Six Milwaukee children, including a 2-month-old, were found living in a storage unit with no power or running water, and a bucket they used as a toilet. Their parents, Charles Dupriest and Azyia Zielinski, aged 33 and 26, respectively, have been arrested and charged.
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According to a criminal complaint obtained by Spectrum News, the investigation began on Tuesday, September 16. At around 1:33 a.m., Milwaukee police officers responded to a Storsafe storage unit on North 27th Street. They had received a call from a concerned party over a baby’s welfare.
Upon arrival, responding officers heard a crying child inside the storage unit, which was padlocked. Furthermore, officers also heard a child coughing inside the unit. The Milwaukee Fire Department cut the padlock, and authorities were shocked to see six children inside the storage unit.
The children’s ages were 9, 7, 5, 3, 2, and 2 months old, as per the complaint. All were living inside the locked storage unit that was described in disarray. Police observed an orange bucket placed in the center of the unit, used by the children as a toilet. The five-year-old told detectives, “We’re not supposed to be loud,” and later proceeded to urinate in the bucket, the document said.
The 9-year-old woke up and allegedly told the responding officers that their parents were Azyia Zielinski and Charles Dupriest. The child told the officers that, whenever his parents aren’t around, he is put in charge of his five siblings, the complaint said.
Authorities alleged that the storage unit had no power or running water. Detectives pointed out that the only light visible to the children came from the unit’s door crack. Furthermore, the children had no way of contacting their parents, police said.
Parents Arrested And Charged
Shortly after the disturbing discovery, police officers located Dupriest and Kielinski sleeping in an SUV in the parking lot. Both allegedly admitted that they sleep in the SUV with their dog while their children stay inside the storage unit.
Dupriest, as per the complaint, told detectives that his family had been recently kicked out of Joy House, a Milwaukee Rescue Mission shelter.
However, Milwaukee Rescue Mission President and CEO Patrick Vanderburg shared a statement with WISN, seems to contradict Dupriest. Vanderburg said that the family had stayed twice with them, the most recent time in June and July 2025. He stated that the family had secured “permanent housing” before they left Joy House.
Forensic interviews with the children shed light on the horrors the minors endured while inside the storage unit. Worst of all was the 9-year-old’s interview, in which he alleged that his father subjects all of his children to “whoopings,” including an instance in which he was struck in the mouth, causing him to bleed from the lip.
Furthermore, the 9-year-old added that their parents usually drink, leaving him in charge of his siblings, and that they smoke marijuana in the car with them inside, the complaint alleged.
Charles Dupriest was charged with one count of possession of a firearm by a felon and six counts of child neglect. Azyia Zielinsky was also charged with six counts of child neglect.