Alabama family members accused of locking up their five children in metal cages are the focus of a new true crime episode of Dr. Oz, with CrimeOnline’s Nancy Grace joining in.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, three people were arrested in January after deputies conducting a welfare check at a home in eastern Alabama. Authorities found wooden cages and “evidence that the children had been locked in the cages on multiple occasions,” according to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office.
Four of the five children, ages aged 3, 4, 10 and 11, were present when deputies and representatives from the Lee County Department of Human Resources (DHR) arrived for the welfare check on January 13. The fifth child, an 8-month-old infant, was not present. All five are now in the custody of the DHR.
Deputies arrested Kylla Michelle Mann, 30; Pamela Deloris Bond, 66; and James H. Bond, 69, and charged them with aggravated child abuse and reckless endangerment.
Mann is the mother of all five children, and the Bonds are either their grandparents or great-grandparents, according to Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones.
Dr. Oz and Grace discuss shocking new details in the case. How long was the abuse going on and why didn’t anyone help?
Kylla Man’s sister, Courtney also joins the show and explains that she didn’t even realize the alleged abuse had been going on until someone sent a photo to her phone, showing the children in wooden cages.
Courtney: “I had received a picture on my phone with kids that were in these-.”
Dr. Oz: “What we’re seeing now, in cages.”
Courtney: “Yeah.”
Dr. Oz: “So that picture was sent to the family by Kylla, your sister?”
Courtney: “Yes.”
Dr. Oz: “The mom? Why would she send you a picture of her children in a cage and not just call the police?”
Courtney: “She.. I guess thought maybe she wouldn’t get into any trouble just because I mean, it wasn’t her house. I mean she was living there, but it was primary residence of her grandparents.”
Dr. Oz: “Was she fighting with your grandparents?”
Courtney: “I don’t know, they just always argue and she’s not the kind of person to really just let things go or she lies to get her way or she, yeah, she just does things that make situations not that good.”
Dr. Oz: “None of you had any inkling that she was capable of this kind of evil?”
Courtney: “No. There’s situations or when she would come back and forth from Alabama, family to family you know? Her kids, they weren’t progressing like they should. They weren’t socialized. They weren’t able to talk. They would just moan and groan and grunt at things that they wanted or and these kids are like three-four.”
Catch the entire episode of “OZ” on Tuesday, January 28. Check local listings for air times.
[Feature Photo: Lee County Sheriff’s Office]
