Officials shared more details about how the kids, who were living alone in a garbage-filled home went unnoticed for so long.
Patch Staff
|Updated Wed, Feb 19, 2025 at 4:27 pm ET
PONTIAC, MI — Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard shared more details Tuesday about three kids who were living alone inside a garbage-filled home after their mother abandoned them years ago.
Investigators believe 34-year-old Kelli Bryant left her kids (15-year-old boy and 12- and 13-year-old girls) inside a Pontiac home in the 600 block of Lydia Lane sometime during the summer of 2020, Bouchard said.
The home's landlord contacted officials last week after not hearing from the mother since December, and that rent was last paid in October, officials said.
Officers arrived at the home last Friday and found the kids inside the home that was filled with mold, trash and feces, officials said.
Investigators believe the kids had been living in the home alone since their mother abandoned them in 2020, and Bouchard said other than the mother, it appears no one knew about the kids' situation.
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Officials said the boy would text his mother when their food supply was running low. Food was then periodically delivered either by the mother or by a third party delivery service, who left the food on the porch and never entered the home, Bouchard said.
By the time of the end of their living alone, Bouchard said the kids were given a loaf of bread that was intended to last three to four days.
They were left without hygiene supplies, and officials believe the children did not know how to use personal items or even knew how to flush a toilet.
Officials said the boy slept on a mattress on the floor while the girls slept on pizza boxes. They passed time by playing games and watching television, officials said.
Neighbors told officers they did not know the children were living alone in the home and never saw them outside. Bouchard said the 15-year-old boy only went outside just twice in five years.
"The only one of the three who ever came out was the young boy — once because he wanted to feel the grass, which by itself is heartbreaking, and a second time to check the mail," Bouchard said. "Just to hear he came out to touch the grass is crushing, soul-crushing on so many levels."
Prosecutors said the mother told the children to never answer the door or leave the house. The kids were then scared to leave the house, they said.
Bouchard said the kids hadn’t been enrolled in school since 2020, and miscommunication between school districts allowed them to go unnoticed.
"A school district in this case received a request for records from another school in Pontiac, but no verification the children ever moved to that school," Bouchard said. "So at some point when they didn't show up, they were just dropped off the enrollment of the school that sent the transcripts. So no one knew they were nowhere."
Bouchard said he has talked with state lawmakers about drafting a bill that will force school officials to have written confirmation that a child is somewhere else before dropping them from their enrollment board.
Many have wondered where the children's father was during those years. Bouchard said the father was in jail around the time that their mother abandoned them. When he was released, he was granted approval to visit his kids, but their mother never allowed him access.
Investigators do not know why the mother abandoned the children or what she was doing when she wasn't at the home. She was arrested and charged with three-counts of child abuse.
Officials have not indicated any mental health illness that may have played a role in the incident.
After the arrest of their mother, the children were taken to a nearby hospital for evaluation and placed in the custody of a relative by Child Protective Services, officials said.
Prosecutors said the children appear to be doing OK, despite what they experienced.
The Oakland County Sheriff's Office set up an online fundraiser to support the children. Additionally, donations for new and gently used items can be dropped off at the sheriff's department’s headquarters at 1200 N Telegraph, 38 E., or at the Pontiac substation just off of Widetrack.