MONROEVILLE, Pa. -- Police removed a girl from a Monroeville house after a neighbor called 911 because the child was screaming from a second-story window for help.
Flies inside a window, ketchup packets on the window ledge and garbage strewn all over a lawn greeted Monroeville police officers called to the house on Valley View Drive shortly after 9:30 a.m. Wednesday.
WTAE Channel 4's Janelle Hall reported that officers found a 3-year-old girl home alone.
"It's a sad thing to see a child in that vulnerable condition," Monroeville police Lt. Steven Pascarella said. "The house was filthy -- no utilities, just garbage, just a mess."
Springdale police Officer Heather Camp, who lives three streets away, described hearing the 3-year-old's desperate cries.
"She was up really high. The window was open, there was no screen. When I saw her, she was hanging over the side," Camp said.
Video: WTAE Channel 4 Interviews Officer CampCamp got the 3-year-old to back away from the window and got her to calm down.
"I asked her where her mommy was and she said she wasn't there. I asked her where daddy was and she said he wasn't there. I asked her who Steven was, which was the name she was screaming, and she said her brother," Camp said.
Camp called Monroeville police, who got inside the house through an open front door and got the girl out safely.
Monroeville investigators said the girl's 15-year-old brother returned home about an hour later, saying he had just stepped out quickly. There was no sign of the children's mother. WTAE Channel 4 Action News knocked on the door several times Wednesday.
Police were not sure of the whereabouts of the children's mother while the girl was home alone and the boy was out.
"She was pretty scared. She was really worked up and she just kept telling me, 'I want my mommy. Call my mommy,'" Camp said.
Both children are in custody of the Allegheny County Office of Children, Youth and Families, where they will remain until a judge makes a ruling.
"The kids are always running wild. They never keep an eye on them," neighbor Marla Stevens said.
Police have not released evidence photographs yet, but Hall reported that they show the house to be very dirty, with clothes and garbage all over the main floor and what looks like dirt or rust in the bathtub and sinks.
Police said there's a smell of urine and garbage in the house, and there were no working utilities. A building inspector will visit the house, they said.
"The house was uninhabitable. The home was in such a condition that was unsafe for anyone," Pascarella said.
A CYF employee said he could not comment on the case as he left parenting pamphlets at the front door of the home.
Copyright 2009 by ThePittsburghChannel. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
