Mother in Brookfield faces child neglect charges after leaving small children home alone

BROOKFIELD (CBS 58) – Lindsay Manriquez, 31, now faces three counts of child neglect after leaving her three children home alone.

The children are ages 6, 5, and 2. When interviewed by police Manriquez said she had no one to leave them with.

But what’s even more alarming is the condition the children were found in.

On Sunday, December 28, Brookfield Township Police responded to the home Maple Ridge Lane after one of the owners discovered unattended children in the home.

“I was very surprised”, said Paul Schudy who lives across the street from the family. “I saw them go in and out many times. It looked like they were going to work. I actually didn’t know they were home alone”.

According to police, Manriquez was dating one of the owners of the home. She told police she left them with her boyfriend around noon while she went to work. The boyfriend, she said, would then go to work at 4 in the afternoon.  Officers noted Manriquez’s “pupils were pin point and her speech was slurred”.

“I’ve been in the house a couple of times, but that’s been a while back,” says Schudy. “I didn’t know it was in as bad as shape as I heard it described”.

Officers said the home looked like it had not been cleaned in years, covered in big black cobwebs. There was no food in fridge. Officers noted the children didn’t have any shoes or socks and the soles of their feet were black from the dirt.

“It’s just really sad with kids involved and especially so young,” says Brett Rudan a neighbor. “No child deserves that.”

The youngest was found lethargic on the ground with his pants and shirt soaked in urine. He had a bottle with a brown liquid which Marnriquez later told police was iced tea.

“You don’t know what goes on behind closed doors,” says Rudan. “Hopefully the kids are in a better place now, and hopefully they’ll be safe going forward.”

Officers from the police department wanted to make sure the kids still had a Christmas so they all pitched in and purchased gifts for them.