Police Find Malnourished 5-Year-Old Girl Locked In Closet Under Stairway In Randleman Home

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Police found a malnourished 5-year-old girl locked in a small closet under a stairway at a home in Randleman, according to a press release.

Police Find Malnourished 5-Year-Old Girl Locked In Closet Under Stairway In Randleman Home

On Sept. 12, Randleman police conducted a welfare check for a child at a home in the 200 block of Back Street. Officers were told the child was being physically and mentally abused.

Officers went to the home in an effort to locate the little girl. Upon arrival, they found no vehicles in the driveway and it appeared no one was there.

Officers knocked on the door and received no response, so they began calling the child’s name. Once they began yelling, they received a response.

They first asked the child if she was OK and the girl replied with “no.” Officers then asked if she needed help and she replied, “yes.”

Officers then made entry through a front porch window and found the child locked in a two-foot by four-foot closet under a stairway. She had no food or water and appeared to be extremely malnourished with burns, scratches, and bruises all over her body.

The 5-year-old was taken from the home by a daycare employee. She was taken to Randolph Hospital and transferred to Brenner’s Children’s Hospital.

She is currently in the custody of the Randolph County Department of Social Services.

As a result, Adam Joshua Byrd, who is the child’s father, and Crystal Dawn Carnahan, who is a child caretaker, were arrested.

Byrd is charged with assault with a deadly weapon serious injury, intentional child abuse serious physical injury and negligent child abuse serious physical injury.

Carnahan is charged with assault with deadly weapon serious injury, intentional child abuse serious physical injury and negligent child abuse serious physical injury.

Both were taken to the Randolph County Jail on a $350,000 secured bond.

Randleman Chief tells me family member gave tip about child abuse. They went to this home. Found child locked in 2 ft by 4 ft closet @myfox8 pic.twitter.com/HdRZY6UXYd

— Alex Rose (@AlexRoseNews) Ngày 14 tháng 09 năm 2017

Dale here was absolutely shocked when we told him the news. Was checking out a shed on the property for his business. @myfox8 pic.twitter.com/VC9S2YM0uG

— Alex Rose (@AlexRoseNews) Ngày 14 tháng 09 năm 2017

Pictured: Virginia Woman Who Kept Children In Cages

Pictured: Virginia woman who kept two of her children, ages 2 and 3, in ‘filthy makeshift cages’ and who ‘hissed and made animal noises’ when social services arrived to free them

Malista Ness-Hopkins, 38, faces charges of abuse and neglect after social services found her kids, ages two and three, trapped inside cribs which had bars screwed on top

A Virginia woman who allegedly kept her young children in makeshift cages has made bail.

Malista Ness-Hopkins, 38, faces charges of abuse and neglect after social services found her kids, ages two and three, trapped inside cribs which had bars screwed on top.

Her other three children were found living in squalor at the home in Mears on Virginia’s Eastern Shore.

Kate Bonniwell, a social services worker, described the shocking scene when she entered Ness-Hopkins’ home on July 28 after receiving a complaint, Delmarva Now reported.

She told the court at a preliminary hearing Friday, that it had taken more than 20 minutes with an electric screwdriver for her to remove the top of the makeshift cage to free the toddlers.

While she did so, the two-year-old was hissing at her and making ‘animal sounds,’ she said. When she finally did get the lid off, the child simply lay there, as if they didn’t know what to do next.