PONTIAC, MI – A 35-year-old Michigan woman has pleaded no contest to three counts of first-degree child abuse after authorities say she abandoned her children for years in a Pontiac home where they lived in severe neglect and unsanitary conditions. The case came to light following a welfare check on Feb. 14, when deputies discovered the children, then ages 15, 13, and 12, living alone in conditions described as hazardous and uninhabitable.
Kelli Bryant entered the plea in connection with allegations that she left the children to care for themselves beginning in 2020 or 2021. According to statements provided in court, the children had stopped attending school and rarely left the residence during that time. Bryant’s parental rights were terminated in April, and the children have since been placed with relatives.
Conditions inside Pontiac home detailed in court
Prosecutors said the children were found living in a “squalid apartment without running water or functioning toilets,” according to the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office. Garbage inside the home was reportedly piled as high as four feet, with feces found throughout the residence, including in the bathtub, and mold present in multiple areas.
The children told authorities they spent most of their time watching television and playing video games. Food was occasionally dropped off by Bryant or an unidentified individual. The oldest child slept on a mattress on the floor, while the two younger children slept on pizza boxes.
Oakland County Sheriff’s Detective John Brish described the scene during testimony, saying he had “never smelled a home that smelled that bad without a decomposing body present.” Brish also testified that the children showed signs of severe neglect, including difficulty walking due to overgrown toenails and a lack of basic life skills.
Statements and prior conviction add to case
During an interview with investigators, Bryant reportedly admitted responsibility for her actions. “I hurt my children. I sacrificed my children, probably,” she told Brish, according to court testimony.
Authorities also noted that Bryant had limited contact with her children during the period they were left alone, maintaining some communication with her oldest child but reportedly having no direct interaction with the two younger children.
In a separate case earlier this year, Bryant pleaded no contest to welfare fraud charges related to receiving public assistance funds intended for the care of the same children. She was sentenced in June in that matter.
Bryant is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 1 in the child abuse case.
