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An Arizona couple faces serious child abuse charges following a disturbing discovery by local authorities. Their home, along with their children, was found in an appalling state, heavily contaminated with feces.
Joe Santiago, a spokesperson for the Glendale Police Department, expressed deep concern during a press conference on February 2. “They were treated like animals,” Santiago stated, emphasizing the severity of the living conditions. “I cannot even begin to describe the conditions that these children were kept in for years.”
The investigation began on January 29, when police officers performed a welfare check at the residence of Sara and Arthur Jackson. This action was prompted by a bystander who noticed a naked child standing by the window of their home. This incident was detailed in a probable cause statement acquired by Oxygen.
Upon their arrival, officers encountered a grim scene. Sara Jackson, 36, opened the door to reveal her two children, aged 4 and 6, both unclothed. The older child’s hair was matted with what appeared to be feces. The officers noted a swarm of flies, and the walls and floors were smeared with excrement. The children’s mattress, lacking any sheets, was similarly stained.
The home was in disarray, with items piled 5- to 6-feet high, suggesting a severe hoarding situation, according to the documents filed by the police. The conditions inside the house were described as unfit for any person, let alone young children.
The bedroom, where the children slept, was gated. There was a bathroom attached to the bedroom; however, the bathroom doorknob had been zip-tied to an eyelet screw to prevent the children from using the toilet.
Sara told police that her children were not potty trained and “did not like to use the Porta Potty in the bedroom.” She said the couple had installed a gate where the children slept, because the 6-year-old had “started pooping on the floor and he likes to throw his feces.”
Sara acknowledged that while her children—who she said have not attended school or visited a doctor—slept on a mattress covered in feces, there was none where she and Arthur slept.
“I’m a bad mom sometimes,” Sara told officers, as quoted in the document. “I’m overwhelmed and I don’t have motivation.”
Arthur, 41, told police that he “works a lot and doesn’t have time to scrub the apartment.”
When he is at work, said Arthur, the children are kept in a gated room; Sara, however, told police that the children are locked in the room, “24 hours a day, seven days a week and when Arthur is home.”
The 4-year-old child, who is non-verbal, and the 6-year-old who cannot speak in complete sentences, were medically evaluated and the Arizona Department of Child Safety investigated.
“Every surface,” read the probable cause doc, “including the ceiling and mattress was covered in smeared feces.”
Sara and Arthur were arrested and transported to the Glendale City Jail, each booked with two counts each of child abuse, stated the probable cause statement.
The couple were booked on child abuse charges, but not yet formally charged, a spokesperson from the Maricopa County Clerk of Superior Court told Oxygen. Right now, the Jacksons do not have a scheduled court date.
Santiago pointed out a particularly “shocking” portion of the investigation.
“These parents showed really no signs of … remorse or shock,” he said in the press conference. “They basically acted as if this was just a normal activity.”