Insets: Mateo Luna and Stephanie Passley (Butler County). Background: The trailer where Mateo Luna and Stephanie Passley are accused of living with their children in deplorable conditions (KFVS).
A couple in Missouri is accused of forcing their children to reside in a trailer infested with “hundreds of black flies and cockroaches,” compounded by piles of spoiled food and human waste. The environment was reportedly so appalling that at least one child resorted to sleeping on an entertainment center “to escape” the conditions, as stated by authorities.
“Every floor of the residence was covered with garbage, decaying food, and other refuse,” as detailed in the probable cause affidavit involving Mateo Luna, 27, and his partner Stephanie Passley, 26. Both are charged with four counts of child abuse and neglect, concerning their four children ranging from 8 months to 9 years old, authorities report.
“To be honest, I don’t cry a whole lot at some of these cases,” said Butler County Sheriff’s Department Investigator Eddie Holloway in an interview with local CBS and The CW affiliate KFVS. “I cried last night thinking about that little boy sleeping on that entertainment center,” he told the outlet.
Love true crime? Sign up for our newsletter, The Law&Crime Docket, to get the latest real-life crime stories delivered right to your inbox.
According to the probable cause affidavit, authorities went to Passley and Luna’s trailer in Neelyville on Monday to conduct a “well-being check on multiple children” after receiving a report about the alleged filth and squalor.
Holloway was one of the first responders and detailed what he saw in the affidavit.
“The living room of the residence was completely covered in trash, rotting food, debris, and soiled clothing,” Holloway said. “The residence smelled of rotting food and human waste. … The kitchen sink and counter were full of dirty dishes, rotting food, and other debris.”
To make things even worse, the temperature inside the residence was between 86.5 and 88 degrees while cops were there, according to the affidavit, and there was allegedly no running water. A door lock on one of the children’s doors appeared to have been altered to change the direction of the lock, Holloway said.
Passley allegedly told police that her children often try to “escape from the residence during the evening” and due to her living by railroad tracks, she tries to prevent them from exiting the residence “when they are supposed to be sleeping,” per the affidavit.
Asked by KFVS how long the children were living in conditions like these, Holloway told the outlet: “Our best guess from what the little kid, the little girl, was telling us this has been going on for about two years,” he said. “I just don’t understand how a person could live like that and have their children in that. It just breaks my heart.”
