A Bucyrus man and woman were arrested on several felony charges Tuesday after skeletal remains and a juvenile locked in a shed were found on their Lundy Road property, said Sheriff Scott Lindsey.
Tamla Asbury, 45, and Chaun Asbury, 42, are each charged with five counts of abuse or neglect of a child, a class D felony.
Texas County Sheriff’s Department personnel went to the residence in reference to a missing person investigation, when Chaun and Tamla attempted to flee the area. Both were apprehended.
Deputies located three juveniles at the residence, including one locked in a shed with no utilities and bound to a bed. According to officers, the juvenile was severely malnourished and required urgent medical care. They were taken into protective custody.
During a search of the residence, deputies stated that the living conditions were unsanitary, as the residence did not have utilities or sewer. Evidence of physical abuse and unnecessary physical restraint to the children was also found, said deputies.
“This is absolutely the worst case of child abuse and neglect that I have encountered in my 28 plus years of law enforcement,” said Lindsey.
As the search continued, deputies located skeletal remains in a shallow grave on the property. Texas County Coroner Brent Honeycutt, along with Missouri State Highway Patrol Division of Drug and Crime Control personnel, assisted with recovery at the scene.
“The findings are consistent with a missing person, Ceasar Asbury, that had previously been reported as a possible runaway by the suspects,” said Lindsey. “The remains will require further forensic analysis for positive identification and investigation into the cause of the death.”
Chaun and Tamla are each held on $100,000 cash bonds at the Texas County Jail. The investigation remains active, with additional charges expected.
“The life that was lost and the other lives of the children that were affected by this situation is a horrible tragedy,” said Lindsey. “I appreciate the effort of all the law enforcement officers involved in this investigation to seek answers and justice for the victims in this case.”
The search warrant was served by the Texas County Special Response Team, a tactical team maintained by the sheriff’s office consisting of deputies, and officers from the Houston and Licking Police Departments. The Houston Police Department provided additional support with supplies and equipment. The Missouri Department of Social Services Children’s Division assisted with placement for the juveniles.
Oh lord have mercy on those children. This is horrific. This is a situation to where the children needed to be taken from the home. This goes to show you that when DFS is on a mission, and they’re looking to obtain substantial amounts of money, they tend to wreak havoc on families that are not in need of help, instead of families like this where help is needed. Starvation and deprivation and isolation has probably been happening to these children from day one , and the child that was found in the grave.His demise was probably due to the malnutrition neglect and maybe even abuse. My point is when dfs steps in to take children , they always go after children that are well kempt. Children That are adoptable. This makes me absolutely sick to know how long these children had to endure this abuse. You know , if the d f s was really doing their job , these children , and this family wouldn’t have been overlooked. I assume that the children go to public schools. I assume that these children actually have medicaid and go to the doctor and with these assumptions, you would think that our DFS system or our school system or even our doctors would have reported this. But apparently, these children didn’t look like they could be sold to the highest bidder. And that’s what’s sad about our DFS department in that county is they do not go and do what’s right by children that are actually needing their help, they fabricate, and they make up lies and they forge initials. And take Children from families That never should have been taken to begin with. So shame on the Texas County DFS system for not doing their due diligence for these children, until one actually lost their life and shame on the school teachers that work with these children weekly 9 months of the year. Because this could have been very well reported by someone other than a neighbor or a stranger. This should have been reported by a teacher or a medical doctor especially if there was malnutrition and starvation in isolation involved in this so shame on the medical profession, shame on the school teachers that interact with these children 5 days a week, 9 months a year and shame on the D. F. S system. For not stepping up and doing the right thing by these children before tragedy actually happened.