An Alabama couple has abeen arrested after a 911 call from a Dollar General manager led to the discovery of a 14-year-old girl left on her own at a mobile home for months.
The girl’s mother, 43-year-old Marchelle Pertilla, and her stepfather, 52-year-old Eugene Medrano, were charged with child abuse and aggravated cruelty to animals, WKRG reported.
According to WALA, the investigation began Sunday when Dollar General assistant manager Jessica Smitherman saw the 14-year-old staggering around.
“I’ve seen her in the store months and months ago, but she was with a little boy, and they would do some grocery shopping. I’ve never seen any parent with them,” said Smitherman.
This time, the girl looked like she hadn’t bathed in months.
“She was staggering,” said Smitherman. “I could definitely tell something was wrong so I sat her down in a chair outside the store and started asking her some questions asking her if I can call her mom, if there was anything I can do. She ended up saying she wanted me to call the ambulance.”
The Mobile County Sheriff’s Office launched an investigation and learned that Pertilla and Medrana had moved to Pensacola nearly a year ago, leaving the girl behind because she didn’t want to leave her service dogs. The girl said her mother occasionally sent food deliveries to the home but said she hadn’t actually seen her since October.
Then investigators went to the home. They found seven dogs — one dead in a closet — and roaches, trash, feces, and, urine all over the home.
“One of the alarming things discovered during the search warrant was she had some writings that was titled how many times mom didn’t come pick me up and she had hash marks. There were 87 hash marks,” said Sheriff Paul Burch.
Burch said the dogs were taken by animal control and the girl was taken into custody by the Department of Human Resources.
For the latest true crime and justice news, subscribe to the ‘Crime Stories with Nancy Grace’ podcast.
[Featured image: Marchelle Pertilla and Eugene Medrano/Mobile County Sheriff’s Office]