Warning: This article contains discussion of child abuse which some readers may find distressing.
In an appalling incident, law enforcement officials discovered children confined within a storage unit.
Authorities were alerted to a storage facility on Tuesday, September 16, following a report of a child crying inside a locked unit.
The police responded to the location in Milwaukee and found children ranging in age from two months to nine years old.
A man and a woman now face charges, including two counts of child neglect and four counts of neglecting a child under six years of age.
The individuals, Charles Dupriest, 33, and Azyia Zielinski, 26, were identified as the parents of the 9-year-old child by the child himself.
Upon arrival, officers heard the sound of a child crying and another one coughing, prompting them to contact the Fire Department to break the padlock.
Inside, they encountered a bucket containing urine in the center of the room, along with six frightened children.
The unit was completely dark except for the light that trickled through a door crack.
The police report revealed the heartbreaking statement of a five-year-old who said: “We’re not supposed to be loud.”
The 9-year-old explained that he was tasked with caring for the younger children when his parents were absent.
The criminal complaint outlines how the parents allegedly left the children alone about half the time, instructing the child to tend to the baby by giving her a bottle or pacifier when she cried.
The police noted the child expressed hunger and mentioned having no means of contacting his parents during an emergency.
He recounted how his parents would consume ‘tequila and vodka, become drunk, and slump over’.
The child also claimed that Dupriest struck him with such force that his lips began to bleed.
The unit contained a couch and a twin mattress without bedsheets, which three of the children used for sleeping.
Reports indicated there was a box of chips, some milk, and a case of soda, but no lighting, electricity, or running water.
The storage unit’s smell was described as ‘putrid’, making it unbearable for officers to remain inside even with the door open.
An employee from the storage facility recalled hearing an adult male instructing someone to ‘sit down and be quiet’ in May 2025, and provided surveillance footage to the police.
The employee reported his observations to management, leading to an eviction notice being issued.
Police found Dupriest and Zielinski asleep in an SUV parked outside, according to the complaint. They admitted to sleeping in the SUV with their dog while leaving the children in the storage unit, claiming homelessness.
However, they later adjusted their story, stating there were relatives with whom the children could have stayed rather than enduring the appalling conditions of the storage unit.
Zielinski mentioned they had been residing there for approximately six weeks, despite receiving $2,000 monthly in Social Security benefits and food stamps.
Previously, they lived in a shelter until being ‘evicted after she gave birth’.
Currently, the couple is being held on $5,000 cash bail.
A Court Commissioner remarked: “We have your children stating that they had no food. That the only food they found was from the garbage.
“They didn’t have a bathroom. They used a bucket, and what’s more disturbing than all of that are the statements that both you and father had made that you and the children could have stayed with family members.”