LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Betty Snider is in jail after Louisville Metro Police officers found her three kids hungry, thirsty and living outside in the hot weather.
"They've been treated like dogs and animals. They'd sneak down here when she was gone to get something to eat or drink. They wasn't allowed in their home," Mary Burkhammer, the children's great-grandmother, said.
Burkhammer lives on the same street in Pleasure Ridge Park and said Snider didn't allow the children to see her. She added that the mother has a history of neglect.
According to Snider's arrest citation, her three children told police they were sleeping in the yard of their trailer home, either in a tent, on a swing or in chairs. Trash lined the porch. Stuffed with it, the home teemed with bugs.
At her arraignment, Snider justified the unlivable housing conditions.
"I was in the process of moving to another house," she told the judge. "Another location that I owned myself."
Friday morning, property managers put an eviction slip on the trailer where police found the children. It showed a man's name instead of Snider's.
One neighbor said she saw the children playing out in the street, but never noticed their living situation.
"I never seen the mother with the kids. I never even seen her come out," Dianna Dale said.
Burkhammer saw Snider frequently leave the children alone starting back in December.
"[She'd] be gone, three or four days. What did she think these kids were eating?" she said.
Burkhammer said she notified Child Protective Services, but no action came until Thursday's arrest.
In a statement, CPS said they've had contact with the family but wouldn't say when.
"Early intervention is key and it’s an area we’re continuing to focus on," a spokesperson for The Cabinet for Health and Family Services, which oversees CPS in Kentucky, wrote to WHAS11. "We cannot comment on matters that may be under investigation but as always, we will work with law enforcement."
LMPD said its investigation will include how the children were treated in previous days, weeks or even months.
Snider is being held on a $50,000 cash bond in Louisville Metro Corrections while waiting for her next court date on Sept. 9.
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