Why did Katie Koch lock up her sons? ‘House of horrors' mom wanted to prevent them from wandering out 'because of their autism'
MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN: A Milwaukee mother, who has been charged with child neglect and false imprisonment, allegedly locked her sons up inside their room to stop them from wandering outside "because of their autism." Katie Koch, 34, and her boyfriend Joel Manke, 38, were arrested on July 13 after her two young sons, ages seven and nine, were seen wandering naked in the streets like "cavemen."
The boys climbed through the window onto an air conditioning unit before jumping into the yard and walking down the street. They were bleeding, bruised and had so much feces in their hair that doctors were forced to shave their heads after being rushed to hospital, a court complaint stated. A 13-year-old girl, who first witnessed the boys, described their condition similar to that of "naked cavemen" who acted "as they had never seen the sun before." Another neighbor Christine Eder, who lived across the street, said the siblings looked like "they had never been outside before. If they have been, it's been a very long time."
Why did Katie Koch keep her sons locked?
Officers, who first responded to the scene, described the boys’ home as a “terrible hoarding situation,” with walls covered with an unimaginable amount of feces. A criminal complaint filed in Milwaukee Circuit Court stated that a police officer asked the couple about the boards covering the bedroom windows to which Manke responded that they were there to "keep the kids from bothering the nosey neighbour." Koch also informed the officer that the children's bedroom had bolts so she could lock them in at night to stop them from stumbling around "because of their autism."
Describing the home as a "horror house," responding officer Jonathan Cruz had difficulty in seeing the floor. "Cruz observed the kitchen piled with trash and garbage as well as the living room," the complaint read, adding, "The smell of feces and urine filed the residence. There was a mound of trash and garbage outside of the children's room. The door was halfway opened and a greater amount of urine and feces smell became present as Cruz approached the room. The children's room has feces smeared all over the walls of the room." The responding officers also observed that the nine-year-old had red marks on his lower back, below his shoulders and on his back.
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'The home is not habitable'
The court complaint stated that Koch was "disheveled" and showed signs of being "flustered and anxious." investigators concluded that the boys seemed to have been living in filth for years as they lacked toilet training and had not had a haircut or seen a doctor since 2019. Koch, whose hair was also badly matted in her police mugshots, "admitted that the home is not habitable," and said "her boys deserve better.”
During police interviews, Manke stated that he knew that how the children were living was not right, but that he had to "pick his battles" with Koch to avoid arguments. He added that he never contacted police or schools to report the children because he did not believe in "doing that to family members," according to Daily Mail.