Police Say Mom of 4 Abandoned Kids in Apartment So Disgusting Smell ‘Was Burning My Nostrils’

Lindsey Powell/Facebook; Vernon, CT Police Department/Facebook

Police in Connecticut have arrested a mother of four accused of abandoning her kids in deplorable conditions. Lindsey Powell, 40, allegedly left her three daughters and son in a home strewn with trash, human and animal waste, and moldy food. Police reportedly found Powell several hours away in upstate New York. Now, she’s in jail with a $250,000 bond set.

CT Insider reported that Officer Gregory Webster of the Vernon Police Department arrived at the family’s apartment on November 8, 2024, after a concerned neighbor called the police. He called the conditions “deplorable.” The children allegedly told police they had no idea where their mother was or how to contact her. Investigators got to work, however, and a short time later, police put Powell in custody.

A neighbor reported Powell.

A neighbor called police stating they had video of Powell leaving the apartment around 4 a.m. on November 8, according to court documents obtained by CT Insider. The neighbor also claimed to see Powell’s 11-year-old daughter walking outside without shoes hours later, looking for her mother’s car. Webster went to the scene to check on the children a short time later.

The apartment reportedly reeked of horrific odors.

Webster wrote in his report that the 11-year-old opened the door, and her three younger siblings stood naked behind her. “I was hit with the smell of cat urine, rotting food, and feces. It was difficult to stand in the doorway because the stench originating from inside the apartment was burning my nostrils,” the police officer recalled.

The children said they had no way to contact their mother.

According to the police report, the children’s cellphone could not make outgoing calls, and even if they could, Powell did not leave them her contact information. The mother allegedly left them in a filthy apartment with nothing to eat. Webster reported that the home was littered with trash, moldy food, clothes, and feces from humans and cats. He also noted bugs on the ceiling.

“It was difficult to walk in the living room without stepping on something or a bodily fluid,” he wrote.

The children apparently became accustomed to the conditions.

According to CT Insider, Webster wrote the children had no proper beds to sleep on, but there were cribs littered with trash.

“I had difficulty standing in the bedroom for longer than a few seconds because of this smell. The children, however, entered this bedroom without issue. I believed the children had become nose blind to the awful stench of the bedroom,” he wrote.

The officer also noted he tried to protect the children from stepping in waste.

“I also had to stop the children multiple time[s] from walking in the human and cat feces on the floor.”

After spending hours at the apartment with the children and Powell never returning, the Department of Children and Families took custody of the children.

Police finally tracked Powell down in upstate New York.

CT Insider reported that a license plate reader helped track Powell to Elmira, New York, hours away from her children. Police arrested the mother in New York and brought her back to Connecticut.

According to online court records, a judge ordered her to jail on a $250,000 bond, charged with four counts of felony risk of injury to a child. She has a scheduled court date December 17.