The parents of five Liberty children found trapped in a room, smeared in feces, have been charged with child abuse. Police found the children in a situation so disturbing, it left one officer gagging at the scene.
Police were called to their home on May 3 after someone called police and said the father was overheard saying, "I'm going to stab you all."
Paul Jenkins and Bethany Jenkins were charged Wednesday with five counts each of endangering the welfare of a child.
According to the probable cause, Liberty Police were sent to the home and found four children in a bedroom in the basement with the door tied shut, ages eight-years-old, seven-years-old, three-years-old and two-years-old.
Police said the room smelled of feces and saw feces smeared on the walls and in the carpet. There were two beds in the room but neither had sheets or blankets.
According to the probable cause, a one-year-old child was found in a second floor room covered in urine in a feces smeared crib. Police said in the probable cause that the odor of urine was so strong their eyes began watering, and one began gagging.
"I knew what the conditions were, I've lived next to them for a year, and you can smell the stench from their home coming into ours," neighbor Michelle Schlegel said.
According to the probable cause, the seven-year-old told police her parents shut the kids in the bedroom at bedtime, and don't let them out until the morning. She told police her parents tied the door shut so they can't get out.
The three-year-old and two-year-old were hospitalized with rashes. When police interviewed Bethany Jenkins, the probable cause said she said she did not understand why she went to jail.
Paul Jenkins' bond has been set at $200,000 and Bethany Jenkins' bond has been set at $100,000.
