Bunceton couple accused of abandoning disabled elderly woman, neglecting dogs, child endangerment
Ryan Shiner
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Two people from Bunceton are accused of abandoning a disabled, elderly woman in a home with unsafe conditions.
Jordan Hulbert and Celia Marriott are charged in Cooper County with first-degree endangering the welfare of a child and a pair of misdemeanors: Elderly abuse and animal neglect. They both appeared for a hearing on Monday without counsel from video from the Cooper County Jail and pleaded not guilty.
A counsel status hearing is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Tuesday. Mugshots were not immediately available for either person.
The probable cause statement says that deputies were called for a wellness check for a 73-year-old woman on Friday after she had not been heard or seen from in several days. Deputies were called multiple times to the Bunceton residence, but were not able to contact anyone there for days.
Court documents say the woman had recently been to a hospital and Hulbert and Marriott were expected to take care of her. The elderly woman was in a room and unable to move or yell for help when deputies arrived throughout the week, court documents say.
Several emaciated dogs were at the residence without food or water, and one was found dead in an underground reservoir, court documents say. Six pigs were also found without food or water.
Court documents say that the home was littered with trash and excrement. Hulbert and Mariott’s children – ranged in age from 10 months old to 3 years old – were also expected to live at the residence with the couple and woman. Areas where the children would sleep were “swarming with flies,” the statement says.
Deputies were unable to view the basement of the residence because of standing water and garbage covering the area, the statement says. The woman also told deputies that snakes were seen in the basement.