A Pennsylvania mother and grandmother are facing charges after four children were allegedly found abandoned in a filthy house with no food or water. The mother, Heidi Lynn Beer, 35, is accused of abandoning the children to stay with her boyfriend. The grandmother, Leslie Ann Keller, 69, allegedly didn’t go into the house because it was “too gross.”
Videos by Suggest
WTAE reported, citing a criminal complaint, that police were made aware of the situation back on July 28. At the time, they had received a report that four children, aged between 9 and 16, had been involved in an altercation.
Upon arriving at the scene, police talked with the eldest child. She stated that the children weren’t able to locate their mother, who hasn’t been at the Vandergrift house for days, as per the complaint. Furthermore, the teen allegedly told authorities that she had been taking care of her siblings. However, she stated that they didn’t have any water at the house.
When police entered the residence, they were met by a foul odor. As per the complaint, as police walked through the residence, they had to “avoid stepping on large feces droppings all over the residence, rotten food, and urine pooled all over the floors.”
The complaint added that it was “obvious” that the house had been devoid of water for a “long time,” alleging that the children’s bedrooms were filthy and that their beds were made of plywood. Only deflated air mattresses were found, as per the complaint.
Furthermore, the children allegedly told police that they had no food in the house. They had survived by eating free lunch at their school from Monday through Friday, as reported by WTAE.
Staying With Boyfriend
The mother, Beer, was allegedly staying with John Kenny, her boyfriend, in Pittsburgh. Beer would go back on forth between both homes, and her boyfriend was accused of beating the children.
Furthermore, Kenny allegedly would tell Beer to leave her children. That way, he could “give her a new and better life without them,” as per the complaint.
Eventually, the children’s grandmother, Keller, arrived at the scene. One of the children allegedly told police that Keller didn’t go into the house “because it is too gross.” Then, Keller herself said that she was aware that the children had no water, the complaint alleged.
When police led Keller through the house, she allegedly yelled at the 16-year-old for not cleaning up. The child apologized. However, police reprimanded Keller, saying that it was not the children’s responsibility to clean “this absolute disgrace of a mess.”
Heidi Lynn Beer was arrested and charged with five felony charges of endangering the welfare of children and five misdemeanor charges of recklessly endangering another person.
Leslie Ann Keller, meanwhile, was charged with five felony charges of endangering the welfare of children.
All four children were placed in the car of other family members.