A West Virginia couple was arrested last week after deputies found their 4-year-old with autism locked in a bedroom.
The Upshur County Sheriff’s Office went to the home initially on March 5 for a domestic violence call made by the couple’s 18-year-old daughter, WDTV reported.
After finding the 4-year-old, Joshua Vincent Moore, 40, and Kayla Renee Spruill, 37, were charged with child neglect with risk of injury.
Deputies found the child locked behind two gates — with no actual door — in the bedroom, nude and with blue stains on the feet and mouth, court documents said. The child was sitting on a bed covered with food and appeared to have been “attempting to fingerpaint on the wall with their own feces.”
Spruill, Moore, and the 18-year-old told deputies that the child was non-verbal, had autism, and was locked in the room for their own safety.
The daughter told deputies that Moore had asked her to stay home from school that morning to watch the child because he had to go to work and Spruill was not home.
According to The Inter-Mountain, deputies arrived on the scene and questioned the couple about the domestic violence call from their daughter. Spruill said that she and Moore had gotten into an argument and that Moore “accidentally” hit her in the mouth with her cell phone. Her chin was red, and she had had a cut to the bottom lip.
The 18-year-old duaghter said that she had recorded the incident and further said that arguments between the two were common, with Moore often “mentally and emotionally” abusive to Spruill.
Then, however, the deputy asked if there were more children in the house, and the daughter led him to the room where the 4-year-old was kept. She said that Moore often locks the child in the room while he smokes weed and plays video games.
Spruill told the deputies they had tried other methods to keep the child safe “but it does not work.”
The deputy conducted a breath test on Spruill, who smelled of alcohol, and found it measured 0.1, a ridiculously high level. She told the deputy she had gone to a friend’s after work and split a bottle of wine and watched a movie before she came home. She returned home at about 11:30 a.m. that day, and the breath test was conducted at 2 p.m.
Moore, meanwhile, told deputies that he got up about 3:30 a.m., smoked pot, and went to work, returning about 1:30 p.m., when he got into an argument with Spruill and “accdentally”hit her with the cell phone. He called it “nothing” and accused Spruill of “pinching and pulling her chin to make it more red.”
He further said it was Spruill who told the 18-year-old to stay home and watch the 4-year-old and not him, because he isn’t responsible for anything.
Moore was not charged in relation to the domestic violence call. He and Spruill were booked into the Tygart Valley Regional Jail with $25,000 cash-only bonds.
None of the reports said where the 4-year-old is now.
For the latest true crime and justice news, subscribe to the ‘Crime Stories with Nancy Grace’ podcast.
[Featured image: Kayla Renee Spruill and Joshua Vincent Moore/Tygart Valley Regional Jail]
