An ongoing child abuse and neglect case in Tennessee reportedly resulted in investigators finding a girl's skeletal remains in a couple's backyard on Saturday.
The story developed when 1057News reported on Friday. A call on 911 was made to report a 10-year-old boy walking in a street in Roane County. This incident led to tracing his parents, who claimed they did not know that he was missing.
The parents of the children were identified as Michael Gray, Sr., 63, and Shirley Gray, 60.
When the child was interviewed, the Department of Children's Services investigators learned that another boy, 15-years old, is trapped in the basement of the Grays. The clincher is the information that his sister was dead and buried, based on reports by WVLT.
The father, Michael Gray Sr told the police the same thing, what the 10-year-old boy said about his dead daughter who passed away in 2017. Later, the father concurred that his other 15-year old son was locked up in the home basement way back in 2016.
Examination of the case
If it was not for the lost boy, the authorities would not have learned of the horrible things the Gray's did to their children. The conduct of the greys was bordering and criminal, especially how they treated the minors.
When the 15-year old son was found by the authorities, they found out that he was imprisoned and treated like an animal. He was locked inside for stealing food, something unusual for any parent to do.
The boy survived but his sister died in 2017 after excessive neglect and abuse by her parents who fed her bread and water for months.
Also read: Wife Accidentally Kills Husband in Utah But Further Investigation Reveals a Different Story
Authorities documented that the house where the family stayed was strewn with animal feces and stank of urine that smelt terrible. Entering the basement, it was full of refuse and wires all over. There was no water as well.
Michael Gray Sr. directed the investigators to a small room located underneath the steps. This was the place where they would shove the children as a way of punishment. Inside the room, it was dark and there's absence of water or electricity, as confirmed by Web Sleuths.
Treating the children in such a way was abusive and evil that resulted psychological damage to the children that might be irreparable.
Further investigation
WVLT did some more digging into the death of the only girl. The girl's grave was dug near the pole barn on Gray's residence with farm animals on the property. As of this writing, how she died is unknown.
According to District Attorney General Russell Johnson, when the family moved in Roane County way back in 2016, the Grays weren't their natural parents but were adopted by them.
More investigation was done led to the discovery that the children did not go to the doctor or the dentist for six years straight. Shirley Gray alleged that the four children were homeschooled, even saying they were thriving, when the 11-year old girl died in 2017. The Grays are jailed with no bail for multiple charges.
