Authorities arrested Marchelle Lynn Pertilla and Eugene Medrano after a 14-year-old girl was found wandering alone outside a store. The teenager, feeling unwell, was taken to the hospital where she disclosed being abandoned in a home with seven dogs since February, without contact from her mother and stepfather since October 31.
The young girl explained that her parents moved to Florida, leaving her in deplorable conditions in a mobile home infested with filth and a deceased dog. A distressing note found by the police indicated the girl’s repeated pleas for her mother’s attention.
During her hospital stay, the girl revealed she communicated with her parents through Snapchat and received food deliveries from her mother. She mentioned being left behind due to her refusal to abandon her dogs, though their status as service animals remains uncertain. Pertilla and Medrano face charges of child abuse and animal cruelty.
Sheriff Paul Burch commended the store employees who intervened and emphasized the importance of reporting such situations promptly. The incident echoes a recent case where a 10-year-old child was allegedly abandoned at an airport when his parents traveled without him due to passport issues.
According to a witness at Barcelona–El Prat Airport, the child was left alone in the terminal as his parents departed on an international flight earlier this year.