Couple charged: 6 children found in storage unit without power, water
By Mariana La Roche, Kendall Keys
Click here for updates on this story
MILWAUKEE (WISN) — Six children ranging in age from 2 months to 9 years old were found locked inside a storage unit in Milwaukee.
Prosecutors charged Charles Albert Dupriest, 33, with one count of possession of a firearm by a felon and six counts of child neglect. Azyia C. Zielinski, 26, faces six counts of child neglect.
Around 1:30 a.m., an emergency call reported a child crying inside a locked unit at StorSafe, 5555 N. 27th St., the complaint states. Upon arrival, officers said they heard crying and coughing from within one of the units.
Milwaukee firefighters cut a padlock to gain entry and found six children aged 9, 7, 5, 3, 2, and a two-month-old.
According to the complaint, inside the unit was a bucket “containing urine” placed in the center of the storage unit. Detectives noted there was no electricity or running water and “the only light visible to the children came through the crack of the garage door.”
“The only light these poor children had to have was the crack of light that came to the bottom of the garage. We have your children stating that they had no food, that the only food they found was from the garbage,” Milwaukee County Court Commissioner Andrea Bolender said during Zielinski’s Friday court appearance.
Zielinksi was visibly emotional during the hearing.
“This is horrific. Ma’am, I see you are broken up. I hope you realize how lucky you actually are that none of these children have died,” Bolender said.
Detectives described the odor as “putrid,” said the complaint. Inside the unit, a detective observed a sectional couch and a twin mattress without sheets. The 5-year-old told a detective, “We’re not supposed to be loud,” before urinating in the orange bucket, the filing says.
According to the complaint, the 9-year-old told police he was responsible for caring for the children and said they used the bucket “to urinate and defecate.” He told investigators he was hungry and had no way to contact anyone in an emergency.
An employee from the storage unit told police in May he overheard an adult male say, “Sit down and be quiet,” inside the unit and provided surveillance video showing the defendants dropping off children.
Officers later found Dupriest and Zielinski sleeping in a Ford Expedition in the parking lot. Both admitted they slept in the SUV with their dog while the children slept in the storage unit, court documents say.
One of the children told police “she was upset the dog got to sleep in the car while she and her siblings slept in the unit.”
“The middle row was completely empty and the dog had the back row all to himself. As these children slept in a locked storage container with one twin mattress on the floor,” Bolender said.
According to court records, police recovered a loaded firearm from the SUV’s center console. Zielinski said the gun belonged to her, but stated Dupriest touched it when retrieving items.
In recorded interviews summarized in the complaint, Zielinski said the family had been sleeping in the storage unit for about six weeks after leaving a shelter and acknowledged placing a bucket in the unit for the children to use.
Dupriest said the children slept in the unit about three times per week and acknowledged that family or friends could have housed the children.
Forensic interviews of the children documented additional details. One child said she felt “sad” when locked in the unit and “mad,” so she made it dirty. Another said there were “no lights, only cracks through which light entered” and that he “would not know how to get out in an emergency.”
The 9-year-old said parents sometimes drank alcohol and, when “drunk,” the 9-year-old took care of the siblings; the 9-year-old also said a parent had “a bunch of guns.”
Investigators said Zielinski and Dupriest told them they were receiving food stamps and $2,000 a month in social security benefits. They said they were “kicked out” of Joy House, a Milwaukee Rescue Mission shelter for women and children in July.
In a statement to WISN 12 News, Patrick Vanderburgh, President and CEO of the Milwaukee Rescue Mission, said, “We were heartbroken to learn of the recent news involving children found sheltering in a storage locker. We want to confirm that the Milwaukee Rescue Mission and Joy House — our family shelter — have provided assistance to this family in the past.The family stayed with us for two months in 2023, and again for more than a month during June and July of 2025. While we must respect and maintain the confidentiality of our guests and their families, we can share that during their most recent stay, we were able to verify that the family had secured permanent housing before leaving Joy House. We remain committed to supporting families in crisis and providing the resources they need to move toward stability and hope.”
The complaint notes Dupriest’s prior felony conviction for third-degree sexual assault in Ozaukee County.
Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.