VERO BEACH, Fla. (WFLA) — A south Florida couple was arrested after police said they found their child wandering the neighborhood naked by herself Wednesday afternoon.
The Vero Beach Police Department said they received a call about an unattended and naked 4-year-old child who wandered into the yard of a homeowner around 1:13 p.m. The homeowner said they saw the child leave the house of a neighbor about 45 minutes earlier.
Officers said they then went to the house the neighbor said the child came from. There they found Michael and Chrystal Slosson, who said they were the child’s parents. There was also a 9-year-old child in the home.
According to VBPD, the parents told them they thought the child escaped through a bedroom window after they put her down for a nap.
Officers said while they were talking to the couple they could smell “strong odors” of urine and feces coming from the home and saw trash and feces covering living areas and walls. They described the living conditions as “deplorable and not suitable for children.”
The Department of Children and Families was called to the residence, where detectives conducted a walk through of the home. During the inspection, police said they found the walls and floors of the entire house were covered in dirt, trash and fecal matter. The kitchen was also full of dirty dishes and the refrigerator was covered in mold and had no edible food.
Based on the walk through, investigators said the house was “hazardous to anyone living there” and revealed the parents weren’t providing either child with proper care.
Michael and Chrystal were both arrested on two counts of child neglect and were taken to the Indian River County Jail on a $10,000 bond each.
Both children were taken in by DCF.
