A mother and grandmother in Pennsylvania have been accused of endangering children after leaving five kids in a terribly dirty and rundown home. The mother allegedly left to stay with her boyfriend.
Hiedi Lynn Beer, 35, and Leslie Keller, 69, each face five charges of endangering the welfare of children, as reported by WTAE. Additionally, Beer is charged with five counts of recklessly putting someone in danger.
On July 28, police in Vandergrift were informed about a disturbance involving four kids in an alley. These children, aged 9 to 16, explained to the officers that their mother had been absent for several days.
The 16-year-old mentioned she had been looking after her siblings and had been trying to contact their mother due to a lack of water, according to the criminal complaint.
The officers accompanied the children back to their home and immediately detected an unpleasant odor. Inside, they had to dodge large piles of feces, spoiled food, and pools of urine covering the floors.
The complaint also stated that the bathtub was piled with dirty dishes and grime, the shower fixture was broken, and the floors and ceilings had cracks and holes.
“It was very obvious that water had not been on in a long time,” the affidavit said.
Officers found the children’s bedrooms covered in filth. Bunk beds were made of plywood, and the kids had only deflated air mattresses to sleep on.
The affidavit notes leaking pipes, and the children reportedly said they had no food or water, eating only free lunch at school.
The children said their mother, Heidi Lynn Beer, lived with her boyfriend in Pittsburgh, about 50 miles away, and sometimes came back home. They also said the boyfriend beat them.
According to the police report, the boyfriend told Beer to abandon the children because “he can give her a new and better life without them.”
As it turned out, there was a fifth child in the home.
Police called the children’s grandmothers to the home, and one of them told officers she had not been inside the house in months “because it is too gross.” She admitted she knew there was no water in the home, adding that the kids came to her house to fill empty cat litter containers with water for use in their disgusting home.
The report said this grandmother, identified as Leslie Keller, berated the 16-year-old for not cleaning the filthy house ih the presence of the officers. Police reprimanded her, telling her it was not the “children’s responsibility to clean this absolute disgrace of a mess.”
Police Chief Dan Anthony said the children were left in the care of other family members.
According to Law&Crime, Beer is being held on a $20,000 bond and has a preliminary hearing set for August 12. Keller has a preliminary hearing scheduled on September 9, but it’s not clear if she is in jail.
