Man accused of locking family in trash-filled trailer

A Georgia man is accused of holding his wife and children captive in a trash-filled mobile home for three years, police said Wednesday.

Raymond Daniel Thurmond, 36, was arrested after police got a call from a woman at a local shelter August 4, Lavonia Police Lt. Missy Collins said.

"She told me they had a mother and four kids and apparently they've been kept at home and there was some abuse allegations and the dad wouldn't let them leave," Collins said.

Medina said she put a note on Thurmond's door this month to pay the late rent by August 5. On August 6, after no rent was received, she sent her maintenance man to the 3-bed, 2-bath trailer. He opened the door and came straight back, she said.

"I want you to see this with your own eyes," she recalled the maintenance worker saying to her. "You better wear some shoes and gloves or something,"

Medina went in the trailer and found piles of trash everywhere: 4, 5 or 6 feet high, she said.

Medina shot a video of the trash inside the trailer, including Diet Mountain Dew bottles, board games, cigarette boxes, frozen pizza boxes and piles of human hair on the kitchen floor. The laundry room was filled to the ceiling with trash, Medina said.

"You cannot describe the smell," she said. "It was so strong it would knock you out."

After Thurmond's arrest, the trailer was cleaned out, but yellow jackets swarmed around a Dumpster full of trash -- including a stroller, car seat and toys -- from the trailer. A horrible stench still lingers. Anthills remain under a mattress in the master bedroom, maggots creep around the trailer, and roaches roam inside the fridge.

What a freak, I feel so bad for those poor kids. The oldest, 14, might have only attended school up to second grade. The other 3 children have never went to school and have been locked in a festering dump with maggots, spiders, rats, and god knows what else.

These children are going to be so socially handicapped I doubt they can ever lead normal lives. This makes my blood boil.

[edit on 13-8-2008 by ben420]

Those poor kids.

This just breaks my heart.
How could some one do this?

At least the got free. Hopefully the can begin to recovery process.

I really feel terrible for the children and their mother. What they have been through is like something out of a horror movie in a way. The sad thing is I believe this sort of thing goes on more than we know about.

Not to take the man’s side on this but I believe there is something more of an underlying mental issue going on with him. There is a chance he was just some cruel evil tyrant I suppose, but I wonder more if something did not happen to make him his possibly fragile psyche crack. It sounds as if there was some bit of normalcy early on after all the oldest did go to school for a short time, so there was some degree of freedom at one time. Every time I hear about a story like this I wonder how long before this starts to be a more common sort of thing. People are starting to crack more all the time it seems. The mental health of many seems to be declining, just look at the news. It makes you wonder what is really wrong with people.

In another way this man sort of reminds me of David Parker Ray (serial torture/rapist/killer).

Raist