A 35-year-old Pontiac mother was sentenced to prison after abandoning her three children in a home without running water, according to court records.
Kelli Bryant, 35, lived elsewhere in Pontiac, investigators said.
The mother abandoned her three children when they were about 9, 10 and 12 years old, authorities said.
She left them without working toilets, schooling or medical care, according to court documents.
Her two daughters slept on pizza boxes beside rotting food, mold, human feces and trash piled four feet high, officials said.
Her son reported that he left the house only twice during the years of isolation, once just to touch grass, records state.
Bryant removed every smoke detector inside the home so an alarm would not draw attention, investigators said. She also removed the children from school and lied about where they were, cutting them off from adults who could have found them, officials said.
Prepared food was left outside the children’s door about once a week, according to investigators.
On February 14, 2025, a landlord requested a welfare check following months of unpaid rent, authorities said.
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Responding workers needed hazmat suits and gas masks to enter the residence, records state.
He had never smelled a home that bad without a decomposing body inside, a detective testified.
Deputies finally found the siblings when they were 12, 13 and 15 years old, officials said. The children wore filthy clothes, had matted hair and had toenails several inches long that made walking difficult, police said.
While the children survived on food left outside, Bryant collected $29,397 in public assistance meant for them, prosecutors said.
Bryant pleaded no contest to three counts of first-degree child abuse, according to court records.
At her September 1 sentencing, she received 6 to 30 years on each count, served at the same time, with credit for 236 days, records show. The six-year minimum does not guarantee her release after six years, court records state.
The mother also pleaded no contest to three welfare-fraud counts, court documents state. She received time served and two years of probation, according to records.
In April 2026, a court terminated Bryant’s parental rights, records show.
All three children were diagnosed with PTSD and struggled with intellectual and learning disabilities, records state.
The children now live with a relative, attend school and are making progress, according to records.
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