoned her three children, cops say (Oakland County Prosecutors Office).
Three children from Michigan resided in unsanitary conditions in a residence filled with excrement, where the two daughters used pizza boxes as beds after their mother purportedly deserted them for an extended period.
During a preliminary hearing, a detective stated that despite the allegations, the mother arrived at a police interrogation appointment with freshly styled hair, clean attire, artificial nails, and seemingly put-together appearance.
As detailed in reports from Detroit local news stations WDIV and WXYZ, Oakland County Sheriff’s Detective John Brish described his discussion with the 34-year-old mother, Kelli Bryant.
Brish testified he was surprised by Bryant’s appearance and demeanor. She allegedly admitted to putting herself before her children, a 15-year-old boy and two girls ages 12 and 13.
“‘I hurt my children,”” Brish said Bryant told him. “‘I sacrificed my children, probably.’”
Bryant also allegedly asked detectives if there was “anything I could do to help myself.”
In addition, prosecutors reportedly noted when they extracted data from Bryant’s phone her children were listed in her contacts as not by their names but “My oldest,” “Kid 1” and “Kid 2.” The children had her listed as “World’s greatest mom” or something along those lines, prosecutors said.
Cops rescued the children after a welfare check in February.
“She knew that her actions were selfish, that’s her wording and that it made her children sick and that she had ultimately sacrificed her children for her own purposes,” Brish reportedly testified.
Deputies described the awful condition in which the children lived. The first deputy on scene entered the home to find feces, trash and cobwebs all over. The boy came out and had a hard time walking because his toenails were so long. The two girls came out of another room holding hands and hunched over.
Brish testified: “I’d never smelled a home that smelled that bad without a decomposing body present.”
Bryant’s attorney argued that the children didn’t appear to be suffering from mental harm as they seemed to be intelligent and articulate in interviews with investigators.
But Judge Cynthia Thomas Walker believed the prosecutors presented enough evidence to bound the case over for trial on child abuse and welfare fraud charges.
“There is no question that this is an extraordinary case,” she reportedly said.
The boy allegedly told deputies that he and his sisters have lived alone since 2020 or 2021. According to cops, garbage was stacked as high as four feet, feces was throughout the home and filled the bathtub, the toilet was overflowing and mold was everywhere.
The children had not been to school since their abandonment and spent their days watching TV and playing video games, according to cops. And while Bryant had contact with her son, she had not seen the girls for several years, deputies alleged. The boy slept on a mattress while the girls slept on pizza boxes, cops said. Each week their mother or a “stranger” would bring prepared food and drop it off on the porch, deputies said.
Neighbors told cops while they saw the mother dropping off food, they did not know children lived there. The kids were taken to the hospital for evaluation. They wore soiled clothes, had matted hair and had difficulty walking because their toenails were several inches long, deputies said. Cops noted the kids lacked basic hygiene skills.
From Bouchard:
Throughout my extensive career in this field, I have never encountered a scenario as dire and prolonged as this one, involving abandonment, neglect, and abuse of the highest order. This situation would be deemed deplorable and intolerable for an animal, and it is utterly unacceptable for your three children. The young girls have been deprived of any interaction with their mother and have not received an education for years. The far-reaching consequences of this abuse must be acknowledged.
An evidence technician processed the scene wearing a hazmat suit, according to deputies. Bryant said the father is not involved in the kids’ lives. Child Protective Services placed the children in the custody of a relative.
