Kelli Bryant, 35, entered a no contest plea to three counts of first-degree child abuse in Oakland County court, following her earlier probation sentence for welfare fraud. The charges stem from her abandonment of her three children in a severely neglected home in Pontiac, Michigan.
The children, ages 15, 13, and 12 at the time, were discovered alone during a welfare check on Feb. 14, 2025. They had been left to fend for themselves since 2020 or 2021 in an apartment without running water or working toilets.
Police described the conditions as extreme, with garbage piled up to four feet high, feces throughout the home, and mold everywhere. The children stopped attending school and rarely left the house. A detective testified that the smell was unlike any he had encountered without a body present.
Bryant was well-groomed when interviewed and admitted to investigators, "I hurt my children. I sacrificed my children, probably." Her parental rights were terminated in April, and the children were placed with relatives. She is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 1.
Bryant had previously received two years of probation and was ordered to pay nearly $30,000 in restitution after pleading guilty to welfare fraud.