Carol Vaughn

The (Salisbury, Md.) Daily Times

ACCOMAC, Va. — An Accomack County grand jury has indicted a Virginia woman whose two children social workers found in makeshift cages.

Malista Ness-Hopkins, 39, of Mears, Va., was charged over the summer with child abuse and neglect after social workers and investigators visited her home. There they found two toddlers in cribs with lids screwed onto the top from which they could not escape, according to court records and testimony during a probable cause hearing.

Grand jurors indicted Ness-Hopkins on five counts of child abuse Monday.

All five children in the home were found living in unwholesome and unsafe surroundings covered with filth, dirty diapers, lice and insect bites, according to social workers and an investigator who testified in Accomack County court. The children were removed from the home July 28, the day social workers visited after a complaint was made to the agency.

► Sept. 19:Baby's remains found inside containers during eviction

► Sept. 11:Mom kept toddlers in makeshift cages, police say

The 2- and 3-year-old children were in separate cribs with tops affixed with multiple screws, one social worker, Kate Bonniwell of Accomack County Social Services, testified in a preliminary hearing Sept. 8. Another crib containing a 1-year-old did not have a top.

Bonniwell needed 23 minutes with an electric screwdriver to remove one of the lids, she testified. As she was loosening the screws, she said the 2-year-old child inside was hissing at her and making noises she described as animal sounds.

All three wore filthy diapers, she said.

► Aug. 16:Baby abandoned in plastic bag is released from hospital

► Aug. 8:Mom abandoned 10-year-old 'special needs' boy in woods, police say

In another bedroom, Bonniwell found the 5- and 6-year-old children on dirty, bare mattresses on the floor. The entire house was littered with debris, broken glass and rotting food.

“Outside, there was trash and debris. Inside, the smell was overwhelming," said Investigator Meghann Patterson of the Accomack County Sheriff’s Office, who went in after the department obtained a search warrant. "The kitchen was littered with trash and cockroaches were all over the floor. There was rotted food in containers."

Patterson saw bite and claw marks on the inside of the cribs, she testified.

► July 12:Wisconsin parents accused of starving 5-year-old son

► March 15:Teen who starved to death found in diaper on linoleum floor

When Ness-Hopkins was arrested, she told officials when she was arrested that she had been a stay-at-home mother for 17 years and that she lived alone with the children. Boyfriend Tommy Annis, who was the father of some of her children, died in May 2016 at age 33.

After her arrest, Ness-Hopkins was released on bond on the condition that she seek a mental health evaluation and pursue recommended treatment. She was not listed Thursday among Accomack County Jail inmates.

Follow Carol Vaughn on Twitter: @cvvaughnESN