Children were allegedly found to be sleeping on the living room floor on filthy mattresses with flies and cockroaches swarming around them.
Jordan Wilson is the dad of three of the children (Image: Putnam County Sheriff’s Office)
A baby has been rescued from what authorities are describing as a “house of horrors,” covered in animal feces, urine and smelled so bad a responding officer almost vomited.
Police say flies were swarming around mattresses used by other children found in the home with mold
Four adults have been arrested in at the Florida home – Jordan Tyler Wilson, 30, Melissa Keal, 50, and John Keal, 52. These arrests came a week after 26-year-old Jodie Cannon was charged with aggravated child neglect with great bodily harm and child neglect after her six-week-old baby was found to be suffering from severe medical neglect. Four children in total were rescued from the home, three were biological children of Cannon and Wilson, and the other child was adopted.
Melissa Keal, 50, is Cannon’s biological mother; John Keal, 52, Cannon’s stepfather; and Jordan Wilson, 30, the biological father of the children. They have been charged with neglect.
According to court documents, officers with the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office came to the home along with members of SWAT to search the property. They had been tipped off by the Florida Department of Children and Families that a child had been living there and the home posed structural hazards.
Mom Jodie Cannon is led away by the police(Image: Putnam County Sheriff’s Office)
Putnam County Sheriff H.D. “Gator” DeLoach said: “Words cannot describe the house of horrors these children were living in.
“Animal feces and urine everywhere, black mold, flies – small children trying to navigate hazardous flooring conditions – and the sad part is they have grown around all of this, not knowing they were dealt the absolute worst conditions I can imagine living in a First World country.”
After Cannon’s 6-week-old infant was reportedly hospitalized, officers later obtained the search warrant for the residence, where the mom lived with her children, Wilson, Melissa and John Keal, and another child.
From left to right: Melissa Keal, 50, Jordan Tyler Wilson, 30, and John Keal, 52(Image: Putnam County Sheriff’s Office)
Investigators noticed a “strong odor of animal urine” as they entered the home and they allegedly found the living room, where the family slept, swarming with flies.
While Melissa and John Keal allegedly slept on couches the child slept on a “filthy mattress on the floor.”
“There was an infestation of flies not only in the living room, but also in the kitchen and hallway,” the affidavit states. “The flies were also swarming the area where the juvenile was sleeping.”
Animal feces and urine was found throughout the home and the kitchen sink was full of dirty kitchenware that “had not been cleaned for a large amount of time.” The floor beneath the sink had started to rot and develop mold.
The house has been declared unfit to be inhabited(Image: CBS)
Wilson’s bedroom was allegedly “in cluttered, deplorable conditions,” with flies and cockroaches crawling around the room.
The home’s fridge allegedly contained “barely enough food for all four people to eat” and emitted such a foul odor that it “almost made a SWAT team member vomit,” investigators wrote.
The home was declared as unsafe and a child was removed from the home because of the alleged neglect, according to the affidavit.
The State Attorney’s Office determined there was probable cause to charge the adults with child neglect.
After the search the remaining children were removed from the home.
DeLoach added: “I applaud those who have stepped up to show these young children what a safe home, family and love should look like. The children and the foster parents caring for them have a long road ahead of them.”