A mother and her boyfriend were arrested for allegedly imprisoning their children inside their Wisconsin home after neighbors spotted both boys wandering the streets completely naked, covered in blood, bruises, and feces.
Katie Koch is facing a slew of felony charges, including chronic neglect of a child, false imprisonment and neglecting a child. Her boyfriend, Joel Manke, 38, was meanwhile hit with felony charges of chronic neglect of a child and false imprisonment in connection with the case.
According to a criminal complaint filed in Milwaukee County Circuit Court, Koch kept her children, ages 7 and 9, locked for years in a dingy bedroom with boarded-up windows. Neither of the boys has been toilet trained or enrolled in school, and neither is able to read or write. Police say one of the boys was unable to form complete sentences.
On Thursday, one of their neighbors spotted the children peering through a shattered window and then climbing onto the air conditioning unit. From there, they jumped into the yard and started “running from home to home,” according to the criminal complaint. Another witness said the older boy was “walking on the sidewalk like a ‘caveman.’”
When authorities responded to the residence, they discovered the boys’ living space was covered in excrement and urine, which Koch initially tried to pass off as “clay, paint, and chocolate.” The rest of the house was also cluttered with trash and covered in filth, according to authorities.
Milwaukee County assistant district attorney Mallory Davis during an intake hearing Monday said she reviewed photos and videos of the inside of the house, and called it a hoarding situation, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
“It was something out of a horror movie,” Davis said. “These children were essentially confined to their room for much of their lives.”
Both children are currently in protective custody.