WARNING: Distressing details.

WHEN police and medics found Natalie Jasmine Finn in late October, the 16-year-old teen was wearing an adult nappy, lying on the linoleum floor in her own waste “for some time,” according to court documents unsealed this week.

The New York Post reports Natalie shared the empty room, without furniture or beds, with two of her siblings and scores of dogs and cats that had run of the home in the US state of Iowa, West Des Moines Police Detective Chris Morgan wrote in an affidavit.

It smelled of human and animal waste, with blankets “heavily soaked” in what authorities believed to be urine, according to Detective Morgan.

“Many animals roamed freely, including well over a dozen kittens and cats,” Morgan wrote in the document obtained by the Des Moines Register. “There were numerous kennels with dogs scattered inside the residence.”

Natalie was unresponsive and not breathing, according to a search warrant application filed by Detective Morgan that emerged on Tuesday after a judge’s order to keep the documents under seal expired.

The document detailed interviews conducted by investigators with three other Finn children, two of whom were underweight and had bedsores.

Natalie died at a nearby hospital on October 24. She died from emaciation due to the denial of critical care, according to the Polk County medical examiner’s office.

Nicole Marie Finn, 42, was later arrested in December on first-degree murder charges for her adopted daughter’s death and child endangerment charges for her treatment of Natalie’s 15-year-old brother and four-year-old sister — all of whom were adopted.

Joseph Michael Finn II, Finn’s ex-husband, faces charges of first-degree kidnapping, child endangerment and neglect of a dependent person in the case.

media_camera Nicole Marie Finn (left) and her ex-husband Joseph Michael Finn II (right) will face trial in October. Picture: Polk County Jail

Both remain in the Polk County Jail and are awaiting a trial scheduled for October, the Des Moines Register reports.

Investigators determined that Nicole Finn had controlled Natalie’s food intake, as well as that of her other siblings, in an effort to control their behaviour. The children also did not attend school regularly, although Natalie was being homeschooled by her mother at the time of her death, according to the warrant.

Joseph Finn told investigators during interviews with police that he helped Nicole Finn nail a window shut in the bedroom after learning that the children had snuck out to beg for food at a nearby convenience store.

media_camera Medics found Natalie Finn lying on a floor in her own waste. Picture: Facebook/Natalie Finn media_camera Natalie Finn was found unresponsive and not breathing. Picture: Facebook/Natalie Finn

He also admitted to investigators that he replaced the carpet in the children’s room with linoleum.

“It’s a horrific situation and I feel heartbroken for Natalie and her siblings who were, in essence, sealed in that room and left to die,” State Senator Matt McCoy told KCRG.com.

Politicians, meanwhile, held an oversight hearing on Monday in connection to the handling of Natalie’s case.

Wendy Rickman, administrator of adult children and family services for the Iowa Department of Human Services, defended the agency’s response, KCCI.com reports.

“I would tell you as the child welfare director, as a child welfare administrator, that our system is functional,” Ms Rickman said. “It is beyond functional.”

media_camera Natalie Finn shared an empty room with two of her siblings and scores of dogs and cats. Picture: Facebook/Natalie Finn

This story originally appeared in The New York Post and has been republished here with permission.

Originally published as Starved teen found dead in nappy