2-year-old boy found in makeshift cage, covered in fecal matter; mother in custody

A senior New York mother is facing child endangerment charges after police say they found her 2-year-old son in a cage at home while he was covered in feces and suffering from multiple fractures broken

New York State Police arrested the 24-year-old woman after her son was found living in deplorable conditions with broken ribs and bruises on his body, New York State Police announced Thursday in a press release.

Police said they learned of the child’s condition while visiting the family’s Buffalo home on Feb. 4 to serve a felony arrest warrant for the woman in connection with a separate crime. The news did not elaborate on the alleged crime.

While at the home, investigators found the 2-year-old in a bedroom inside a “mobile cage,” a play pen covered with a piece of crib attached to the ceiling, “without to allow the child to stand or leave the play pen,” says the news.

“The cage and the 2-year-old child were covered in human fecal matter. There was fecal matter on the walls,” investigators wrote in the release. “The child and the bed were soaked in urine and fecal material.”

Chicken bones found in cage, mother arrested

New York state trooper James O’Callaghan said WKBW– TV officials found food residue inside the cage.

“Bones or some kind of chicken bones. So I mean, it was something where you look at it and it was disgusting,” O’Callaghan told the outlet.

Investigators on scene called Child Protective Services and EMS arrived and transported the child to a children’s hospital.

The woman was transported to a police station in Clarence and arrested on a charge of child endangerment, according to the news release.

It was not immediately known if the woman was free on bond Friday.

USA TODAY is not naming the woman to protect the child’s identity.

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Doctors: Children’s ribs were broken for at least 10 days

At the hospital, doctors determined that the child was suffering from bruises on his face and body and also that he was suffering from two broken ribs that were in the healing stages, which could indicate that ribs the child had broken anywhere from 10 days to two weeks before the child was seen by medical personnel, police said.

The woman told police in an interview about the injuries that the child fell down the stairs between late December 2023 and early January 2024. The woman said she did not seek medical help.

It was not immediately known if the woman had obtained a lawyer.

Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] and follow her on X @nataliealund.