Erica Lynn Sayre, 45, and Clifford Gale Sayre, 46, were charged Monday after an extensive investigation by the Jackson County Sheriff's Department into allegations that three children endured years of abuse and neglect in Evans, West Virginia.
Erica Lynn Sayre faces three counts of child abuse resulting in bodily injury and three counts of child neglect creating risk of injury. Clifford Gale Sayre faces three counts of child neglect resulting in bodily injury and three counts of child neglect creating risk of injury. Together, the charges mark six felony counts against the couple in a case investigators said involved repeated violence inside the home.
The allegations go well beyond a single incident. Investigators said the children were repeatedly struck and strangled, deprived of food and water, denied access to the bathroom and forced to run barefoot on a gravel driveway as punishment. They also alleged that soiled cat litter was dumped in the children's beds, dog feces was placed on their belongings, the children were struck with household objects and one was forced to put a soiled sock in her mouth.
One child told investigators she was struck in the head with an electronic device, leaving her with a bleeding injury and no medical treatment. Another was allegedly threatened with death if she contacted Child Protective Services. In a forensic interview, one child said she could not go back to that home, while another said she just wants a normal life.
That account becomes more disturbing in the detail investigators say they found. Authorities alleged that Clifford Gale Sayre witnessed repeated abuse but failed to intervene, and one child said he held her hands while Erica Lynn Sayre cut her hair with a razor blade, causing an injury. Investigators said they worked with Child Protective Services and a Child Advocacy Center, documented scars consistent with parts of the children's accounts and said the children's statements matched one another and physical evidence collected during the investigation.
All of the children were removed from the home after the allegations were disclosed. The sheriff described the case as a real-life house of horrors, a phrase that fits the breadth of the allegations and the split between the children's statements and the life they were reportedly living before anyone stepped in. What remains unanswered now is not whether the accusations are serious, but how far the case will go as the charges move forward in West Virginia.
