Couple arrested after police found their two young children's bodies and faces covered in dried faeces

Monday, September 23, 2024 - A couple from Oklahoma, USA were arrested this month after their two young children were found covered in faeces in a home so horrific that authorities were forced to wear hazmat suits when they entered, according to police.

On September 12, three children under the age of five were rescued from a dirty home and Dakota Dodd, 24, and Aubrianna Freeman, 22, were arrested on child neglect charges.

Oklahoma City police said officers arrived at the home after a concerned neighbour called to report the incident

Dodd led police to a bedroom where they reportedly found the children, ages 3 and 4, with dried faeces on them.

The children’s mother faces child neglect charges, police said.

“There was faeces on the walls, faeces on the children. It was an absolutely disgusting scene,” Oklahoma City Police Master Sgt. Gary Knight told KOCO.

“Upon entry, officers described being almost overwhelmed by the smell of faeces and urine inside the residence.”

The young victims had “faeces accumulated on their fingernails, palms, feet, legs and face,” according to a police report obtained by Law and Crime.

The report by Law and Crime details horrific conditions throughout the home, including “piles of what appeared to be human faeces” on the second floor and a bedroom floor “covered in multiple piles of smeared and flattened human faeces,” according to the outlet.

KOCO reported that due to the conditions being so disgusting, investigators later wore hazmat suits when they investigated the crime scene.

Dodd, who is reportedly the children’s stepfather, allegedly admitted to police that he locked the children in the dirty room for more than 12 hours a day so that Freeman, their mother, could sleep and to “keep the children safe because of the neighbourhood,” News 9 reported, citing the police report.

An 11-month-old girl, Dodd’s biological daughter, was also removed from the home, the station reported.

The neighbour who reported the alleged neglect told News 9, she saw the naked children at the window.

“They looked at me like, ‘Help me,’” Barbara North said.

“They had shit all over their faces, hands and mouths,” North added.

Dodd and Freeman have been charged with five counts of child neglect, Law and Crime reported.