A couple in West Virginia has been arrested and charged with child abuse and neglect after allegedly subjecting three orphaned children to prolonged physical and emotional abuse over several years. The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office described the home in Evans as a "real-life house of horrors."
Erica Lynn Sayre, 45, and Clifford Gale Sayre, 46, are accused of tormenting the children, including making threats related to the deaths of their biological parents. According to Sheriff Ross H. Mellinger, the children reported frequent beatings that caused "excessive bleeding injuries," strangulation, deprivation of food and water, and denial of access to bathrooms. The sheriff's office also stated that dirty cat litter was dumped in the children's beds and dog feces were placed on their belongings.
The children told investigators they were threatened with death if they reported the abuse. "I can’t go back to that home,” one child told investigators, visibly emotional. Another stated, “I just want a normal life.”
Erica Sayre is alleged to have been the primary perpetrator of physical abuse, often using household objects. Clifford Sayre is accused of allowing the abuse to occur. One child recounted that Clifford restrained her hands while Erica cut her hair with a razor blade, leaving visible injuries. The children bore scars consistent with their accounts, which investigators found corroborated each other.
If the children had conflicts with Erica Sayre, she would punish them by forcing them to run barefoot on a gravel driveway. The children have since been removed from the home.
Erica Sayre faces three counts of child abuse resulting in bodily injury and three counts of child neglect creating risk of injury. Clifford Sayre faces similar charges, including three counts of child neglect resulting in bodily injury and three counts of child neglect creating risk of injury.
"The outlined findings of the investigation are deeply troubling and underscore the importance of reporting suspected child abuse, as the children were all living in a real-life ‘House of Horrors’ with the adults in their lives that should have otherwise been protecting them from such occurrences and conditions, not creating them,” Mellinger said. The relationship of the Sayres to the deceased biological parents and the circumstances of their deaths are not yet clear.