A Neelyville, Missouri couple is facing multiple felony charges after authorities discovered their four young children living in what police describe as “heartbreaking” conditions inside a trailer. It was so filthy that one child chose to sleep on an entertainment centre to avoid contact with black flies, cockroaches, and trash.
Mateo Luna, 27, and his girlfriend Stephanie Passley, 26, were charged with four counts of child abuse and neglect after officers found the interior of their Missouri trailer filled with rotting food, soiled clothing, garbage, and human waste.
The children (ranging in age from 8 months to 9 years old) had reportedly been subjected to this environment for up to two years, according to one child’s account to police.
Butler County Sheriff’s Investigator Eddie Holloway, one of the first on the scene, was visibly shaken when he described the situation to local outlet KFVS. “That little boy sleeping on that entertainment center,” Holloway admitted, rattled him thoroughly. “All this is garbage. Rotting food. Just discarded junk and trash.”
“Rotting Food, No Water, and Modified Locks”: Inside the Trailer of Horror
According to the probable cause affidavit, the cops got a call on Monday to go and check on the kids because someone had tipped them off about how terrible the living situation was.
And about what he saw when they got there, Holloway said, “I don’t cry a whole lot at some of these cases. I cried last night.”
My jaw hit the floor watching this
“This is over the last 30 days and every red dot on that map is at least one unique IP address of individuals downloading, sharing, distributing child abuse and rape images under the age of 12. Over 111,000 of them”
“55% to 85% are also hands… pic.twitter.com/cGCAIecuMM
— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) May 14, 2025
The living room looked like a dumpster, just piled with junk, spoiled food, and even excrement. The smell was outright terrible. The kitchen? Dirty dishes everywhere, food that had seen better days, and bugs galore. And the heat? The place was like a sauna with no water to drink in sight, 88 degrees, and not a drop of running water for those poor kids.
The smell of decomposition and waste was so overwhelming that officers documented it in official reports.
In one particularly alarming detail, investigators found that a bedroom lock had been reversed. It suggests that a child could have been locked in from the outside. Passley allegedly told investigators that her children sometimes tried to escape at night, and because they lived near railroad tracks, she took measures to prevent them from leaving the house.
These measures now appear to have involved physical restraint.
Children Trapped in Squalor for “About Two Years,” Authorities Say
The abuse may have been ongoing for far longer than the authorities initially feared. One of the children, a young girl, told officers that the family had been living like this “for about two years.”
Sheriff Holloway said it’s one of the worst cases of child neglect he’s seen. “I just don’t understand how a person could live like that and have their children in that. It just breaks my heart.”
Luna and Passley are currently in custody, and their children have been removed from the home.
