The crossroads of Quarry Road and South Lancaster Street in Swatara Township, Pennsylvania, as seen on Google Maps.
A startling discovery unfolded when a 5-year-old child was found wandering alone on a Pennsylvania roadway, prompting police to uncover a home ridden with filth, a swarm of flies, and a boarded-up bedroom door, according to authorities.
Subsequently, legal charges for child endangerment were brought against Jade Shuey, 21, Stephanie Schaffner, 42, and Tucker Heagy, 20, as confirmed by court documents accessed by Law&Crime. These individuals faced a preliminary court appearance on Saturday.
The chain of events began the previous day, July 10, around 7:30 a.m., when Pennsylvania State Police responded to a call at the intersection of Quarry Road and South Lancaster Street in Swatara Township, approximately 95 miles northwest of Philadelphia.
According to reports, concerned citizens informed troopers of their encounter with a “naked 5-year-old boy walking in the middle of the road.” The authorities ensured the child’s safety by taking him to a hospital for a medical examination.
Investigators said they determined the boy “escaped” from a nearby home on North Poplar Street in the township. When authorities went there, they observed “[h]oarder conditions” inside, such as “trash throughout, hundreds of flies,” and “limited room for maneuvering the house” due to the “clutter.”
Then, troopers came to one bedroom in particular. It apparently had a baby gate “affixed to the outside of the door frame” being held together by “numerous zip ties and duct tape.”
It was the boy’s bedroom, authorities said, and there were more troubling signs inside.
“Above the baby gate, there was miscellaneous wood boards drilled into the outside of the door frame to prevent the male child from escaping the bedroom,” Pennsylvania State Police said. “Feces was observed to be smeared on the walls, feces smeared on the bedroom window, a bed was observed to be torn apart with food all over it, trash was observed on the floor, hundreds of flies flying around the bedroom and the residence, along with various children’s toys scattered throughout.”
When authorities spoke with Shuey, she said the boy spent 90% or so of his day in the room and sometimes would stay there for up to three days without leaving, regional NBC affiliate WGAL reported. He was allegedly fed through the gate and was bathed once a week, if that.
Heagy reportedly told police that when they let the boy out of his room, they needed to cut five to 10 zip ties to open the gate. The suspects allegedly bought zip ties in bulk from a local hardware store because they used so many.
Shuey, Schaffner and Heagy were all arrested and booked in the Lebanon County Prison. None of them were able to post bail.
Their respective relationships with the child victim are unclear.
The defendants are scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing in court on July 23.