Background: The home on East Pool Street in Joplin, Mo., where authorities said the defendants were arrested (KSNF/KODE/YouTube). Insets (clockwise from top right): Crystal Ross, Megan Ross, Hannah Ross, and Shane Ross (Joplin Police Department).
A family in Missouri is accused of keeping a 12-year-old girl with special needs inside a "house of horrors," allegedly locking her in a dog cage with padlocks to keep her from escaping.
Shane Ross, 50, Crystal Ross, 46, Hannah Ross, 25, and Megan Ross, 19, are all charged with abuse or neglect of a child causing serious emotional or physical injury, a felony, as well as misdemeanor animal neglect or abandonment. They are being held in Jasper County without bond.
On Sunday morning, someone inside a home on East Pool Street in Joplin, Missouri, called the Joplin Police Department about a missing child, according to court documents reviewed by Law&Crime. The city is located in the southwest of the state, about 280 miles from St. Louis.
A 12-year-old girl "had run away" from a residence, and she had been gone for about an hour, police said. "She was described to us as only wearing a diaper" and having "special needs."
Authorities came together, and after about two and a half hours, they found the girl, who "appeared malnourished," Joplin Police Chief Richard Pearson said at a press conference streamed by partner television stations KSNF and KODE, which are collectively under the name FourStatesHomepage. The girl was cared for, and though she "didn't appear" to have any injuries, "the conditions of her health were unacceptable."
Despite being 12 years old, the girl "was only 4 feet tall and weighed approximately 50 pounds," authorities said.
Police responded to the home from where the girl apparently ran away. "From the outside, there was nothing that would distinguish it from any of the other properties in the neighborhood," Pearson said. "But once you got inside, then that's when you walked into the house of horrors."
Inside the home was so much "clutter, trash, food and clothing all over" that it was difficult to walk, a probable cause statement states. There were animals inside cages and others "walking freely about the residence."
There was reportedly such a "foul odor" inside that officers had to step outside. Garbage and dirty clothes were piled up, and animal urine and feces were found throughout the house. There were apparently more than 80 animals in the house, some of which were dead.
Outside the master bedroom was a dog cage, where the child victim was "made to sleep only in a diaper with a pillow and a blanket," according to court documents. "Multiple pad locks" and zip ties were found on the cage "to prevent her from escaping," it added.
Officers found the four defendants and learned that Shane Ross and Crystal Ross were the parents of Hannah Ross and Megan Ross. Shane Ross said the victim was his niece and had been living with them for about 10 years.
The defendants all appeared to acknowledge that they knew placing the child in the cage "was wrong," with Crystal Ross conceding "it was likely causing emotional and mental damage" to the girl. However, they allegedly reasoned that they did this to keep her from hurting the rest of them.
Accounts varied, but the child was allegedly kept in the dog cage — at least in the overnight hours — for between one and two years. Hannah Ross and Megan Ross suggested that they didn't like that the child was kept in the cage, but "it was better than the family getting hurt" because the girl apparently had "threatened to kill another family member in their sleep and threatened to burn the house down."
Pearson, the police chief, said officers described this as "one of the worst cases and incidents of child abuse that they have seen in their time." The four defendants were arrested and jailed.
Court records show that they had preliminary arraignments scheduled for Wednesday.
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