Inset, top to bottom: Anthony Grogg and Victoria Frampton (West Virginia Department of Corrections). Background: Fairmont Police Department (Google Maps).
A West Virginia woman, 23, and a man, 22, have been detained following the incident where a 3-year-old child under their supervision allegedly fell from a second-floor window in an attempt to leave a locked room and was eventually located wandering near a “main road.”
Victoria Frampton and Anthony Grogg were apprehended on Thursday, each facing a charge of gross neglect of a child, posing a substantial risk of death or serious injury, according to court documents accessed by Law&Crime.
On September 17, Frampton and Grogg were tasked with looking after the child and chose to install a “child lock on the inside” of her door to “prevent [her] from getting out” of the room, as reported by Clarksburg NBC affiliate WBOY, referencing a probable cause affidavit from the Fairmont Police Department.
Reports suggest the child was left unattended in the room for about two hours, during which neither caretaker checked in on her. Police further highlighted the absence of a camera or child monitor in the room, leaving the adults unaware of the child’s condition or if she required help, according to Weston CBS affiliate WDTV.
The affidavit noted that the 3-year-old “became so distressed that she removed the mattress from the bed” and used it to access and climb out of a bedroom window on the second floor of the home.
Security camera footage obtained by police reportedly showed the little girl “dangling from the roof before falling to the ground.” The footage showed her falling “approximately 10 feet before landing on a bed of gravel,” the affidavit reportedly said. She then “rolled around on the ground” as though she was “in great pain” before ultimately getting up and walking toward the busy road.
About 45 minutes later, a neighbor contacted police after spotting the victim as she was wandering alongside “a main road with heavy vehicle traffic.” That neighbor also purportedly tried to reach Frampton and Grogg.
The neighbor was unable to get in touch with the duo. In fact, even after police arrived, an officer and the neighbor were reportedly unable to get either Frampton or Grogg on the phone despite trying for almost an hour.
When authorities failed to reach the suspects, officers went to the toddler”s home, but were unable make contact with Frampton or Grogg until an officer entered the home through the child’s open window.
As authorities spoke with the suspects, they reportedly admitted that both of them were “unaware” that the 3-year-old had managed to escape the bedroom.
Both suspects are currently being held in the North Central Regional Jail in lieu of $200,012 bond.
