Monroe County couple charged in child neglect case

By adwpadmin

A Monroe County couple faces several felony charges involving children who were kept in cages.

Both Travis Headrick, 47, and Amy Headrick, 39, face nine felony counts including 2nd Degree Recklessly Endangering Safety, Neglecting a Child (Consequence is Emotional Damage), and False Imprisonment.

They made appearances in Monroe County Circuit Court Monday afternoon. Judge Mark Goodman gave them each a $20,000 cash bond and ordered them to have no contact with five juveniles that lived in the couple’s Melvina home.

The criminal complaint gives details of the conditions that five children, one biological and four adopted, and one disabled adult lived in.

Monroe County Detective John Brose wrote in his report at one point…”As we entered the room next to (one of the children), I noticed a child in a horse trough with metal fencing over the top of the trough secured with zip ties. There was also a child in a locked cage on what appeared to be a double stacked cage.”

A person who was in the home went to the sheriff’s office with a photo of the trough that eventually led to the couple’s arrest.

In response to some of the detective’s questions regarding the child, the complaint said, “Amy said (the child) also defecates and urinates himself and smears his poop all over himself as well as the walls. Amy explained that she wanted (the child) in the trough because it was a “washable membrane.” Amy explained that she had a bed for him and (the child) would defecate himself causing worms and maggots to be on him from the poop he smeared around. Amy then stated “I didn’t want to put him in a bathtub and make him sleep in the bathroom, so I thought this was something I could wash and take out for him.”

She also told the detective that the children had a number of behavioral health and mental abuse issues which required the couple to lock them up and put alarms on all their doors.

One of the children described the routine in the home. The complaint said the children got up at 8, fed, and if they were good, could stay up until noon. After lunch, they went back into the locked cages until 3. They got up, were fed, then back to the cage until 5. After an hour, the children were returned to the cage until the following morning.

Towards the end of the complaint, it says that there were “no toys in the house, there were no kids clothes dressers in the house. There was no evidence anywhere that children even lived in the home. There were no pictures on the wall, no video games, no toy bins, there was a pool but no pool toys, no evidence that the adopted children were ever allowed out of their bedrooms or cages.”

Travis and Amy Headrick are scheduled for their next court appearance on September 6.