Police in Upshur County, West Virginia, arrested Joshua Vincent Moore and Kayla Spruill on child neglect charges after discovering their 4-year-old nonverbal child with autism locked alone in a bedroom during a domestic violence response. The incident unfolded on March 5 when the couple's 18-year-old daughter called 911. The child was found naked and covered in blue stains, attempting to use feces as paint.
On March 5, deputies from the Upshur County Sheriff's Office responded to a 911 call from the 18-year-old daughter of Joshua Vincent Moore, 40, and Kayla Spruill, 36, reporting a domestic violence incident at their home in Buckhannon, West Virginia.
Upon arrival, Spruill told deputies that Moore had accidentally hit her in the face with a phone, resulting in a small laceration on her bottom lip. The daughter described frequent altercations between her parents, noting that Moore was often mentally and emotionally abusive toward Spruill.
While questioning the family about other children in the home, the daughter led deputies to a bedroom secured by two locked gates rather than a door. Inside, they found the 4-year-old child, who has nonverbal autism, alone and naked. The child had blue stains on their feet and mouth and was reportedly trying to finger paint with their own feces.
The daughter explained to police that her parents locked the child in the room for their own safety. She added that Moore frequently did so while he smoked weed and played video games. The teenager said her parents had asked her to skip school that day to watch the younger sibling, as Moore was at work and Spruill was not home.
Spruill admitted to deputies that she and Moore locked the child in the bedroom to prevent the child from eloping. A breath test revealed Spruill had a blood alcohol content of 0.1 at 2 p.m.; she claimed she had returned home at 11:30 a.m. after spending the previous night at a friend's house, where they shared a bottle of wine.
Moore told deputies he smoked marijuana upon waking at 3:30 a.m., then went to work and returned at 1:30 p.m. He said Spruill had also smoked marijuana that day before leaving for work, leaving their daughter to supervise the child.
Both parents were charged with child neglect creating a risk of injury and are held at Tygart Valley Regional Jail on $25,000 cash bonds each. They are scheduled for a preliminary hearing on March 13.