(Left to right): Ellie Marie Parson and Laura Ann Parson (West Virginia Regional Jail and Correctional Facility).
Two women are behind bars in West Virginia after authorities say they let a 2-year-old girl wander unattended through the streets away from their filthy home.
Ellie Marie Parson, 18, and Laura Ann Parson, 25, have both been charged with misdemeanor child neglect, West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation records reviewed by Law&Crime show. They were both booked into jail on Wednesday.
On Tuesday at about 5 p.m., officers with the Shinnston Police Department were called about a 2-year-old girl who had left a residence on Richard Avenue in Shinnston, West Virginia. The city is located in the northern part of the state, within 45 miles of Pennsylvania.
According to a criminal complaint obtained by WVNews, a neighbor of the Parsons met with officers and showed them video footage of several incidents of the child wandering alone. In one, the child walks away from the home alone and then goes back; in another, the child hangs out behind a neighbor's vehicle.
Reportedly, another child alerted the neighbor to the latest incident. The neighbor, who was speaking with police, said that without the alert, the 2-year-old could have been hit by a vehicle. The little girl is said to have been naked, covered in green marker, and wearing a soiled diaper.
Police said that on one occasion, a neighbor walked the child back to the Parsons' home and found their gate unlatched, their front door open, and someone sleeping on the couch. Responding officers said the home was filled with trash, unwashed dishes, and flies.
During another incident, Ellie Parson allegedly told a neighbor returning the child, "Just bring her in here and put her on the f—ing floor. It's every f—ing day," per regional CBS affiliate WDTV.
It's unclear how the two women are related to the child, but they all reportedly live at the same home and the women are listed as her parents or guardians.