A Pontiac mother who allegedly left her three children to live alone in squalor told an Oakland County Sheriff’s Office deputy that she was selfish and “sacrificed my children.”

Kelli Bryant’s three children, ages 12, 13 and 15, were found Feb. 14 living alone in a Pontiac home filled with cobwebs, trash and feces — a home so filthy that evidence technicians needed to wear hazmat suits and gas masks, Deputy John Brish said Friday during Bryant’s preliminary examination in Pontiac District Court.

The kids said their mom had not lived there in years, and the oldest boy only saw her when she dropped off food or had food delivered to the home.

“The idea that you can hide your children in a locked house for over four years convince them that seeking any help is contrary to their own well-being, fail to provide them with the smallest of items for their general care, such as soap, shampoo, toothpaste, and that wouldn’t cause them to experience serious mental harm is an affront to anyone who has ever cared for a child,” Assistant Prosecutor Kanika Ferency said. “It is child abuse.”

Pontiac District Court Judge Cynthia Thomas Walker on Friday sent Bryant to stand trial on three counts of first-degree child abuse, which is punishable by up to life in prison, and three counts of welfare fraud, punishable by up to four years in prison.

Thomas Walker said there was “overwhelming” evidence that Bryant caused serious mental harm to her children. The kids had been living alone in the home since 2020 or 2021.

Bryant’s attorney, Cecilia Quirindongo Baunsoe, said prosecutors did not show proof of serious mental harm — nor any proof that the children couldn’t cope with the ordinary demands of life.

“Those children were articulate, they were answering questions, they were asking for clarification when they couldn’t understand what was being asked,” Quirindongo Baunsoe said.

Bryant was arrested Feb. 14 after her landlord called police for a welfare check because he hadn’t heard from the woman and because she had not paid rent since October.

The children were found in soiled clothing, their hair was matted and their toenails were several inches long, making it hard for them to walk. Police said the children did not know how to use personal hygiene items or how to flush a toilet.

This was contradicted by Bryant’s appearance when she went to the sheriff’s office to talk to Brish, he said.

“Her hair was done, she was wearing what appeared to be new clothes that were clean, she had long fake nails,” Brish said. “The contradiction of the kids and her … was somewhat jarring.”

While the kids did not testify at the preliminary examination Friday, Ferency said the oldest boy told interviewers Bryant told them not to open the door for anyone or to leave the house. He and his sisters said they weren’t able to keep their bodies clean because they had nothing other than water to use.

When the two younger girls started their menstrual cycles, they told interviewers Bryant only gave them pads once and were sent photos of how to use them.

“They did not have any menstrual products. They did not have toilet paper. And per the youngest child, she just waited for the bleeding to stop,” Ferency said. “The defendant was essentially their jailer, whose only obligation to them was to drop off their weekly rations.”

Quirindongo Baunsoe said these interviews with the children did not support that any of them suffered any serious mental harm.

Oakland County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Quincy Curtis said the odor coming from the house was “extremely foul.” Curtis was one of the first deputies inside the home and the first to observe trash and feces all over the home, and “cobwebs hanging from ceiling that you had to walk through.”

“Our initial thought was we were checking the apartment for a dead body (because of the smell),” Curtis said. “I didn’t think it was a suitable place for anyone to be living.”

Brish, too, said he had “never smelled a home that smelled that bad without a decomposing body present.”

Curtis found the two girls, 12 and 13, crying behind a locked bathroom door, and the 15-year-old boy came out of a bedroom with his hands in the air, Curtis said. They were terrified and all appeared to be having a difficult time walking, he said.

Dr. Mary Smyth, the Corewell Health pediatrician who examined the Bryant kids, said the children appeared relatively healthy. They all expressed concern about not being able to see well and they had some vitamin deficiencies, she said. Their teeth appeared to be in good condition, she said.

The middle child had a stutter and struggled to stand up straight. Smythe said she was concerned the youngest child may be developmentally delayed, as she seemed immature for 12. She was also too weak to get up on the exam table herself and could not sit or stand straight, or lift her head up fully.

Brian Martin, an investigator with the prosecutor’s office, examined the cell phones of Bryant and two of the children. He said Bryant would sporadically text the kids, mostly the oldest boy, and that Bryant’s name in his contacts was “world’s greatest mom.”

In contrast, the kids were in Bryant’s phone as “my oldest,” “kid 1” and “kid 2.”

She told the oldest child she didn’t feel comfortable with the kids opening the door without her knowing, Martin said.

“She did not want them opening the door for anyone at all. Not to retrieve mail or anything else,” Martin said.

The last text thread between the boy and his mom was on Feb. 14, when police arrived to do the welfare check. He texted Bryant that they didn’t know what to do with the police in the house and they were scared, Martin said. Bryant told him to “hide and be quiet.”

Bryant was forthcoming about her actions during her interview with Brish, which he said surprised him.

“She admitted to deliberately hiding (where her kids were) and stated she didn’t want anyone to know her children were living there alone,” Brish said. “She’d created kind of cover stories to tell different people in her family where the children were. She said they didn’t know.”

At least four times during their interview, Brish said Bryant asked “is there anything I can do to help myself” or asked if he had any advice for her.

Thomas Walker temporarily revoked Bryant’s jailhouse communications privileges in March after she allegedly violated a court order prohibiting her from having contact with her children or their caregiver. Bryant called her children’s caregiver ten times between March 8 and March 12 from the Oakland County jail to talk to her children about her criminal case, according to prosecutors. Bryant also allegedly had other Oakland County jail inmates call the caregiver on her behalf.