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Lindsey Powell, of Vernon in Tolland County, was arrested and charged on Monday, Nov. 18, with four counts of risk of injury to a minor, police said.
Vernon police were called to a home on Terrace Drive on Friday, Nov. 8, for a welfare check, and they found four of Powell's young children unsupervised, officials said. Three of the children were naked and the oldest, an 11-year-old girl, had a sweatshirt and pants but no shoes, according to a redacted police report.
The children had no way of calling 911 or contacting anyone for help, authorities said.
Police wrote bugs crawled on the walls and ceiling and flies swarmed rotting food and feces throughout the house. They said the scene was "deplorable."
The floor of the living room was covered in trash, toys, dirt, old food, and clothes. It was difficult to walk in the living room without stepping on something or a bodily fluid. Where there was room to walk, the floor was covered in dirt.
The only thing in the refrigerator were jugs of rotten milk and juice, police said. The children were dirty and had no place to clean themselves. The tub in the upstairs bathroom was filled with stagnant standing water deep enough for a child to drown in.
There was a mattress on the floor in one of the bedrooms and cribs in another room filled with rotting food, bugs, trash, and human and animal feces, Vernon police said.
The officer wrote their eyes watered from the stench in that bedroom, and they had to repeatedly stop the children from stepping in feces. The 6-year-old was found eating old pasta they'd found on the floor in there.
Officers found clothing for the children and put diapers on the youngest. Neighbors gave the kids food to eat. Police said they showed signs of "rationing and hoarding," which they believed to be instinctual from being forced to go without eating for long periods.
Investigators, working with the Connecticut Department of Children and Families, tracked Powell to Elmira, New York, a more than four-hour drive from the home in Vernon.
When officers called her, she lied and said her 13-year-old daughter was watching the younger children, the report said. The girl is 11.
Powell explained she was depressed and overwhelmed from caring for the kids. A neighbor's surveillance video shows her leaving the apartment around 4 a.m. the day police were called.
Officers were with the kids for over 7 hours, and their mother never returned home, the report continued.
Investigators later tracked Powell to Poughkeepsie, New York, where she was arrested, Vernon police said. Investigators said they did not believe she intended to come home despite her promises.
Multiple neighbors told police they believed Powell was going to New York to prostitute herself and would steal her 11-year-old daughter's shoes so the girl couldn't go to school and would have to stay home and care for the other kids, the report said.
The girl's principal at Maple Street School told police they had given the child multiple pairs of shoes and sets of clothing that were not found inside the apartment. Officers believe Powell had stolen them.
Authorities extradited Powell from New York to Connecticut on Monday to face charges. A judge ordered Powell held on a $250,000 bond, Vernon police said.
Connecticut Department of Children and Families took custody of the children.
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