Brittany Mugrauer, 24, has been put on trial Friday after Jackson County investigators discovered a wooden shipping crate with her children inside a day earlier. The poor furnished dark place was better suited for a junkyard with nothing but two small blankets, vehicle bench seats, and a missing side, surrounded by broken parts of cars, according to a police statement.
Who knows how much time the children would remain forgotten by their mother if not for a random incident.
This is what one of the caves where Brittany Mugrauer left her two children alone in a shipping crate looks like. pic.twitter.com/9W21boVtFt
— Andres Gutierrez (@AFGutierrez) September 12, 2015
The two children were unexpectedly discovered during a police operation in which the officers were executing search warrants related to a stolen car. The four-year-old child was found to be eating noodles from dirty cups using hands while the older one confessed he had never been enrolled at school despite belong in the first grade.
The children didn't express any surprise or joy by being discovered and were taken to Children's Mercy hospital where they got clothes, food, and shoes they previously lacked.
According to the probable cause statement, Mugrauer acknowledged her children were living in the cave alone for several days. She was taken in custody charged on two counts of felony child endangerment and hasn't appeared in court yet as she reportedly has no lawyer.
"It's tunnels, it's dark, and there's tunnels in various configurations," the man who stores his car in the cave told KCTV5 News.
Brittany Mugrauer told @kcpolice detectives she left her 4 & 6 year old children in a #KCMO cave for several days. pic.twitter.com/gUlQUwvJLU
— Andres Gutierrez (@AFGutierrez) September 12, 2015
"Temperatures drop, ceiling is low in some spots, it's not paved, it's pretty rough," he concluded.
The Missouri woman's bond has been set at $75,000 while her two children have been taken into protective custody.
