Mom arrested over feces-covered apartment, police say

Jessica Reeve (Christian County Jail).

A Kentucky woman was recently arrested over the filthy state of the home where she lives with her children, Bluegrass State police say.

Jessica Reeve, 36, stands accused of three counts of wanton endangerment in the first degree, according to Christian County Jail records.

The charges stem from a complaint filed with the Department of Community-Based Services, a subagency within the Cabinet for Health and Family Services.

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That initial complaint would seemingly prove prescient.

The agency was told there was feces on the walls and trash on the floor of the apartment where Reeve lived with her children, according to a report by Cadiz, Kentucky-based radio station WKDZ.

On Sept. 18, a welfare agency worker called the Oak Grove Police Department after responding to the initial report, according to a criminal complaint obtained by Lexington-based Fox affiliate WDKY.

Officers then responded to an apartment on Meadow Lane in Oak Grove – a small city and part of the Clarksville, Tennessee, metro area.

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Inside, the smell of feces was immediate and overwhelming, law enforcement wrote in the complaint. The overwhelming smell wasn’t the only obstacle officers faced – police said the residence had clothing, trash and other debris strewn about, which made it a chore to find space to walk.

Soon enough, responding officers discovered the source of the smell.

The apartment had feces smeared on the walls and the bed, police allege. The defendant, for her part, allegedly had an explanation: Her sons had begun to habitually rub excrement on things, police say.

“Throughout the whole apartment, there were no clean surfaces for children to play, sit or sleep,” police wrote in the criminal complaint.

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Reeve allegedly identified the apartment’s inhabitants as herself, her 6-year-old son, and her two 10-year-old sons.

The criminal complaint also took stock of a prior incident involving the defendant, her children, and living conditions.

Last year, Reeve was charged with two counts of first-degree wanton endangerment for allegedly leaving one autistic boy home in conditions deemed unsafe and for allegedly allowing another autistic boy to run on a busy roadway.

The defendant was arrested on Sept. 18. She is currently detained in the Christian County Detention Center on $15,000 bond.