They are said to have lived for almost a year next to their brother's rotting corpse.
Three children were discovered "abandoned" for months by their parents, this Sunday in Houston, United States, in an apartment where the skeleton of a fourth child was also located, announced Monday the local sheriff.
The mother of the children and her companion, found Sunday evening, were questioned and released, police said on Monday, specifying that no prosecution has been initiated at this stage.
The parents "likely haven't lived in the apartment for several months," tweeted the Harris County Sheriff, which includes Houston.
Heartbreaking.
@HCSOTexas units are at an apt complex at 3535 Green Crest, near Addicks Clodine & Westpark Tollway.
Units found three juveniles abandoned in an apartment.
Skeletal remains, possibly of another juvenile, were also found inside the unit.
#HouNews pic.twitter.com/uVcybOugM9
- Ed Gonzalez (@SheriffEd_HCSO) October 24, 2021
This is the oldest of the three children, a 15-year-old teenager, who warned the police "that his nine-year-old brother had died a year ago and that his body was in the room near his," detailed Sheriff Ed Gonzalez.
The situation is "horrible, tragic" for these three children who "lived in rather deplorable conditions, added the sheriff during a press conference.
I have been in this profession for a long time and I have never seen anything like it ”.
They suffered from undernutrition
The eldest “was doing his best to take care of others”, his two little brothers aged 7 and 10, he added.
However, the police do not know if any of them were in school.
But the two youngest "appeared to be undernourished and showed signs of physical injury."
The three children were taken to hospital for examination and treatment.
Read also United States: 11 children delivered from a "sordid" lair
The investigation, entrusted to the criminal police and the unit in charge of child abuse, is still ongoing, said Sheriff Gonzalez. An autopsy should be performed to determine the causes of death. When questioned, the neighbors seemed to fully discover this tragedy and were "in shock" according to local media. "I'm not even going to tell my kids why the police were there," a neighbor whispered to the Houston newspaper.
"It is time to move, even assured a neighbor, quoted by the local media.
I just hope this isn't one of the kids my kids are playing with.
"Others wonder: while the manager makes regular visits to the apartments" to check the windows, plumbing and smoke detectors ", the last of which dates back to last week, according to a resident," how is it he couldn't detect that?
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