‘Sleeping on pizza boxes, surrounded by filth’: Mich. mom who abandoned her 3 kids in deplorable home gets 6 to 30 years
09/05/2026 2:31 pm PDT
OAKLAND COUNTY, Mich. (TCN) -- A 35-year-old woman has been sentenced to six to 30 years behind bars after pleading no contest to child abuse charges earlier this year.
In February 2025, Kelli Bryant’s three children, ages 12, 13, and 15, were found living in her home without her. Bryant had not paid the rent for several months, so the landlord called the police to request a welfare check. The children alleged Bryant had not lived in the home for years and only made contact with one of the children when she dropped off food or other items for them.
The children reportedly had matted hair and had a hard time walking because their toenails were so long. The home was in such poor condition that it had to be processed by technicians wearing hazmat suits. Trash in the home was reportedly piled several feet high, the bathtub was overflowing with feces, and two of the children slept on pizza boxes.
Bryant was arrested on Feb. 16. Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said, “Throughout my extensive career in this field, I have never encountered a scenario as dire and prolonged as this one, involving abandonment, neglect, and abuse of the highest order. This situation would be deemed deplorable and intolerable for an animal, and it is utterly unacceptable for your three children.”
He continued, “The young girls have been deprived of any interaction with their mother and have not received an education for years. The far-reaching consequences of this abuse must be acknowledged. We look forward to presenting this case to the prosecutor and ensuring that she faces the consequences of her actions.”
Bryant pleaded no contest to welfare fraud charges in December 2025 in connection with collecting her children’s benefits after abandoning them. On July 16, she pleaded no contest to the three counts of child abuse she was charged with.
Bryant was sentenced to a minimum of six years behind bars on Sept. 1.
During the sentencing hearing, Oakland County Sixth Circuit Court Judge Mary Ellen Brennan said, “If the Department of Corrections housed you the way you housed them, you’d file a lawsuit against them. And you’d win,” Law & Crime reports. “During this time, your needs were met. Not perfectly, but you moved about in the world. You used toilets that flush. You had human contact. You had your physical needs met. And you were not sleeping on pizza boxes, surrounded by filth.”
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