The boys will receive an apology from their mother, but it’s unclear if it will be enough or what she could possibly have written in the three-page letter that would explain what authorities found in their little white house in Milwaukee.
Neighbors grew concerned last week when they spotted the two boys, ages 7 and 9, naked and running in the streets outside. They were covered in feces and blood. Police were called.
After hours of interviews and a home tour, authorities determined the two boys had been living in a filth in a room locked from the outside.
Katie Koch, 34, who investigators believe is the boys’ mother, is charged with chronic neglect of a child, false imprisonment and neglecting a child, all felonies. Her boyfriend, Joel Manke, 38, faces felony charges of chronic neglect of a child and false imprisonment.
What happened inside Milwaukee home of Katie Koch?
Police say they received multiple calls to 911 about two children seen walking around the neighborhood naked and dirty. A woman was seen yanking one of them into a house.
Christine Eder told WDJT-TV in Milwaukee the boys looked as though “they had never been outside before. If they have been, it’s been a very long time.”
According to charging documents, the children had been imprisoned in the room, locked from the outside, WTMJ-AM reported. They had escaped by breaking a window.
Police arrived just as neighbors had begun to gather outside. They directed the officers to the otherwise nondescript white house on South 71st Street.
Authorities describe a horrific scene
The criminal complaint paints an eerie picture of what went on inside.
Police said the home was layered in filth, trash was piled in the kitchen, and the living room was filled with garbage. A strong smell of urine and feces filled the house, Milwaukee Police Officer Jonathan Cruz said in the complaint. The stench grew stronger as Cruz approached the boys’ room.
Inside, the walls were smeared with feces.
“It was something out of a horror movie,” Milwaukee County assistant district attorney Mallory Davis said during an initial court hearing Monday. She said photos and videos from inside of the house depict what looked like a hoarding situation, where most of the space was covered with trash.
“These children were essentially confined to their room for much of their lives,” Davis said.
Protective custody, incarceration, and an apology
The boys were placed into protective custody. Their heads had to be shaved because their hair was so matted with waste.
Koch told investigators the boys were never enrolled in school and she homeschooled them, and that it had been “a year or two” since they had been given medicine, authorities said.
Manke said he knew how the children were living wasn’t right, but he had to “pick his battles” with Koch to avoid arguments. He said he didn’t contact police or school officials to report what was going on because he doesn’t believe in doing that to family members, according to the criminal complaint.
The court commissioner ordered Koch and Manke to supervision to ensure their sobriety. Manke was released from jail on bond Tuesday.
Koch, whose public defender said she couldn’t afford to post $30,000 cash bail, wrote the three-page apology letter to the boys. Its contents have not been made public.
