TEMPLE, TX. – Two toddlers were found deceased in a home late last month, authorities said.
During a welfare check on the residents inside the home, police in Bell County, Texas, found the home in squalor. According to the affidavit, the report indicated that the family has not been seen in several days. When the first officer arrived on September 30, 2019, he knocked on the door but there was no answer. The deadbolt on the door kept him from opening the door. The officer went to the back of the home and still got no response.
He indicated that he could smell “decay” as he peeked into a bedroom window but still did not see anything. One of the bedroom windows was broken out from the inside and inside they could see a small, frightened child. A second child was also found near her mother, Terrikah Lyn Haynes, who was conscious but had dilated eyes and would not speak. Two children, a one and two-year-old boy and girl were found deceased inside the home.
The two living children, ages 4 and 6, were provided with water and transported to a local hospital. The police said that there was no electricity or water service in the home, the water was learned to be off since September 3, 2019. Inside the home while searching, there was no fluids to drink, according to the affidavit. Two liter soda bottles and juice bottles were scattered around the house, all empty. The only food inside the home was uncooked rice and dry beans, with no way to cook them. There was no way for the residents to bathe and no indication that they had tried.
The living children were interviewed at the hospital and were wearing clothes that smelled like decay and trash, authorities said. The children were very malnourished children commented for not eating or drinking as much as they were fed while at the hospital in a “long time”. They also told police that they had only been eating fruit snacks and were drinking water until there was no more. They also said that the bathtub was not working so they could not take a bath or a shower. Being that there was no water, there was nowhere to dispose of bodily waste.
The children remain in protective custody and the cause of death for the two toddlers will be determined through autopsy. Bail was set at $300,000 bail.
