GUTHRIE, Okla. – An Oklahoma mother faces child neglect charges after five children were found living in deplorable conditions, according to KFOR.
Officers were called to an alley in Guthrie where Melissa Grayson’s car was stranded without gas.
Police quickly discovered what one officer called “the dirtiest vehicle he had seen in 15 years of being employed here.”
“The entire vehicle was absolutely full of filth,” said Guthrie Police Sgt. Anthony Gibbs. “From one end to the other of the vehicle, the entire surface was covered with some type of trash or food that was in various states of decay.”
Grayson already had an outstanding warrant, but her troubles were not in the past. Police quickly discovered her one-year-old in heartbreaking condition.
“The car seat wasn’t strapped in, there wasn’t a base for the car seat,” Sgt. Gibbs said.
And the baby was soaked in its own urine, all the way up to its shoulder blades.
“Underneath the child’s diaper, scalded. There was broken skin and bleeding from the child because of the excrement that was held close to the body,” Sgt. Gibbs said.
Underneath the baby, urine-soaked food was rotting in the car seat.
Police found conditions in the home Grayson shared with her husband were not much better.
“They had only been there for about two weeks, however, the residence was also in a very horrible state,” Sgt. Gibbs said.
Trash was spilling out onto the floor and across countertops, dirty laundry was piled two feet high, and again, food molded throughout the baby’s swing.
Police also found various drugs in Grayson’s purse, including six syringes. According to the affidavit, “5 a.m. was the last time Mrs. Grayson shot up.”
“In this case, we’re probably talking about drug addiction, probably opiate addiction,” Sgt. Gibbs said. “And it seems to create an apathy to not care about anything.”
DHS took the baby and four other children to safety.
Grayson is charged with child neglect and unlawful possession of a controlled drug.
Police said charges may be pending against her husband as well.