A couple in Douglasville, Georgia, has been arrested after police say they forced a three-year-old boy to live alone in a shed without electricity or running water for weeks.
Joseph Matthew Turner, 35, and Sarah Elizabeth Pombert, 34, were taken into custody on June 2.
They are now in the Douglas County Jail, facing charges of second-degree child cruelty.
Highlights
- A Georgia couple was arrested for leaving a 3-year-old alone in a shed without water or electricity for weeks.
- The child lived unsupervised, naked, and unbathed, suffering mental and physical abuse.
- The abuse was discovered after a fire on Memorial Day weekend, prompting an investigation.
- A neighbor expressed sadness but was not surprised, given the couple’s lifestyle.
- This case joins several recent U.S. child neglect cases, highlighting ongoing concerns about child welfare.
A three-year-old boy was found living alone in a shed without electricity or running water
Image credits: Douglas County Sheriff's Office
According to the arrest warrant from the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, the couple kept the young boy in a “dirty living space in a shed without running water or electricity.”
The child was left “unsupervised, naked, and unbathed with criminal negligence” from May 1 to May 22.
The warrant says the boy suffered “cruel/excessive, mental/physical pain.” The shed had no power or water.
The situation came to light after a fire broke out on the property over Memorial Day weekend.
Local fire crews responded to the blaze, which neighbors say involved explosions and completely destroyed the shed.
The fire is what led investigators to look deeper into what had been happening.
Neighbor Matthew Govoni, who lives nearby and has known the couple for about 10 years, said he was not surprised by the allegations.
“With the lifestyle they live, I’m not surprised by any of that, really,” he told local news outlet WSB.
Govoni added that he had seen the child outside a few times and thought the boy seemed happy.
But after hearing what allegedly happened, he said, “I'm saddened for them and the child, but I mean, for the child, I hope they can get to a place where they can be helped.”
Image credits: Katie Wood/Getty Images
Police filed the charges on May 29, shortly after the fire. The investigation has not yet revealed exactly how long the child had been living in those conditions.
Authorities have also not revealed the child’s exact relationship to Pombert and Turner, or how they first learned the child was being kept in the shed, according to reports from ABC News and The Miami Herald.
As of now, there is no information about whether Turner or Pombert has hired a lawyer to represent them.
This year alone, multiple child neglect cases have emerged across the U.S.
This includes three Michigan children abandoned for over four years, found living in squalid conditions filled with mold and human waste (February 2025), and four young children left unsupervised overnight in a filthy Louisiana apartment littered with feces and a bucket of urine (March 2025).
In another recent case, a mother was arrested for allegedly locking up a malnourished child in a closet for weeks. The search is ongoing for her daughter, who has been missing since 2017.
If you suspect a child is being abused or neglected, you can call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-422-4453 or visit www.childhelp.org. For emergencies or immediate danger, call 911.