5-Year-Old Found Unconscious Inside Locked Vehicle Trunk While A Buyer Inspected Car; Parents Charged

A 5-year-old boy in West Virginia was flown to a hospital Tuesday afternoon after he was found unconscious inside a locked trunk of a vehicle parked outside his home, police said.

The parents of the boy, 24-year-old Nantail Roberts and 22-year-old Cory Roberts, from Jackson County, were arrested on one count of child neglect creating injury and three counts of child neglect risking injury charges, ABC 3340 reported.

The vehicle was parked outside the couple's mobile home in the Cottageville area but belonged to a neighbor, according to the report. On Tuesday afternoon, when the outside temperature was around 90 degrees, the neighbor opened the car's trunk while showing a prospective buyer his vehicle and found the unconscious boy inside. The boy was in "grave" condition and he was immediately flown to the hospital.

“The boy was still, in fact, alive, but clinging onto life with every little last thread that he had," Jackson County Sheriff Ross Mellinger said.

Mellinger said the parents were unaware about the child's missing and had last seen him the night before when they went to bed. However, it is unknown how the child got into the trunk and how long he was inside, he said.

After the boy was rushed to a hospital, deputies inspected the couple's mobile home and found the couple's three other children -- a 3-year-old girl, a 2-year-old boy, and a 9-month-old infant -- all living in deplorable conditions.

According to the investigators, the house reeked of urine and feces. "A multitude of trash, rotten food, flies, maggots, dirty diapers, as well as clutter to the point that it restricted any movement within the home," they said, according to WSAZ.

"Some of the worst living conditions I've seen in the 20 plus years I've been here at the sheriff's office. Extreme and chronic neglectful living conditions," Mellinger said, ABC 3340 reported.

The three children at the couple's home appeared healthy but were dirty and appeared to have not been bathed in many days, Mellinger added. Child Protective Services were called to the scene and the children were removed from the home.