Aunt, uncle of Neosho school children bound over for trial on 7 counts of child abuse

 

Two Goodman residents who were charged with seven counts of child abuse and seven counts of endangering the welfare of a child after waiving their preliminary hearings Wednesday in McDonald County Circuit Court.

An April 15 arraignment in trial court is scheduled for Kyle Condreay (DOB 1982) and an April 14 arraignment is set for Christina Bennett (DOB 1989).

The charges were filed against Condreay, Bennett and Brandi Jo Rudd, (DOB 1983) Goodman, following a law enforcement visit that was prompted by a Children's Division report.

The Children's Division was alerted by the Neosho R-5 School District, which reported one of the children said she was struck in the head repeatedly, kicked and forced to sleep on the floor with no blanket "for disciplinary reasons."

Conditions in the home were described by the Goodman Police Department in the probable cause statement:

After securing the suspects in the patrol units, Sgt. Ledford and I conducted a walk-through of the residence in search of anybody else inside. I immediately noticed that there was marijuana paraphernalia on the kitchen table.

Just beyond the table the floor of the house was falling in, with plants growing through the walls. The kitchen was covered with cockroaches, dirty dishes, and broken appliances.

Just off of the kitchen was a room that was later confirmed as {the children's} bedroom. In the room was a particle board wood floor covered in dog feces and urine.

In the comer of the room was a "blanket" that the victim stated was her "pillow." Further walk through led us to observe the bathroom in which a majority of the floor was missing around the bathtub and the toilet. There was also human feces located.

There was also a hole in the wall directly to {another} bedroom. The "adults' room" was littered with trash and clothing, and it appeared that the ceiling was collapsing. The back bedroom had four bunkbeds; all had a small blanket however no sheets or pillows were observed by me.

When the Goodman officer learned that Bennett was headed to the school to pick up the children, the Neosho Police Department was called and asked to pick up Bennett and not allow the children to go with her.

Interviews at the Children's Center indicated all seven children "were subject to abuse by being hit in the head for punishment with an autistic child being the primary target, according to the probable cause statement.

One of the children, who had recently been kicked was having problem breathing and was sent to a hospital to be checked for possible broken ribs.

The preliminary hearing for Brandi Rudd, who was described in the probable cause statement as the mother of some of the children, was scheduled for March 25, but was postponed.