More than 100 felony criminal charges have been filed against a 41-year-old mother in Arkansas and her 40-year-old husband for allegedly keeping their 15-year-old son locked in a bathroom for days on end without food, only allowing him to leave to go to school, and keeping the door locked with a ratchet strap.
According to documents, Jaclyn Machelle Barnett and the victim’s stepfather, Daniel Alan Wright, were arrested on Wednesday and charged with 112 counts of first-degree false imprisonment with risk of injury and one count each of endangering the welfare of a minor and permitting child abuse.
When a downstairs neighbor heard what they thought were a child’s cries for assistance, Mountain Home police officers arrived at the family’s upstairs apartment on November 2, 2024, according to Mountain Home news radio station KTLO.
A youngster who claimed to be locked in the upstairs bathroom was reached by an officer who had gone to the reporting party’s bedroom upon arrival at the address. The officer was apparently met by two young people, aged ten and eleven, when he knocked on the door of the flat upstairs.
According to reports, the children stated that their parents were at work and denied knowing anyone was trapped in the restroom.
However, officials informed that the kids’ reaction was probably influenced by their coaching from Barnett and Wright.
“It’s in my opinion, it’s in the opinion of some others as well, that these kids are no doubt coached, no doubt. Whether it be fear for themselves or what have you,” Lead investigator Mike Day stated to the station.
Day claimed that the kids took him to the rear room, which seemed to be the source of the noise.
“In the master bedroom, they found a ratchet strap that was attached to a bedpost, that was attached to the bathroom door where [the child] could not get out. The sergeant talked to the child behind the door, eventually let him out, and he discovered the child was in there with no clothes, and in fact, the child didn’t want to come out because he was embarrassed, because he was had no clothes. He hadn’t eaten. He was hungry.
The youngster informed investigators that he was constantly trapped in the restroom and could only exit to go to school. In the bathroom, the victim apparently slept on a wooden pallet, while the other two kids slept in bunk beds.
Both Barnett and Wright blamed the other kids playing for the youngster’s naked behavior in the restroom during police questioning, saying they had no idea what the child was doing. However, when the 10 and 11-year-olds were given the task of utilizing the ratchet strap, neither child was able to complete it, according to the police.
According to reports, the parents later changed their account, claiming that they had been using the strap to ensure that the bathroom door remained closed because of a leaking faucet.
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According to Day, the amount of days the boy attended school in 2024 led officials to arrest Barnett and Wright with 112 charges of endangerment.
“We know with the child stating in his forensic interview that he was held in this bathroom with no lights, no food every night, but he’s let out to go to school,” he stated. “So that being he was let out and he’s put back, then he’s let out and he’s put back. Where [the prosecutor] came up with the number, just to start is ‘let’s go back to January. Let’s find out how many days of school he was actually in school.’ So that’s how we did it based on those numbers, to come up with a number as he was in school from January up until the time he was located, 112 times this year.”
Day added that he anticipates further charges being brought against the couple as the investigation develops.
Both Wright and Barnett were being held on a $50,000 bond at the Baxter County Jail. Wright and Barnett had both posted bond as of Friday morning.
