A Las Vegas mother has been indicted on multiple child abuse and neglect charges after her 1-year-old son was found dead in her apartment, leading to the discovery of her 8-year-old daughter, who had been locked in her bedroom for more than a year.

Philena Dees was not at home earlier this month when officers responded to a call about an unresponsive child and found the boy, identified as Aurelius Dees, dead in a filthy home with no air conditioning or running water. First responders determined that Aurelius “was beyond help and had been deceased for a long period of time,” KLAS reported.

“Aurelius Dees’ body appeared small and emaciated,” police wrote, noting that there were no signs of trauma. “His eyes were sunken in and his lips were purple. Lividity was pronounced as he appeared to have been deceased for some time.”

Firefighters who had responded to the scene initially called it “suspicious,” and police soon found trash strewn throughout the home and, with no running water, toilets backed up with fecal matter because they couldn’t be flushed.

They also found two other children, a 3-year-old and a 15-year-old, who told the officers that their mother had left them alone for several days and that it was a common occurrence. When officers began to get the children out of the home, the teen told them he had go back and get his 8-year-old sister, who was locked in her room. The officer went back in and let the girl out.

The teen told the officers that the girl had been locked in her room for more than a year, that he hadn’t been to school in three years, and that the two youngest children had been born at home and had never seen a doctor.

Dees returned to Las Vegas the following day and was interviewed by detectives. She allegedly told them that she had locked the girl in her room because in January 2022, she caught her then-live-in boyfriend, Juan De La Cruz, “sexually assaulting her daughter.” She did so, she said, “for her safety.” She allowed De La Cruz to stay because “he was paying the bills.”

De La Cruz moved out and returned to New Mexico in September 2022, but Dees still kept her behind the locked door.

The girl reportedly confirmed De La Cruz sexually assaulted her but told investigators that her mother kept her door locked because she “kept getting in the way.”

De La Cruz was arrested last month and charged with sexual assault against a child under 14 and lewdness with a child under 14. He is being held without bail.

Dees was given a $150,000 bail.

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[Featured image: Philena Dees and Juan De La Cruz/Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department]