Couple kept 7-year-old boy with autism in a storage locker in their filthy home, cops say

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

A Tennessee couple has been arrested for allegedly keeping a 7-year-old non-verbal boy with autism locked inside a storage locker with urine-soaked blankets and covered in feces at their filthy home.

Mikki Dee Moody, 36, and Sean David Moody, 39, were charged with aggravated child abuse and neglect and child endangerment after authorities searched their home on an unrelated case and came across the horrific child abuse, according to the Carter County Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies who executed a search warrant at the home on Blevins Hollow Road in Carter County found the living conditions to be “unsanitary.” In the middle of the room was a storage trunk.

“The trunk contained urine-soaked blankets, a pillow, half-eaten pizza, and clothing that contained a substance consistent with blood,” sheriff’s office investigator Preston White said.

He said there was exposed wiring protruding from wall outlets and animal and human feces throughout the home.

The Moodys allegedly gave the boy food and then locked him in the trunk, according to the authorities. It was not clarified by law enforcement if the boy was related to the couple or how he came to be living in their home. Deputies notified the Department of Children’s Services who then took the boy into their care.

Agents with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation took Sean Moody into custody on an unrelated abuse of a vulnerable adult charge that stems from him mistreating his adult sister with a developmental disability.

“During the investigation, agents determined that the victim was being abused by her brother, Sean Moody, who also served as her caregiver,” TBI agents said.

Both adults were booked into the Carter County Detention Center on Thursday. Mikki Moody was released from custody after posting a $75,000 bond while Sean Moody remains in jail.