Sentencing Continued For Spring Hill Foster Mother

WILLIAMSON COUNTY, Tenn. – The sentencing hearing for a woman accused of imprisoning her adopted children and not giving them food or water has been continued until Thursday.

After a full day of testimony on Wednesday a judge decided to continue the hearing to another day.

Shelley Blair pleaded guilty to four charges including especially aggravated kidnapping, kidnapping and aggravated assault in October.

In October 2008, police found the 13-year-old girl and 12-year-old boy that Blair was caring for riding bikes down Columbia Pike. The children said they were running away from home.

They told police they were routinely left at home alone while Blair worked. Sometimes they were bound with duct tape to prevent them from escaping.

Both said they were required to go to the bathroom in buckets kept in their rooms.

The boy told police after removing duct tape from his arms, he knocked a hole in the wall of his room to escape then he freed his sister.

The girl had a cut on her nose and she told police it was from a beating.

Officials said both were extremely malnourished.

Officials said the children, now 15 and 16, are doing much better.

The children may testify in the hearing. Blair faces anywhere from 14 to 22 years in prison.

It will be up to the judge to decide how long the terms and conditions of the sentence including contact with children.

According to court records, she has three prior child abuse convictions.