A Clark County couple appeared in court Thursday, a day after their 4-year-old daughter wandered from home undetected and deputies later discovered the child was living in deplorable conditions.
Mother Brandi M. Sise, 30, and father Jorge A. Sise-Ochoa, 47, both of South Vienna, Ohio, pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor charges of child endangering in a Clark County Municipal Court.
- 4-year-old girl went missing from Brookside Mobile Home about 9 a.m. Wednesday
- Child was reported missing after 1 p.m.
- Clark County Sheriff's Deputy Jolene Irons found child, screaming in a marsh
- Parents Brandi and Jorge Sise pleaded not guilty to child endangering charge
Clark County deputies who found the child in a wooded area Wednesday afternoon said she was wearing a days-old diaper and had some scratches on her legs, but she wasn’t injured worse, especially in the heat. She was placed in the care of Children’s Protective Services.
Deputies charged the parents for not reporting their child missing for more than four hours after they noticed she was missing, and for the deplorable living conditions they found in the home.
The manager at the Brookside Village Mobile Home Park where the Sise family lives called 911 to report the child missing around 1:20 p.m. Wednesday, according to sheriff’s office records. But Brandi Sise told investigators she noticed her daughter wasn’t home at 9 a.m.
When asked by dispatchers why she waited for several hours before calling deputies, the mother said her phone had been shut off and she couldn’t borrow a neighbor’s phone because they weren’t home. Sise can be heard crying on the 911 recording, saying to dispatchers, "I want my little girl back."
The girl was found in a densely wooded area about a quarter of a mile from her home, crying and only wearing a T-shirt and a "very soiled diaper," said Clark County Deputy Jolene Irons, who found the child.
A body camera Irons was wearing during the search captured images and sounds from the rescue.
The child can be heard screaming in the video. When Irons heard the child, she said a sense of relief filled her.
"A flood of emotion going on — I tried to stay calm for her, it was an emotional time for everyone on scene," Irons said.
The deputy was worried about the child missing for hours in the summer heat.
"If the elements would have gotten to her it would have been horrible," Irons said, adding the child was in a shaded area.
Before deputies found the girl, they searched her mobile home, Irons said. They found "horrible" conditions inside of the Sise’s mobile home.
Walls with exposed wiring, trash covering the child’s bedroom floor and no bedding are some of the reasons the sheriff’s office filed criminal charges against the parents, Clark County Sheriff Gene Kelly said.
"The conditions inside this home were truly unfit for any human … to live under," Kelly said.
Brandi Sise was visibly upset during her court appearance.
Her husband Jorge Sise declined to comment Thursday, but his sister, Elizabeth Sise, called the incident a misunderstanding.
The 4-year-old is a "rambunctious" girl and managed to slip out of the home, Elizabeth Sise said.
Dozens of people in the neighborhood stepped in to help search for the child once Brandi Sise told them what was happening, said Diane Massie, who lives two doors away from the Sise’s home.
"(The mother’s) crying her eyes out, the father’s running yard to yard — it was just crazy," Massie said.
Another neighbor suggested looking in the woods where the girl was found, Massie said, because he had taken the child there with his family.
The search for the girl was a reminder for all parents, Massie said.
"You got to watch your kids. There’s so many dangers out here," she said.
Jorge Sise is scheduled to appear in court again today with a public defender, according to court records.
Brandi Sise paid a $1,000 bond to be released from the Clark County Jail, according to jail records.
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