Mom and Stepdad Arrested After Allegedly Moving Away and Leaving Daughter Alone in Home Filled with Dog Feces and Urine By Kimberlee Speakman

A mother and stepfather have been arrested after allegedly leaving their 14-year-old daughter to live alone with pets in a squalid home.

Marchelle Lynn Pertilla and Eugene Medrano were arrested and charged with child abuse and animal cruelty, according to local outlets WALA, WKRG and KOLD, which cited the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office. (MBSO)

PEOPLE reached out to the sheriff’s office for comment on Saturday, Jan. 10, but did not receive an immediate response. 

The MCSO told the local outlets that their investigation into the case began on Jan. 4 after employees at a Dollar General filed a report about seeing a teenage girl stumbling down the road in front of the store.

When officers arrived on the scene, they located the girl ,who told them that she had been experiencing dizziness and stomach pain, and she was taken to the hospital for medical treatment. 

At the hospital, detectives interviewed the teen, and she claimed that she had been living alone at her home with her dogs since about February of last year and that she had not seen her mother and stepfather since Oct. 31. She also alleged that they had moved to Pensacola, Fla., without her, per KOLD.

She also told officers that her main communication with her parents was through the social media app Snapchat and that her mother would send food via DoorDash or Walmart deliveries, per the outlet.

The following day, officers in conjunction with Prichard Animal Control executed a search warrant at the teen’s mobile home in Eight Mile, which they said was covered in urine, feces, roaches and trash. They found one dog dead in a closet and six more dogs also living on the property, which were taken by Prichard Animal Control, per WALA and KOLD.

Detectives said, per the outlets, that they also found a handwritten note from the teenager that was titled “How many times mom tells me that she can’t pick me up!” and said that it had 87 tally marks on it.

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Officers located the teenager’s parents and interrogated them about the incident. Pertilla allegedly told detectives that the teenager was left alone because she refused to leave her service animals, per KOLD. It was unclear if any of the dogs are service animals.

Pertilla and Medrano were then reportedly detained and transported to Mobile County Metro Jail.

“We are continuing to search for answers on why this young girl was living alone and whether or not others tried calling law enforcement,” Mobile County Sheriff Paul Burch said in a statement to KOLD and WALA. 

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“Thank goodness for the employee with Dollar General who contacted the county, and we were able to respond. If you see something, say something. It could mean the difference between life or death,” he added.

If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.