Authorities have charged a Florida couple with child neglect amid shocking allegations that they confined four children inside a tractor-trailer cab for nearly six years. Arrest records reveal the children were denied basic needs such as showers, access to restrooms, and outdoor exercise during this time.
According to a report from a child advocacy center, the children revealed that they had not attended school for almost five years, highlighting a worrisome lack of education and social interaction.
Keisha Epps, 51, and her partner, Tamra Marshon Stewart, 37, reportedly lived in the cramped truck cab with the children. Court documents show that Epps, a truck driver by profession, managed a route between Miami and Atlanta, maintaining this unusual living environment.
The disturbing living conditions began in December 2019, with the children spending the bulk of their days inside the vehicle.
In a troubling case of alleged child neglect, a couple from Florida has been accused of keeping four children confined in a tractor-trailer cab for almost six years. These allegations come after an investigation by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.
A detective on the case reported the children were “walking with an unnatural gait from being confined to the cab.”
They were “fed poorly,” and they never received medical or dental care—even for emergencies, the report shows.
During the interview, one of the children recalled a time she “burned herself badly with cooked noodles.”
“There was a lot of blood,” she said.
Neither Stewart nor Epps took her to get medical treatment, the child told investigators. The child has a “permanent scar” from the burn, court records show.
Court records say all four children shared a bunk so small they had to sleep curled up side by side inside the tractor-trailer cab. (Joe Raedle/Newsmakers via Getty Images)
Stewart, who “would watch” the children when Epps was sleeping, showering, and driving the truck, the children said. And when the children witnessed sexual abuse and confronted Stewart, he “beat them by punching them in their heads,” reports show. The identity of the alleged victim of sexual abuse wasn’t clear.
The children said they told Epps about the sexual abuse and saw her witness the sexual abuse. She called one “derogatory names and continued to leave them alone with” Stewart, reports show.
One of the children was found to have an untreated sexually transmitted infection.
All four children shared a bunk in the cab so small that they had to lie “curled up side by side because they could not fit,” reports show.
Keisha Epps and Tamra Marshon Stewart were arrested Aug. 6 and remain jailed as they await trial on child neglect charges. (Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office)
Both Epps and Stewart were arrested on Aug. 6, 2026, according to a heavily redacted report filed with the court by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.
Epps and Stewart both were charged with four counts of child neglect—one count for each child. Each count of a third-degree felony is punishable by up to five years in prison, up to five years probation and a fine of up to $5,000 Investigators said their actions demonstrated a “committed, willful failure or omission to provide a child with the care, supervision, and services necessary to maintain the child’s physical and mental health, including but not limited to, food, nutrition, clothing, shelter, supervision, medicine and medical services that a prudent person would consider essential to the wellbeing of the child.”
According to court documents, “capital sexual battery charges” against Stewart will be filed in the “9th Judicial District by the Statewide Prosecutor,” a report shows. Under Florida law, anyone convicted of sexual battery of a child younger than 12 years old can face the death penalty or life in prison without parole.
All information about the children was redacted from reports, including their sexes, ages and relationships to each other and to Epps and Stewart. Epps and Stewart are being held in the Duval County Jail awaiting trial. Bond was set at $400,012 for Epps. Stewart was being held without bond.