Four family members in Missouri were arrested after they were accused of keeping a 12-year-old girl with special needs in a dog cage that was kept shut with pad locks, and it’s believed she was held there for up to two years before she managed to run away.
Shane Ross, Crystal Ross, Hannah Ross and Megan Ross have all been charged with abuse or neglect of a child causing serious emotional or physical injury and misdemeanor animal neglect or abandonment. The family members are all being held in Jasper County without bond.
Authorities learned of the incident on the morning of Sunday, August 9, when someone at a home in Joplin, Missouri, called the Joplin Police Department to report a missing child, according to court documents viewed by Law & Crime.
The caller claimed that the 12-year-old girl “had run away” from a home and she had been gone for about an hour. Police said she was described “as only wearing a diaper” and having “special needs,” per the report.
Authorities set out on a search for the girl and found her about two and a half hours later.
Joplin Police Chief Richard Pearson said during a press conference streamed by KSNF that the girl “appeared malnourished” when they found her. The girl “didn’t appear” to have any injuries, but Pearson said “the conditions of her health were unacceptable.”
Authorities said the girl was small for being 12, and she “was only 4 feet tall and weighed approximately 50 pounds.”
Once the girl was found, police responded to the home from where she reportedly ran away from. “From the outside, there was nothing that would distinguish it from any of the other properties in the neighborhood,” Pearson said. “But once you got inside, then that’s when you walked into the house of horrors.”
The home was said to be filled with “clutter, trash, food and clothing all over,” with the probable cause statement stating that it was hard to walk through the home. Police also said there were animals “walking freely about the residence,” while others were in cages.
Police noted there was a “foul odor” inside the home, and they found more than 80 animals in the house, some of which were dead.
A dog cage was found outside of the master bedroom, which the victim reportedly slept in “only in a diaper with a pillow and a blanket,” per court documents. The cage had “multiple pad locks” and zip ties that were used “to prevent her from escaping.”
Amid the investigation, police learned that Shane, 50, and Crystal, 46, were the parents of Hannah, 25, and Megan, 19. Shane told authorities that the victim was his niece and that she had been living with them for about 10 years.
The defendants all reportedly admitted they knew it “was wrong” to put the victim in a cage, and Crystal said “it was likely causing emotional and mental damage” to the girl. However, they claimed she was kept in the cage to prevent her from hurting the rest of them.
Police learned that the girl was kept in the cage at night for between one and two years, with Hannah and Megan saying “it was better” to keep her in the cage “than the family getting hurt” because the victim had allegedly “threatened to kill another family member in their sleep and threatened to burn the house down.”
The four adult family members have been arrested, and their preliminary arraignments are scheduled for Wednesday, August 12.
It’s not currently clear if the family members have entered pleas or retained legal counsel. The Joplin Police Department did not immediately respond to Us’ request for comment regarding the case.
If you or someone you know is experiencing child abuse, call or text Child Help Hotline at 1-800-422-4453.
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