Police Rescue Kid from DISGUSTING House of Horrors

“So, you have a child that lives here?” “Uh, yes.” “What’s all over the floor right here? ‘Cause that… that’ll kill them.” “Yeah.” “Oh, notice all the flies. Look at these bugs.”

It’s 8:59 a.m. in Peoria County when police get an alarming call from a UPS driver with details so disturbing they rushed to the scene immediately.

“Officer Carr. My body camera is on.” “But I tried knocking on the door and the door kind of opens up a little bit right here, but he ran back to this house. I don’t even know if he belongs here.” “Okay. Is he inside?” “Yeah, he’s right here.” “Hey, bud. You doing all right? I’m Officer Carr.” “He doesn’t talk. He’s probably about to, you know, I don’t know what to do.” “Hey, bud. Do you live here? Hey, bud. You want to come out here so I can just… I can help you out. You just trying to get back inside. Do you mind if I get going, officer?” “Yeah. Can I just get your name?” “So freak. But yeah, you said you saw… you saw him down here by the little trike?” “Right down here and he’s about ready to cross the intersection. I’m like, ‘Dude, you’re going to get run over.’ I mean, like a car. And I asked him, I’m like, ‘Are you supposed to be out here? You look awful young.’ And then he just got out of the little trike. So, he run all the way up the street.” “Okay.” “And he has like paint on him and…” “Okay.” “Yeah. So, I don’t know what’s…” “All right. So, you just saw… you saw him down there. You asked him if he was okay and then he ran back up here. I try to get into the front door.” “Okay.” “Front door is open, but he can… I don’t know what’s going on.” “Okay. You doing all right, bud? You’re all covered in paint, dude. Knuckles, what you doing in there? You got your… You got your mom’s phone.” “Mommy here. Mommy here.” “All right. I’m going to knock on the door. Okay.”

The UPS driver described seeing a three-year-old boy walking near an intersection with no parent in sight.

“Is there any call history with juveniles or children at this address?” “You doing all right, bud? You got your phone there? Yeah. Pekin Police Department.” “I know they sleep in, stay up late. I don’t know if we’re going to get an answer.” “Okay. Is there… Do they have a child that lives here at all?” “As far as I know, they have a boy, but we don’t…” “Young boy.” “Yeah.” “Okay.” “We don’t ever really see him outside.” “Okay. Yeah. So the young boy was out playing around and there’s no parents around. He’s sitting on the front porch right now. So I’m just trying to make contact with parents. You said they sleep in pretty long?” “They normally do when we are outside.” “Okay. If you saw the child, would you recognize him?” “Yeah.” “Okay. Would you mind walking up? I’m just trying to… I want to make sure this kid lives here and isn’t a child that…” “I appreciate it.” “No, that’s good. Yeah, ’cause he ran. UPS stopped and asked if he was okay and then he ran back to his address and he’s just up here. You doing all right, bud?” “Yeah, that’s their kid.” “That’s theirs. Okay. All right. Well, I appreciate it.” “No problem, officer.” “Thank you. That was a good morning.”

While officers are struggling to enter the house right now, what they will witness when they step in eventually will rattle them.

“Hello, Police Department. Hi. Mind stepping out and talking to me?” “Uh, yeah, sure.” “Um, so you have a child that lives here?” “Uh, yes.” “What’s his name? Inside?” “Uh, yes.” “Is he… are you sure?” “Yeah. Yeah, he’s up running around right now.” “Okay. Well, he’s out here. He was down… He was down the street actually.” “Oh my god.” “The UPS driver stopped and tried to get a hold of him. All right.”

This is Austin Peter. And judging from his reaction, it’s clear he has no idea how much this moment is about to change his life.

“Okay. Yeah. I have no idea at all how that happened,” Austin said, beginning to cry. “Okay.” “Like I was in his room. I was in his room picking up and like just picking up, uh, a little bit and then, um, he was just in the living room running around and yeah, I never left any doors open or anything.” “Is anybody else home?” “My wife, but she’s, uh, she’s asleep right now.” “Okay. Can I get your name?” “Austin. Yeah.” “It’s okay. Okay. And you said your wife’s inside?” “Yeah. Yeah. She’s… she, uh, hasn’t been feeling great recently, so she’s just getting some extra sleep right now.” “Okay. Mind if I speak to her as well? Huh? You mind if I speak to her as well?” “Um, you can… she’s right…” “What’s his name? It’s okay. It’s okay. How long’s he been covered in paint?” “Um, since, uh, late last night. Like he was asleep when I got home. I got home from work and I mean, he did this while I was at work. So my wife… my wife’s handicapped. She…” “You said… I’m sorry. You said your wife’s what?” “Sorry.” “Yeah, you’re good.” “She’s, uh, handicapped. She, uh, can’t really get up on her own. Like she can… and our house was kind of tired out last night and she let me know that she couldn’t get up to give him a bath or anything. So I was going to give him a bath.”

“You guys got power and water to the house and everything? Any other kids or just a little guy?” “Just him and then we got a couple cats.” “How long’s he been in that diaper? ‘Cause it looks like…” “I haven’t been able to get him dressed yet or get him changed yet.” “Hey. Hey, don’t do it. Did you get up around this morning?” “Um, I’ve been up since 6:00 and then he got up… uh, he got up a little… What time is it now?” “Well, it’s about 9:10.” “Yeah.” “Can I go chat with her real quick? Just make sure she’s okay. I mean, you just tell me how to get there if you want. If you want to hang out here.” “Um, yeah. Like I said, he’s made a little bit of a mess. So, she’s right in here.” “Okay.” “Hey, babe. Babe. Babe. Babe. Pops.” “All right, we’re good. We can go back outside and wait, man. That’s okay. Are you okay? Are you okay? I’m Police Department. Just making sure you’re all right. All right. Just want to make sure you’re all right. We can go wait back outside, man. There’s kittens everywhere in here.” “Yep.” “Look out, little killer.” “One of the strays that we brought in recently had kittens.” “Had kittens. Yeah. I got you. Yeah. We’ll just go outside.”

Given the condition of the house, it’s clear the officers have to take the child away from Austin. But first, they have to explain what’s happening to him.

“So, I’m sure they said our cameras are on, man. So, what’s happening now with given the nature of the call and everything, I’m sure you’re kind of aware what’s happening. Um, we have a policy to go by. We had to contact DCFS. I’ll be completely blunt with you, man. I’m not saying this to be insulting. That inside of the house is unsuitable for a child.” “Okay.” “Um, with that being said, here’s how it’s going to roll out. We’re going to hang out here. We don’t want to cause any more stress or anything to the child or anything like that. On a technical level speaking, the child is in our protective custody currently. We’re not going to remove you guys from each other. We’re just going to hang out here together. Okay. If that makes sense or need me to explain that further for you.” “Are you taking him?” “On paper right now, the child is in our protective custody. Um, physically, I’m not removing him from you right now. We’re going to hang out here till we hear back from DCFS and they’re going to come out and meet. Okay, that’s how this is going to go. Um, again, everything I’m doing is in the best welfare of the child. Everything that I’ve seen in the home. Again, I’m not saying any of this to be insulting or derogatory towards you. It’s not right for the child to be living in that.”

“He seems well-fed, and I’ve told everyone that he seems well-fed. Outside of that, though, he is filthy. Um, that diaper’s been on him, I would assume, for several days by the looks of it. Um, he’s got matted hair. I mean, I get if you come home tired, man, it is, but at the same time, kid needs to be cleaned up before bed or something. And we have no idea how long the kid was outside. He could have been outside for hours.” “Correct.” “If… I mean, and I know you said you didn’t hear him knocking. My suspicion is that you were probably asleep and didn’t realize the kid got out, and the only reason we got you woken up is ’cause I pretty much threw your door open and yelled pretty distinctively trying to get your attention. Okay.”

“So, just so everyone’s on the same page again, as of this moment, um, your son is in our protective custody. We’re not going to physically remove him at this point, but anywhere he goes, we’re going with, which is why we’re hanging out outside because I don’t want to be inside the residence right now. All right. Um, hang tight with Officer Carr here for a second. We got to make a phone call. Okay. On board with that?” “Yeah.”

“Hello, I’m Officer Younglove with the Pekin Police Department. I just got to let you know my body cam’s on. I have a situation over here in Pekin regarding a child.” “Okay. Is it a domestic abuse or…” “No, ma’am. So, this kid, an unknown caller called in for a child walking in the middle of an intersection with no supervision. The kid has no shirt on. He has pants on that’s covered in paint. The child’s covered in paint. His diaper is sagging down to his knees. It’s been soiled several times. And according to the dad, the paint incident occurred sometime last night. And the dad got home from work around midnight last night. And he said he was up by around 6:00 a.m. this morning. So, nothing has been done with the child. He was completely unaware that his child was no longer in the residence and in the middle of an intersection playing around, and it took us a while to even make contact with the father at the residence.” “Okay. Yes, I can take that information. So, let’s start by getting your information. You said you’re from the Pekin Police Department?” “Pekin Police Department. That’s correct.” “Okay. And I can take that information and get these steps involved. Where is the child now? I wanted to know where the child is. The child is with you all. Is he safe now?” “He is with us and the father. We are still out on scene talking.” “Okay. All right. So, let’s get your name first.” “Uh, real quick, ma’am. Um, this is another officer, Officer McMene as well. Um, this child is not… We have not taken custody of the child. He’s still physically with the parent. But, uh, we don’t like how this is looking and we wanted to reach out to you guys and see if this is something you guys would want us to take.” “Okay. Something I’ll have to send out to the field. They’ll make that determination. Okay. So, I’m going to do it as quickly as I can.” “Thank you, ma’am. Thank you.”

With child services now aware of the situation, the officers wait for their supervisor to arrive.

“My camera’s on. How’s it going?” “Doing all right.” “Am I interrupting anything? I’m Paul with the City of Pekin. Um, I’m with the Police Department. I’m the code enforcement guy. I have a body camera on. I have to let you know that they’re a little concerned about the conditions of the house inside.” “Yeah. Yeah. I’ve been in the process of cleaning as well. So…” “Okay. So, do you mind if we take a look and see what’s going on?” “Uh, sure.” “Yeah. Also, if you want to holler in, just let her know that we’re coming in. Just let her stay out here with Officer Young.” “Okay.” “You just noticed the flies. We’re good to come in, right? Get some pictures. Notice all the flies. What’s all over the floor right here?” “Powder. He got into our bathroom last year. Popped in there once in a while.” “Okay. No, not that. How old is that baby powder?” “Um…” “Is it Johnson & Johnson baby powder?” “Um, I do not know what the…” “Do you know where the thing is for it?” “Uh, no. It’s probably stuffed in the garbage. Haven’t been able to take this out of the garbage can. But, um, we have one of these. So that’s like…” “How long has it been there?” “It’s been there since like last night.” “Yeah. But baby powder is airborne toxic. Okay. I mean that… that can make you and your wife extremely sick and almost like, in some cases, it can cause some really bad damage to your lungs. Okay. So there might be a situation where you guys are going to have to leave the house. All right. Is there some place that your wife could… you and your wife could go?” “Um, I don’t know honestly. Like I mean…” “Okay. You know anywhere that…” “I mean, I just haven’t gotten to this part. Like it’s been there since late last night.” “So you got animals too. How many cats do you have?” “Yeah, we… we have two that are ours and we have like a stray that we brought in that had kittens.” “How many kittens are here?” “Uh, four.” “Okay. Yeah. So, I’m going to have these guys get a hold of animal control and come out. Okay. Um, I would get… Yeah, ’cause that… that’ll kill ’em. Yeah. Honestly, can we take a look what’s going on back there?” “Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.” “You know, your phone’s on the ground down here.” “Uh, that is a completely different phone. Uh, that one’s broken. I use that one at the moment. I had one that I guess took off with.” “What’s in here? That’s his medical. Can we open that?” “Yeah, go ahead.” “Come on, buddy.” “Yeah, I’ve been trying to clean up in here as well.” “Sorry for animal control. We have contact here as well. I’m going to get out of his way while you walk. I’m being cautious not to step on an animal here. See all the flies on the roof. I’m going to try to get a video on here of these. Don’t typically use the regular camera, but we’re going to get a video of the flies. Okay. Can we look in the backyard?” “Uh, yeah. Yeah, there’s a door over here to my room. Right there.” “Are there any animals back here? Dog. Go to the back one of the windows in the backyard and put that on there.”

“Feel awesome. So, the Dream Center in Peoria, you guys, uh, because of the type of family that you are, you’d be able to get a hold of them about possibly a place to stay. Um, Misty, the social worker, they contacted her for the City of Pekin. You could also reach out to her down at the police station. Um, not only is the condition of the house unlivable, but it’s also dangerous to your health. Okay. So, what’s going on is you guys are going to get sicker and sicker. So, right now we’re going to placard the house as uninhabitable. Um, and while you’re finishing up with him, just to give you an update, you guys need to be out of here by this afternoon. Okay. So, grab what you can that you need and what will happen is, if anybody’s in the house then and we get called out, then we’ll board it up and you guys won’t get in it at all. Okay? And then until the landlord calls us and we figure out how we’re going to do to get the place cleaned out… nobody can be… it’s just not safe to be in the house. Okay. We’ll vent if we have to, then the city will get a warrant and then if anybody’s in it they’ll get arrested and taken to jail. Okay? So, um, I want you to call me and let me know where you guys end up. Okay? You got my number on that card as well. All right? And then, uh, make sure that the landlord, whoever you guys… this Mary person gets a hold of me sometime today, hopefully. Okay. All right. We’ll let you finish up with animal control.”

Austin Peter was arrested and charged with endangering the life of a child. The boy was placed in protective custody and there is no update on whether he was ever released into the care of another family member.