Friday, July 1, 2005

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3 kids removed from filthy home

Parents face multiple counts of child cruelty

By LEE WILLIAMS
lwilliams@TheCitizenNews.com

A Peachtree City couple were hauled off to jail on three counts of first-degree cruelty to children Monday when police discovered the expecting pair and their three children were living in conditions deemed unfit for humans.

Angela Lee Katterhenry, 24, of 109 Sweetgum Road, Peachtree City, was arrested at her home. Her boyfriend, 25-year-old Bryan Dennis Evans, was arrested at a location on Double Trace in Peachtree City, after one of their children wandered away from the home and ended up on a neighbor’s golf cart.

When officers arrived at the home to return the child, they were greeted by a house that looked normal on the outside, but was filled with human urine, feces and dirty diapers on the inside.

At Katterhenry’s and Evans’ bond hearing Wednesday, Peachtree City Police Detective Sgt. Jennifer Michel described the condition the child was found by police.

Michel testified the child was naked. His hair was matted with feces and filled with lice and his body smelled as if it had not been bathed in days, the detective said.

Next, Michel detailed the conditions the children, 2-year-old Christian Evans, 3-year-old Brooklyn Evans and 5-year-old Devan Evans, allegedly were living in.

“There was feces that appeared on the walls,” she said. “When you go into the home, your feet squish on the carpet from urine and also feces on the carpet. It’s my understanding the child has autism.”

In the criminal warrant filed, police said hundreds of dirty diapers were found stuffed behind the sofa and in holes in the walls.

Michel testified that Katterhenry told police that “they” had smoked crack cocaine two days prior. Methamphetamine also was used by the pregnant mother, Michel said.

Michel asked Fayette County Magistrate Court Judge Charles Floyd Jr. to deny bond against Katterhenry, who is seven months pregnant.

Griffin Judicial Circuit District Attorney Scott Ballard asked why Katterhenry should be denied bond just because she is pregnant.

“She doesn’t have anything to lose,” Michel said. “I believe they are planning on taking the child into custody at birth.”

Katterhenry’s attorney, Lloyd Walker, asked Michel if she was familiar with autistic children and if she knew they are known to wander and smear feces on the wall.

Michel agreed, but stated, “But they also don’t live in the filth that they are living in.”

A Fayette County Department of Family and Children Services worker removed the children from the home Monday.

Walker argued that since her children were removed, Katterhenry was no longer a threat to the children or a flight risk. He asked Floyd to give her house arrest.

Floyd queried where she would be home-arrested to. The property owner, former federal magistrate and current Peachtree City attorney Steve Kiser, is in the process of evicting the pair. The locks on the doors already have been changed, officials said.

Floyd denied bond for Katterhenry, but added he would revisit the issue at her preliminary hearing July 26.

Floyd agreed to grant a $25,000 bond per count or $75,000 for Evans. Evans was still in custody Thursday afternoon.