Mother arrested for neglect after barricading children in bedroom

COLUMBUS, Ind. (WISH) – A Columbus woman was arrested for neglect after she placed a bar on a bedroom door to lock her two children inside.

Officers were sent to the 1100 block of Grand Avenue just a little after 10 p.m. on Saturday, after receiving reports of children yelling behind a closed door inside the home.

Police said witnesses who had been helping the family with fixing a leaking hot water heater, called police after they heard the children behind the closed door. They told police they also saw a bar across the outside of the door, locking the children inside.

Witnesses told police they couldn’t find the children’s mother, 25-year-old Kylei Thompson at the home. After police located Thompson, she told them she locked her five-year-old and one-year-old in the bedroom so the leaking water from the water heater wouldn’t hurt them.

After an investigation, police said they found the bar had been placed on the bedroom door multiple times to secure it. They said the home had poor living conditions and very little food in the refrigerator and freezer.

Thompson was taken into custody on preliminary charges of two counts of neglect of a dependent.

The children were placed in the care of the Department of Child Services.