Alaska parents 'kept teen daughters in home filled with bags of trash and human waste'

October 06, 2024

A mother and father from Alaska have been charged with child neglect after allegedly keeping their teen daughters in a 'completely filthy' home while they lived in a camper outside.

Timothy Hogan and Patricia Haugstad-Hogan, from Anchorage, were arrested in March two months after their daughters, then 17 and 16, escaped from the $400,000 property to seek help.

The girls say they were forced to sleep on a mattress in the basement of the four-bedroom home for five years and had been left without water, power or heat since May 2015.

Timothy Hogan and Patricia Haugstad-Hogan are facing charges of child neglect after allegedly forcing their teenage daughters to live in the basement of this 'filthy' home in Anchorage, Alaska

Police say the girls lived in the basement of the home which was filled floor to ceiling with bags of trash and human waste while their parents lived in this camper parked outside

Police who investigated the property said the upper floors were piled with bags of trash from floor to ceiling, with paths cleared between the mounds of garbage so the girls could move about.

Upstairs were several bags filled with human waste, since the house had no running water for the toilet, while mold covered the ceiling and walls.

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In the kitchen one hob appeared to be used for cooking, the Alaska Dispatch News reports, while the others were covered with grime.

Meat and other food sat on the kitchen counters unrefrigerated, while there was a 'strong odor of old trash and rotting food' from the rest of the house.

Police said the basement, where they pair are believed to have been living, was also littered with trash but was in a considerably better state than the rest of the house.

There was a small drain and tap in the corner of the basement where the girls apparently washed, detectives said, while a mattress under the stairs seemed to serve as their bedroom.

The girls also told police that they had never been to public school, and officers were unable to find any record of them in the school system.

Police say they girls escaped the filthy home on Christmas eve and made their way to a shelter. When police later arrived to question the parents, they had no idea the girls had left

Any home schooling the girls had received was 'sporadic and inconsistent', the police noted, and estimated the pair had also not been to a dentist or a doctor for several years.

Police said the teens had 'no opportunity to meet friends, socialize or contact outside family members within the Anchorage area.'

While the girls reported feeling 'trapped' inside the property, police could not find evidence that they had been kept against their will under lock and key.

Meanwhile Hogan and Haugstad-Hogan lived in a camper van in the driveway of the home, though the conditions inside the vehicle have not been reported.

The alleged abuse only came to light on Christmas Eve last year after the pair fled the basement and made their way to the Covenant House youth shelter, more than five miles away.

When police later arrived at the home to question the parents, they had no idea the pair were even missing, according to detectives.

Christy Lawton, director of the state Office of Children's Services, said that the two girls did not return to the family home after arriving at Convent House.

Her agency assumed emergency custody of the girls in early January, according to Lawton, shortly before police went to inspect the property.

Authorities had attempted to file felony charges against the parents, but yesterday state prosecutors slapped down the attempt, saying there was insufficient evidence.

Reached outside the home Wednesday, Haugstad-Hogan said she wasn't at liberty to comment on the case. The couple's attorney, Jon Buchholdt, also declined to discuss it.

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