Ernest Berry says Lydia Lane is typically a quiet street where bad things rarely happen. But when they do, he says, they’re “really, really bad.”
Five years ago, Berry’s son witnessed a fatal shooting in the condo below his unit on the quaint Pontiac street. He had to testify against the killer, who was convicted at trial of fatally shooting a 20-year-old West Bloomfield man who had gone to the condo to collect his sister’s belongings following a breakup with her boyfriend. A fight ensued, and the boyfriend killed the brother, landing him in prison for 35 to 60 years for his crime.
The following years were uneventful at the Village Stonegate Condo community on Lydia Lane. Then came Friday’s discovery of three children living alone for years in squalor, hiding out in a 1300-square-foot condo that on the outside looks like it’s part of a charming tree-lined street with tidy neighbors.
But behind the dark red door of the stone-trimmed colonial lurked a house of horrors: Children living among mountains of garbage, human feces and mold, and sleeping on pizza boxes.
“It’s mind boggling … I can’t wrap my brain around it” said Berry, who lives ten units down from where the children were living. “I wish I could have seen them walk out of the house.”
But he didn’t see anything, said 60-year-old Berry. And apparently, nobody else did, either, which gnaws at Berry, who says his neighborhood is a mix of nurses, lawyers, teachers and self-employed contractors. Berry is a special education teacher. Looking out for vulnerable children comes natural to him. So how, he wonders, could three children be living in such conditions so close by, and nobody notice?
“Why couldn’t the neighbors smell that? … I know that place had to smell really bad ,” said Berry, who has lived on Lydia Lane for ten years, and has lots of questions.
“And what about lights, gas and water?” Berry said, wondering who was paying for utilities.
According to the Oakland County Sheriff’s office, the children − ages 12, 13, and 15 − were abandoned about four or five years ago by their mother, and their father was not involved in their lives. The condo they were in had electricity, as the children told police they watched TV and played video games to pass the time. As for running water, it’s unclear if they had any: the toilet overflowed with feces. The bathtub was filled with feces, as were other rooms.
The 15-year-old told police that he and his sisters had food dropped off on their porch weekly, either by their mother, or a stranger.
It’s all too much for Berry to process, as he racks is brain, trying to remember “if I’ve seen these kids out walking. There’s not a lot of kids over there.”
And did they ever go looking for help? He wonders did they have the mental capacity to do so?
“The kids never came out and never knocked a neighbors’ door? Or did they just stay in the house? … Were they in that much fear?” said Berry. “It was kept so secret.”
“I can’t figure it out,” Berry said, noting the children’s plight has devastated the neighborhood. “That’s all they’re talking about. ‘We didn’t see anything. We didn’t know anything. How didn’t we know?’ “
While Berry has lots of questions, he also wants to know who the mother is, and he wants to see what she looks like, so he can figure out if he ever saw her.
According to the sheriff’s office, the 34-year-old mother was arrested on Friday after investigators discovered the children living alone. She remains jailed and her case on Monday was handed over to the prosecutor, who will review it to determine if the woman will be charged.
“Throughout my extensive career in this field, I have never encountered a scenario as dire and prolonged as this one, involving abandonment, neglect, and abuse of the highest order,” Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard has said of the case. “This situation would be deemed deplorable and intolerable for an animal, and it is utterly unacceptable for three children. “
The children, a 15-year-old boy and his two sisters, ages 12 and 13, have been placed in custody of a relative by Child Protective Services.
According to the sheriff’s office, here’s how the children were discovered: Deputies went to the home on the 600 block of Lydia Lane on Friday afternoon to perform a welfare check after getting a call from the landlord, who told deputies that he had not heard from the mother since December or collected any rent since October. He was concerned something may have happened.
When deputies went to the house, they discovered the deplorable conditions, and the three siblings living among them. According to the sheriff’s office, the girls had locked themselves in the bathroom when deputies arrived, but opened the door when asked. The brother told the deputies that his mother had abandoned him and his sisters in 2020 or 2021, left no toilet paper or hygiene items behind, but left food on their porch about once a week. Either the mom did it, the boy said, or a stranger dropped the food off.
According to the sheriff’s office, the mother had contact with the boy, but it appeared she had not seen the girls in years. The boy slept on a mattress on the floor while the girls slept on pizza boxes.
These details continue to torment Berry, who said he saw police cars “flying” down his street last Friday as he was headed to work, not knowing what was happening. Then the next day he picked up a local newspaper.
“The first thing I thought was, ‘I have never seen the kids out.’ I couldn’t believe it was happening on Lydia Lane,” said Berry, who wants the unit torn down. “I was shocked … it needs to be condemned.”
Tresa Baldas:[email protected]
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