'Feces on floor and over the walls:' Police describe 'house of horrors' where naked boys escaped as 'worst they've ever seen'



Wisconsin police described the "house of horrors," where two young boys escaped from, as the "worst they've ever seen." The children were reportedly imprisoned in a home with mounds of trash, a urine smell, and feces all over the walls.

As Blaze News previously reported, residents notified police after witnessing two young boys running naked in the neighborhood. The boys, ages seven and nine, were allegedly covered in feces, dirt, blood, and bruises.

The boys allgedly informed investigators that they had been locked inside their house in Milwaukee and only managed to escape by smashing a window.

Katie Koch, 34, and Joel Manke, 38, were arrested in July. They are each facing multiple felony charges, including false imprisonment and neglect. They each face up to 43 years in prison and fines of as much as $120,000 if convicted of the crimes. Koch also faces two misdemeanor charges that carry a prison sentence of 18 months and a $20,000 fine.

Shocking details about the "house of horrors" were revealed this week.

The appalling 72-page police report detailed how the children were detained in inhumane conditions.

An officer said in the police report, "I entered the living and observed a terrible hoarding situation — it was hard to see the floor. The smell of urine and feces stained the air within the residence."

There were mounds of garbage that reached 5 feet high in the kitchen. The house also allegedly had bugs "flying all around."

The Messenger reported, "While attempting to make their way through the home, the officer noted seeing a 'mound of trash and garbage' next to the children's room, which they entered."

The officer recalled, "The door was opened halfway, and a greater amount of the stench of urine and feces seemed to get worse as I approached the children's room."

The children's room allegedly had boarded-up windows and a latch attached outside the door to prevent the children from escaping.

"There was what appeared to feces on the floor and all over the walls," an officer stated. "I entered the living room and observed a terrible hoarding situation – it was hard to see the floor."

Police allegedly noted that the house was "the worst they've ever seen."

Police also pointed out that Manke's "man cave" in the basement was not as filthy as the rest of the home.

"[It was] treated in a higher amount of respect and cleanliness compared to the children's living conditions in their bedroom," an officer said.

Express reported, "Investigators believe the boys had been living in filth for years, as they weren't toilet trained and hadn't had a haircut or seen a doctor since 2019."

During an interrogation, Koch and Manke reportedly told investigators that they often locked the young boys in the bedroom at night. Koch attempted to justify the practice by saying that her parents did the same with her when she was a child.

Police wrote in the report that Koch had a "scent of mildew and musk." A detective noted that Koch "appeared to have a poor skin tone, flushed face" and was "tired and run down."

Authorities said that Manke called his parents after being arrested, and his mother expressed to him that she was "in shock" after walking through the hoarding house.

Manke – who is not the boys' biological father – claimed that he had no idea of the horrid conditions that the children lived in.

Manke and Koch have both pled not guilty.

The couple are scheduled for a court appearance at the end of November.

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People are panic-buying toilet paper again as COVID-19 lockdowns are reimposed



With the coronavirus cases on the rise and lockdowns reimposed in many communities across the country, people are reportedly flocking to supermarkets to panic-buy toilet paper again.

The Associated Press reported this week that 21% of shelves that stock products such as paper towels and toilet paper are empty, which is the highest that figure has been in at least a month. Market research company IRI told the news agency that prior to the pandemic, 5% to 7% of consumer goods were typically out of stock.

Retail giant Walmart is reportedly having trouble keeping up with the demand for cleaning supplies, and supermarket chains like Kroger, Publix, and Target have reinstated limits on how much toilet paper consumers can purchase in effort to combat hoarding.

Numerous local news reports have surfaced this week from all over the country — including places like Tampa, Florida; Albany, New York; Sacramento, California; and the Twin Cities in Minnesota — all confirming the news: supply is growing sparse again.

The situation is reminiscent of the chaos that unfolded in March and April when consumers descended on grocery stores en masse to panic-buy household goods, putting a major strain on the nation's supply chain.

But experts say that this time around, things won't be nearly as bad.

"I'm not going to be a Pollyanna and say things are perfect," Geoff Freeman, the chief executive of the trade group Consumer Brands Association, told the Washington Post. "But we are fundamentally in a different place than we were in March and April. Even retailers rationing is a demonstration of lessons learned. The psychology of empty shelves causes a vicious cycle."

"A more informed consumer combined with a more informed manufacturer and a more informed retailer should provide all of us with a greater sense of ease and ensure we can meet this growing demand," Freeman added in conversation with the Associated Press.

Walmart CEO Doug McMillon told CNN Business while it is certainly "disappointing" to see "as many out-of-stocks as we have in consumables right now," he is confident that his company is better prepared to handle rising demand.

"It feels to me like we'll work through this period of time better than we did in the first wave," he said.

The United States has recorded more than 100,000 daily infections each day for two consecutive weeks and on Thursday recorded more than 182,000, according to data from the COVID Tracking Project.