Two Missouri parents allegedly left two young children alone “for hours” inside a 14th-floor apartment with a broken window, putting them at risk of a fatal fall.
Police charged Desiree Ching, 32, and David Croft, 39, each with two counts of endangering the welfare of a child. St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department officers responded to a welfare check on July 13 at an apartment building in the 600 block of N. Grand Boulevard.
Witnesses said they saw one of the children hanging from the open window.
Officers entered the apartment after knocking and getting no response. They found a bedroom door locked from the outside to prevent anyone from escaping.
Inside the room, officers found two children, ages 5 and 3, who were “completely naked and alone.”
“The walls of the room are covered in feces and there is a broken window which exposed the children to a 14-foot drop,” officers wrote.
Officers determined it was “clear” that the children had been locked in the room for “at least several hours.” Hospital staff treated the children after officers took them for care. Ching arrived at the hospital and identified herself as the mother of the children. The affidavit does not say where Ching went after leaving the apartment.
Officers arrested her and took her to the St. Louis Justice Center, where she remains without bond.
Croft identified himself as the father when he arrived at the apartment. Officers arrested him but later released him on his own recognizance after learning he had left the children in Ching’s custody when he went to work that morning.
Officers did not say what happened to the children after they were taken to the hospital.
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