BELIEVE IT OR NOT, AUTHORITIES SAY KELLI BRYANT ABANDONED HER THREE YOUNG CHILDREN IN SQUALOR FOR YEARS WHILE LIVING ELSEWHERE IN PONTIAC… AND SHE HAS NOW BEEN SENTENCED TO UP TO THIRTY YEARS IN PRISON AFTER PLEADING NO CONTEST TO FIRST-DEGREE CHILD ABUSE.
Kelli Bryant, 35, abandoned her three children when they were about nine, 10 and 12 years old.
She left them entirely alone.
The children lived inside the home without running water.
They had no working toilets.
They went without schooling or medical care.
Trash inside the residence was piled four feet high.
Mold and human feces covered the living space alongside rotting food.
Her two daughters slept on pizza boxes surrounded by the waste.
Her son said he left the house only twice during those years of isolation.
He said one of those trips outside was just to touch grass.
Bryant lived elsewhere in Pontiac throughout the abandonment.
Prepared food was left outside the children’s door approximately once a week.
Investigators said she removed every smoke detector from the house so that an alarm would not draw attention to the home.
She also removed the three children from school.
She lied about where the children were located.
Her deception cut them off completely from adults who might otherwise have found them.
And while her children lived in feces and survived on food left outside, Bryant collected $29,397 in public assistance meant for them.
She faced three counts of welfare fraud for taking those funds.
She pleaded no contest to all three welfare-fraud counts.
For those offenses, she received time served and two years of probation.
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But on February 14, 2025, a landlord finally requested a welfare check after months went by without rent being paid.
Deputies responded to the home to check on the occupants.
When deputies finally found the siblings, they had reached the ages of 12, 13 and 15.
The children were wearing filthy clothes.
They had matted hair.
Their toenails were several inches long.
The length of their toenails made walking difficult for the children.
The conditions inside were severe enough that workers needed hazmat suits and gas masks just to enter the home.
A detective testified that he had never smelled a home that bad without a decomposing body inside.
Bryant was charged with three counts of first-degree child abuse.
She pleaded no contest to all three counts.
On September 1, she was sentenced to serve six to 30 years in prison on each count.
The court ordered those terms to be served at the same time.
She received credit for 236 days already served.
The six-year minimum does not guarantee her release once six years have passed.
In April 2026, a court terminated her parental rights.
All three children were diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
They also struggled with intellectual and learning disabilities.
Then their living situation changed.
The children now live with a relative.
They attend school.
They are making progress.
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