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More details continue to emerge in the disturbing and sad case of 2-and-half-year-old Elijah Collins, the boy who was found not breathing in a motel room with feces, urine, a dead animal, and other filth. The boy’s parents — Vincent Collins, 25, and Savannah Sholter, 21 — remain behind bars, charged with only a count of child neglect, but now images have been released of the hellish Hialeah motel room where they let their child live in near seclusion.
WSVN reported on the case last night and included these disturbing images:
The young boy was found Saturday night after he stopped breathing and Sholter made a frantic 911 call. His despicable living conditions were uncovered then, though both the Department of Children and Families and the U.S. Coast Guard have histories with the family.
Irma Martinez, a family acquaintance, tells WSVN she called a child abuse hotline late last year to report Elijah’s living conditions after he was taken to the hospital for a bacterial infection, but nothing was ever done.
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Vincent Collins, the boy’s father, is an active member of the U.S. Coast Guard, and representatives from the agency were present at yesterday’s court hearing.
Elijah will need to stay in the hospital for at least another month, while the couple’s other child, a 1-year-old boy, remains in foster care.
[WSVN: Parents of kids found in filth denied custody]
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