Left: The apartment complex located in the 600 block of N. Grand Boulevard in St. Louis, Missouri (Google Maps). Right: Desiree Ching (St. Louis Justice Center).
Authorities in Missouri say two small children were left to fend for themselves for several hours inside a high-rise St. Louis apartment, where a broken window allegedly created a potentially deadly danger.
Desiree Ching, 32, and David Croft, 39, have both been charged with two counts of endangering the welfare of a child. According to the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, officers were called on July 13 to conduct a welfare check at an apartment building in the 600 block of N. Grand Boulevard.
Police said witnesses reported seeing one of the children hanging out of an open window.
When officers knocked and no one answered, they entered the apartment and discovered a bedroom door that had been locked from the outside, allegedly preventing anyone inside from getting out.
Behind that door, investigators said they found two children, ages 5 and 3, “completely naked and alone.”
Police described the room as filthy, writing that the walls were smeared with feces and that a broken window exposed the children to what officers called a “14-foot drop.”
Officers determined it was “clear” that the kids were locked in the room for “at least several hours.” The children were taken to the hospital for treatment. Ching arrived at the hospital and identified herself as the mother of the children. The affidavit does not say where Ching went after leaving the apartment.
She was arrested and taken to the St. Louis Justice Center, where she remains without bond.
Croft told cops he was the father when he arrived at the apartment. He was arrested but later released on his own recognizance after it was revealed that he left the kids in the custody of Ching when he went to work in the morning.
Cops did not say what happened to the kids after they were taken to the hospital.
