OAKLAND COUNTY, Mich. – The Oakland County mom accused of abandoning her kids and forcing them to live alone in filthy conditions for years is now heading to trial.

Kelli Bryant, 34, of Pontiac, is facing three counts of first-degree child abuse after authorities found her three children — a 15-year-old boy, a 13-year-old girl, and a 12-year-old girl — living alone. She also faces welfare fraud charges.

Bryant appeared for her preliminary examination on May 16, 2025, where a judge ruled that there was enough evidence presented by prosecutors for her to go to a jury trial.

Bryant will be going to trial for the charges of child abuse and welfare fraud.

Four witnesses testified in the preliminary hearing, including the responding deputy and the detective on the case who interviewed Bryant.

Click here to see all of our previous coverage of this case.

Here’s what they said:

Responding deputy

Oakland County Sheriff’s Deputy Quincy Curtis was called to the Pontiac home in February for a welfare check. Deputies had been called for a welfare check the day before, but didn’t get inside the home, and when he arrived the following day, the landlord was there with a locksmith.

The landlord told Curtis that he hadn’t seen or heard from the tenant in a while and hadn’t received payment from her for some time.

When Curtis walked into the home through the garage, he saw a large mold stain on the ceiling, along with feces and trash everywhere.

After that, he entered the home and said there were also piles of trash, feces, and cobwebs throughout the inside of the home as well.

He recalled the foul odor and said he thought they’d be “checking the apartment for a dead body,” due to the smell.

Curtis said he encountered a locked door, and when he turned to check the other doors, he could hear crying coming from that first locked door, so he went back to it.

He said he told the children they were safe and they needed to come out so he could check on them. As he did this, the oldest child came out of one of the closed bedroom doors.

The boy had extremely long toenails and had a hard time walking straight, according to the deputy.

After their brother had asked them to, the other two children opened the door.

When they came out, they were really hunched over, standing close to each other, holding hands, and wouldn’t look up, according to Curtis.

“They were very frightened,” he said, recalling when he tried to talk to the children.

Curtis said the children had a hard time figuring out how to spell their names when asked and had to talk amongst themselves to figure it out.

Child Protective Services was contacted.

“I didn’t think it was a suitable place for anyone to be living,” said Curtis as he recalled the welfare check.

The three children were taken to the hospital and were given hygiene supplies, including toothbrushes, toothpaste and shower products.

He said the children were confused about how to brush their teeth and didn’t understand how to flush the toilet. After they brushed their teeth, there was allegedly blood in the sink.

Curtis said he didn’t recall seeing any hygiene products when they searched the home.

The deputy said the kids waited until all three of them were together to eat and even then wouldn’t eat unless everyone else stepped outside of the room.

Bryant’s attorney, Cecilia Quirindongo-Baunsoe, implied that the children could have been scared because they probably aren’t familiar with strangers, especially an officer, being in their home.

The defense attorney also argued that the blood in the sink may not have been a result of the children brushing their teeth because Curtis didn’t watch the children brush their teeth.

Watch the full testimony here –> Foul smell at Oakland County home where kids were found made deputy think he was searching for body

Pediatrician

A pediatrician, Dr. Smith, testified she performed a basic examination of the children at the outpatient clinic following their stay at the hospital.

She claimed she didn’t know very much information about the children prior to the appointment, and that CPS was the one who set up the appointment.

She recalled the children arriving at the clinic accompanied by their grandfather, a social worker and a deputy from the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office.

She examined the three children individually, while being verbal with what she was doing throughout the examination. She also told the children to let her know if they are uncomfortable with what she is doing or in any pain.

All three children denied being examined in their private areas. She said she was able to examine the children everywhere else, head to toe.

Dr. Smith recalled that the oldest child didn’t smile and was somewhat quiet. He also answered her questions.

She said the oldest child has brown spots inside his mouth, possibly lesions.

She described the middle child as a little more “high-spirited.” Dr. Smith said the child stuttered somewhat but was able to communicate with her. The middle child told the doctor she was confused as to why this was happening.

According to Dr. Smith, the middle child had a hard time standing up, and her skin was darkened.

Dr. Smith testified that all three had difficulty seeing, and they were squinting. A screening chart was used, and she determined they had near-sidedness.

She then asked about their routine before they were removed from the home.

The pediatrician testified that the children’s routine was: Wake up, use their phone or tablet, sleep and eat food when it was provided to them. She said it was unclear when they went to bed, and their routine seemed “disorganized.” The children told the doctor they were not allowed to go outside at all.

Dr. Smith was concerned for the youngest child, claiming she may be developmentally delayed and immature for her age. She also said she was hunched over and had a very hard time standing up straight. The youngest child was also not able to get on the examination table by herself.

The pediatrician said the most striking feature about the youngest child was that she was unable to hold her head up straight and was weak in general.

Dr. Smith said the children had extremely low levels of vitamin D and recommended that they attend physical rehabilitation.

The defense attorney argued that the general population in Michigan would have a vitamin D deficiency. Therefore, it can be a normal thing for children to have that.

The children were not underweight, the defense attorney stated and the doctor agreed.

The defense attorney said the doctor doesn’t know the youngest child and can’t determine if her mannerisms are immature for her age.

She said all three had a good dental examination, but then said she was not a dentist.

The defense argued that the doctor isn’t a licensed psychiatrist or psychologist to make a judgment on their mental well-being.

Investigator from prosecutor’s office

The investigator for the prosecutor’s office, Brian Martin, testified he extracted phone data from the children’s and Bryant’s phones for investigation purposes.

He said the children had their mom in their phone’s contact labeled as “World’s greatest mom” or similar in verbiage.

Bryant had her children’s contact information on her phone labeled as “My oldest,” “Kid 1″ and “Kid 2.”

He said he saw text messages exchanged mostly between Bryant and the oldest child regarding food delivery.

For example, she sent a text message to the oldest on Nov. 30, 2024, saying, “There, hurry,” and “Let me know you got it.”

The oldest child would also message Bryant what food they were requesting. She would order it for delivery, and the oldest would retrieve the food from the porch.

Martin read out one text Bryant sent to the children in court, “I don’t feel comfortable with you opening the door without me knowing.”

He testified that the children would continually ask for things from their mother. He said she would sometimes delay delivery on things they asked for.

Martin said, based on the oldest child‘s phone data, the oldest child met a girl online and talked to her about exchanging presents for Christmas. So, the oldest gave the girl his address, and he let Bryant know.

On Dec. 17, 2024, she messaged the oldest child, “You should have asked first, I would have gave you an address but not that one”

Martin brought up the text exchanges between Bryant and her oldest child on Feb. 14, 2025, the day the children were found by police.

At 7:30 p.m., the oldest child messaged Bryant, saying police were there and they were scared. She responded, telling them to hide and be quiet.

The defense attorney argued that the mom could have been upset about giving away their address because he gave it to someone he had never physically met.

The defense then claimed the mom was very active in communicating with the children via texts and phone calls.

Detective on case

John Brish, the detective in the Pontiac substation for the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office, testified that he was part of the child abuse investigation.

He said he was monitoring radio calls when he heard about the children claiming they hadn’t seen their mom in years during the welfare check via radio traffic, so he responded to the Pontiac home.

He testified he saw the two younger children having difficulty walking and seeing in the light. He said the children were covered in feces. He also said they appeared overwhelmed and overstimulated.

Police were advised to wear hazmat suits.

Brish testified that he never smelled a home like the Pontiac home, where there wasn’t a decomposing body. So, he kept asking the deputies if there were more children inside.

He said it is not typical for someone to wear a hazmat suit in a home to investigate due to the condition of the apartment.

He was able to contact Bryant over the phone the day the children were removed. He told her he was concerned about the health of the children. He said she agreed to meet with him at the Pontiac substation.

Bryant told Brish she was on the north side of Pontiac and took a Lyft to get to the station.

He took her to a recorded room to question her with another detective and read her Miranda rights to her.

He said her demeanor was “questionable at times.”

Brish testified that Bryant’s appearance was the most surprising. He explained that Bryant arrived at the station wearing clean clothes, her hair was done, and she was wearing long fake nails. He said it was unusual based on how the authorities found the children.

According to Brish, Bryant admitted “her actions were selfish.” She said she sacrificed her children for herself.

“I hurt my children,” he recalled Bryant saying, “I sacrificed my children, probably.”

He said he was surprised by how confident her admission was.

She described to Bryant one occasion when she met the oldest child in the garage to drop off food. She would then wait in the car until he got inside.

Brish testified that she also went to the apartment once to check the smoke alarm since it was going off. She then pulled out the batteries in the smoke detector.

She confirmed she told her children to hide when police went to the home. She also told detectives she didn’t want anyone to know her children were living there alone.

“Is there anything I could do to help myself?” Brish recalled Bryant asking when he noted the severity of the investigation. Brish said she asked for advice to help herself.

She initially claimed in the interview that she didn’t have a support system. She later reportedly admitted she had communicated with the children’s father and said they were unwilling to help her. She said she was going through something mentally and told the father of the children to take care of them.

Bryant reportedly is a victim of assault, leading to her having mental health issues.

She reportedly made “cover stories” for different people she knew. The grandfather believed the children were living with their father.

Brish said that anywhere she lived throughout the city was within walking distance of the children. She apparently lived in multiple places within the city.

She reportedly admitted to Brish it was common to talk to the oldest child, but not with the two youngest.

“She made it clear that it may have been years before seeing the two younger children,” Brish testified.

He never interviewed the children himself, but he attended the forensic interviews with them. He testified they can talk and answer the questions they were asked.

What prosecutors said before ruling

Before the judge made the ruling to bind Bryant over for trial, prosecutors made statements regarding the welfare of the children.

Prosecutors said Bryant made deliberate steps to shield her children from people who could have helped.

Prosecutors also said she prioritized hiding her children over their safety based on her telling detectives that she had broken a smoke detector so it wouldn’t attract attention.

The children stopped going to school and were living in filth. The children couldn’t reach out to family because they didn’t know their numbers, according to prosecutors.

One of the children claimed she never used soap in her hair because she didn’t have any and believed it caused cancer.

The defense argued the children weren’t mentally or physically harmed, making it not child abuse as defined by the statute.

The judge called this an “extraordinary case, extraordinary circumstances.”

The judge then ruled that Bryant will be bound over for trial on the child abuse and welfare fraud charges.

A trial date has not yet been scheduled.