Girl Found 'Caged' In Hotel Closet Wearing A Diaper Covered In Urine; Woman Arrested

A Florida woman has been arrested for keeping a little girl locked up inside a hotel closet. The child was wearing a filthy diaper that seemed like it hadn't been changed for days when police found her.

Deputies from the Brevard County Sheriff's Office went to a hotel last Thursday to serve a felony warrant for child neglect against 25-year-old Patricia Childress. The woman was staying in the hotel room with two children and a man, identified as Marshall Day, who was also wanted on the same charge, Law&Crime reported, citing a probable cause affidavit.

The officers found a boy sleeping in one of the beds but didn't find Day in the room.

One of the investigators spotted a heavy clothing bin that seemed to have been intentionally placed in front of a closet to keep the door shut. The officer opened the door to find the second child inside.

She "had been locked inside the closet with a small blanket and pillow. The child was sleeping in a shirt with no pants and a diaper full of urine and feces," the affidavit said. There was no light inside the closet.

"The child was also effectively locked or 'caged' into the small closet by the heavy clothing bin and other clutter which would have prevented the small child from being able to escape," the affidavit added. The children appeared to have not been bathed in many days.

Childress claimed she placed the girl in the closet so she wouldn't fight with the other child. "She just sleeps in there, I put her in there just so they don't fight at night," the woman told deputies.

The age of the children was not revealed. It was also not clear how the woman was related to them.

The boy told investigators that the girl would be placed inside the closet when she "acts up," CBS affiliated News 6 WKMG reported. He also said the girl would be let out "if the cops are coming."

Childress was taken into custody and charged with one count of aggravated child abuse as aggravated assault and one count of child neglect without causing great bodily harm. She was released Sunday and will appear in court on Feb. 24.