Inset left to right: Marchelle Pertilla and Eugene Medrano (Mobile County Sheriff”s Office). Background: The inside of the residence where the couple allegedly left a 14-year-old girl to live alone in Mobile, Ala. (Google Maps).
An Alabama couple has been arrested after allegedly abandoning a 14-year-old girl to fend for herself in deplorable conditions alongside seven dogs, according to local authorities in the Yellowhammer State.
Marchelle Pertilla, aged 43, and Eugene Medrano, 52, face charges of child abuse and aggravated animal cruelty, as reported by the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office. Pertilla is also charged with six counts of second-degree cruelty to animals, while Medrano faces five similar counts.
The case came to light on January 4th when the teenager was found wandering along Jarrett Road in Mobile by a Dollar General employee. The girl, who appeared to be in distress with complaints of stomach pain and dizziness, prompted the employee to contact the sheriff’s office.
Following the call, the teenager was taken to a local hospital for a medical assessment, according to a press release from the sheriff’s office, which was shared by Mobile’s CBS affiliate WKRG. It was there she recounted her story to deputies and child advocates.
The girl claimed she had been living alone in a mobile home since February 2025, stating her last encounter with her mother, Pertilla, and stepfather, Medrano, was on October 31, 2025.
During the investigation, authorities found that the girl was not entirely neglected, as her mother reportedly arranged for food and supplies to be delivered via DoorDash and Walmart.
Inside the trailer, however, investigators found a vast depth of filth – and one of the aforementioned dogs dead in a closet, deputies said. Investigators surveying the residence said they found it littered with urine, feces, insects, trash, and various other bits of miscellany.
As it turned out, the couple had been living and working in Pensacola, Florida, all the while, the girl told authorities.
Eventually, Pertilla and Medrano arrived at the hospital where the girl was kept under observation. They spoke with detectives before being arrested on the multiple charges against them.
“When asked why their daughter was left alone, the mother stated the juvenile did not want to leave her service animals,” the sheriff’s office said in the news release about the incident.
As for those seven dogs: Three were living outside, three were living inside, and one was dead in the closet.
“We are continuing to search for answers on why this young girl was living alone and whether or not others tried calling law enforcement,” Mobile County Sheriff Paul Burch said in comments reported by Tampa, Florida-based NBC affiliate WFLA. “Thank goodness for the employee with Dollar General who contacted the county.”
Deputies said they also found a harrowing handwritten note in the child’s sleeping area entitled: “How many times mom tells me that she can’t pick me up.” That note is said to have had 87 dash marks.
“Which would lead one to believe that at least 87 occasions she wanted her mom to come back up,” Burch mused in comments to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania-based ABC affiliate WHTM. “And she didn’t.”
The sheriff said the girl and her mother primarily communicated through Snapchat and that she was putatively homeschooled, in comments to Pensacola, Florida-based NBC affiliate WEAR.
“This is physical abuse, but I would say it’s more emotional abuse, you know,” Burch said. “For a child that age – because I have one not too much younger than that – I can’t imagine the emotional part of just knowing your parents just leave you to fend for yourself.”
Since the couple were arrested last weekend, two other children have been removed from their Pensacola residence, the sheriff said.
“It’s a horrific case,” Burch added. “It’s another example of a parent not being a parent.”
