West Virginia Parents Arrested in Sickening 'House of Horrors' Case

This couple may have presented an image of love, but law enforcement in West Virginia say, don't buy it. I don't know how else to say it, but you know, some people just shouldn't be parents. They are the alleged architects of a house of horrors that was home to child abuse. I wrote a little song to remind you, Choice Hotels gets you more of the experiences you value. The Cambria Hotels got it all, a rooftop bar, have a ball. Bring a date, your squad, or even your mom. Book direct at choicehotels.com. So sick it is hard to comprehend. Throwing the dirty cat litter box on you while you're sleeping. Picking up dog droppings in the yard and stuffing them in backpacks and purses and whatnot. We're breaking down the new information we're learning in this case out of small town West Virginia that has sparked outrage across the internet. We're on the case presented by Law and Crime. I'm Chris Stewart. This week the Jackson County Sheriff's Office in West Virginia put a post on social media. It was roughly 500 words long. That's it. And the details in those words were so disturbing. It sparked outrage across the internet. And we're looking deeper into this story. It is so hard to comprehend what this couple is accused of and that people would be so allegedly awful to children. Who they adopted. But sadly we've seen cases like this before. Even though this one is on its entirely own level. I want you to meet Erica and Clifford Gale Sayre. They live in Evans, West Virginia, which is on the western part of the state, not far from the Ohio border. Clifford apparently goes by his name, Gale. His middle name. So that's what we're going to call him in this story. And this is apparently the image that this couple put out to the public. Take a bite. Take a bite. Is that awesome? It is good. Very good. Here they are at a back to school event, presumably for their kids. And when you go through social media for this couple, and a lot of it's been deleted since their arrests, they really looked like a family and a family who loved each other. Parents who loved their children. This is a picture of them. This is a picture of them on vacation. As promised, I said whoever tanned today, the day we opened, would be in my door prize to win the toaster oven. Erica appears to own a tanning salon in Evans, West Virginia. The business's social media is no longer active. Presumably, that is because of the investigation into what was allegedly going on inside of her house. This isn't just somebody as a parent that maybe got a little out of hand. Or just went a little too far in corporal punishment. But this was a set of parents that actually would think of devious ways to punish the children for just average everyday misunderstandings or disagreements. That is the sheriff of Jackson County speaking to the media per WSAZ television. He says this case started because one of the Sayers children came forward to an adult telling them that they were allegedly abused by Erica and Gail. And that adult went to the authorities. Deputies say that three girls were living with Erica and Gail. Two of them were adopted out of the foster care system. And the third is Gail's daughter. So that makes Erica the stepmom. The girls are 17, 15, and 12. And we found pictures from 2021 of the day that Erica and Gail adopted these kids. And you can see that they were at the courthouse. And then they posed for pictures outside after. So these girls would have been roughly 12, 10, and 7 when this couple adopted them. Of all the terrible allegations that we've heard of in this case, the couple is accused of taunting the children about their dead parents. I mean, how sick is that? And when it comes to physical abuse, sadly, the allegations get worse. One other thing we did notice in the social media when it was active is that Erica claims to be a mom of seven, yet law enforcement say just three girls were living with the couple at the time all of this happened. So it's unclear what the custody situation is for Erica and the other kids. she claims to have. Now, these girls, having been in the foster care system, had a really tough upbringing. They had nowhere to go. So they were placed in the care of a couple. And this couple was supposed to be the people to guide them and love them throughout their lives. But according to deputies, that could not be further from the truth of what actually happened inside of the home. So I want to get into these allegations that we've learned of this week. Quote, the investigation uncovered allegations of many years of disturbing mistreatment, including children being repeatedly struck, strangled, deprived of food and water, denied bathroom privileges, dumping soiled cat litter in their beds and dog feces on personal items and forced to run. Hey, it's Kelly Rowland. You may not know this, but I have eczema. So I get how it can steal your time. But why let eczema take over when you can talk to your doctor about eczema? Ebglis, labrakizumab LBKZ, a 250 milligram per two milliliter injection, is a prescription medicine used to treat adults and children 12 years of age and older who weigh at least 88 pounds or 40 kilograms with moderate to severe eczema. Also called atopic dermatitis that is not well controlled with prescription therapies used on the skin or topicals or who cannot use topical therapies. Ebglis can be used with or without topical corticosteroids. Don't use if you are allergic to ebglis. Allergic reactions can occur that can be severe. Eye problems can occur. Tell your doctor if you have new or worsening eye problems. You should not receive a live vaccine when treated with ebglis. Before starting ebglis, tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. Paid partnership with Lilly. Respect your time. Ask your doctor about ebglis and visit ebglis.com or call 1-800-LILLY-RX or 1-800-545-5979. The Cambria Hotels got it all. A rooftop bar, have a ball. Barefoot on a gravel driveway as means of punishment for any conflicts with Erica. The investigation also revealed allegations of the children being struck with household objects, causing excessive bleeding injuries, forced to place a soiled sock in their mouths, and having their hair forcibly cut. One child described being struck in the head with an electronic device causing a bleeding injury for which she was denied medical treatment. One of the children was threatened to be killed if she contacted Child Protective Services. During interviews, one of the children became visibly emotional and declared, quote, I can't go back to that home. Another described years of alleged abuse and expressed that she, quote, just wants a normal life. And that is incredibly heartbreaking. Now, investigators also say that this is not a case where a teenager, who comes forward just making up a story. They truly believe not just the victim's words and what they're alleging, but they say the evidence goes deeper than that. Collected evidence, photographs, forensic interviews, medical examinations, and there's, I mean, everything corroborated one another. Statements, scars, photographs, you know, scratches, bruising, whatnot, you know. Some people just shouldn't be parents. I don't know how else to say it, but, you know, some people just shouldn't be parents. You know, if parenting becomes a burden to you that you can't show any more love and affection to kids like he is, you know, there's plenty of people out there that would be willing to take them. Investigators believe that Erica was allegedly responsible for most of the physical abuse. They write, quote, the investigation also revealed that Clifford Gail Sayre witnessed repeated instances of abuse and failed to intervene. One child reported that he physically restrained her hands, while Erica forcibly cut her hair with a razor blade, resulting in an injury. During a forensic interview, the children summarized the situation by stating, quote, because mom hits us and Gail lets her, and went on to describe being tormented and harassed about their deceased biological parents. Investigators conducted interviews with the children in coordination with Child Protective Services and a child advocacy center. The investigation also identified physical evidence, including documentary evidence, and evidence of child abuse. The investigation also identified physical evidence collected, contributing to the decision to seek felony charges against both adults. Deputies don't believe they had ever been called to Erica and Gail's house in the past. They are both facing three counts of child abuse resulting in bodily injury and three counts of child neglect creating risk of injury. And for as awful as these allegations are, both Erica and Gail are living free right now. They are out on bond. This is video of Gail walking out of court after his most recent appearance per WCHS television. This was for a preliminary hearing. As for Erica, she has a preliminary hearing set for November 20th. Authorities say the children have been removed from the home. Join us now to talk more about this. Lisa Miller, retired detective, former chief investigator. Thank you for taking the time as always to be with us, talking about some of our most difficult cases here on Law and Crime. And I think about in this story, just, you know, first on a human level, it was like 500 words was this social media post that the Jackson County Sheriff puts out this week. And it was like like one line after another just broke your heart in so many ways because the physical abuse we'll talk about but the allegations of even just taunting children who lost their parents because they're in the foster care system to like use that against them i mean it is really some of the worst stuff that we've seen in a long time right chris i mean these are horrible and you know a detective when we're looking at this we have to keep our emotions in check and the reason for that is so we can do the best work for, in this case, these children. We have to maintain that objectivity. But standing outside looking at it, I mean, the physical violence, the humiliation, and the manipulation. And sadly, in all kinds of cases of abuse of children, we see quite a bit of manipulation where the adults use something or the threat of, you know, if you tell I'm going to do this to either you or somebody you love, maybe another sibling. It's horrible. It's horrible what adults can do to one another. And it's even worse maybe when we're looking at what an adult can do to a child. Yeah. And so you have this couple, Erica and Gail Sayre, they're facing six felony charges each. And the sheriff of Jackson County says that one of the children came forward and said, you know, I need help and alleges this abuse that apparently went on for years. And I just think from a detective standpoint, like when that it's clearly you take it seriously if a child comes in. And in this case, it seems like a mandatory reporter who is an adult who is. But why let eczema take over when you can talk to yourself? We're going to talk to your doctor about ebglis. Ebglis, labrakizumab LBKZ, a 250 milligram per two milliliter injection, is a prescription medicine used to treat adults and children 12 years of age and older who weigh at least 88 pounds or 40 kilograms with moderate to severe eczema, also called atopic dermatitis, that is not well controlled with prescription therapies used on the skin or topicals or who cannot use topical therapies. Respect your time. Choice Hotels gets you more of what you value. Here's a little tune to help you remember. Texas, Ohio, Alaska, we're up there too. Comfort Inn, it's calling your name. Save on the stain. Oh, and free waffles are yours to claim. Well, I hope you like my little song. Notified of these allegations goes to law enforcement, but like what is step one of these investigations where you're just trying to figure out whether this is real? What we do in most cases is we arrange for a trauma-informed child forensic interview. And that's like a neutral fact-finding interview of a child in not like a police station, if at all possible. In this case, and as most cases, we take them and arrange that interview at a child advocacy center where the kiddo's not having to walk into the scary police station and sit in an interrogation room. And we're just trying to figure out what's going on. And we're in an interrogation room where we put adult suspects. They're in a child-friendly room in a more comfortable setting. And then we start to corroborate. Is this child telling the truth? Because occasionally we do come across someone that will exaggerate or lie about allegations of violence against them. So the corroboration begins right away in this trauma-informed interview at the child advocacy center. And then once the child has made their disclosures, then the job of the detective is to start corroborating. And that corroboration is a search warrant if a judge sees fit, seizing devices, looking through the home, looking through medical records if we can gain access. In this case, the children, I believe, had some scars. So a medical exam for these children is very important. Yeah. And I was just looking at the statement that the sheriff made during a news conference. And he pointed out that this is not just the words of these children, which, of course, would be a major part of a case going forward. But he does say there are scars, there are photographs, there are statements. He believes bruising, scratches, they are all intertwined into these allegations that make them believe it's real. At the same time, though, a major part of this case. And when you talk about, sadly, in so many states over the last several months, the amount of stories we've done that law enforcement have called house of horrors, I can't count them. And the hard part of that is so much happens out of the eye of the public. It's behind closed doors. There is not video evidence of someone assaulting someone else. But how much in a case like this, you may have scars, but there's a defense attorney that'll tell you, like, you know, the kid did it to themselves, you know, throughout this investigation, like what really is the cornerstone of it that you can hand to a prosecutor and say, without a doubt, I believe this is what happened that the child's alleging? Well, Chris, this is where the investigation is paramount here. And but a sad reality is all of the allegations these children made it because they're alleging abuse that took place over years. There may not be corroboration for all the acts of abuse these children were subjected to. But the detectives need to dig in. And I'm sure they are. I mean, we already have charges filed. That investigation will be continuing. And that's like an examination of devices. So maybe they're not going to be there. But maybe to throw an example out, maybe he sent to her a text. Hey, you went a little far last night. That's a little much. That date, that time, you know, that that text was sent can show it can show their mindset, what happened. And that can also verify the allegation. Sadly, we've seen some abusers. They they take pictures of what they have done. They document what they have done. So you're looking for photographs. You're looking for video. Then you're talking to the neighbors, because, yes, we learned a long time ago, we don't know what goes on behind these closed doors of someone's home. But when you start talking to the neighbors, I think one of the allegations in this case is they were making a child run up and down a gravel driveway in their bare feet. What did the neighbors see? Did they see or hear parents yelling at the children? Did they see this running in the gravel in their bare feet and think, well, that might be a little much? But didn't didn't think it was enough to report. You're going to be talking to co-workers. You're going to be talking to friends. You're going to be talking to all of us to see who noticed what and when they noticed it. And you think, too. And, you know, I feel like I say this in every story because so much of what we do and that we know about someone is just like from what you'll see on like a social media profile. But in this case, like it's, you know, here's this happy family. You know, here's this woman who apparently owns a business, you know, in this small town in West Virginia. And yet you read the allegations. And it's like, how is this the same person? And unfortunately, we've seen a lot of cases. Social media is only surface level. And there's no real profile of what someone who's accused of something like this actually looks like. At the same time, I just wonder, like, how did this couple. But why let eczema take over when you can talk to your doctor about Eblis? Eblis, a 250 milligram per two milliliter injection is a prescription medicine used to treat adults and children 12 years of age and older who weigh at least 88 pounds or 40 kilograms with moderate to severe eczema, also called a topic dermatitis that is not well controlled with prescription therapies used on the skin or topicals or who cannot use topical therapies. Eblis can be used with or without topical corticosteroids. Don't use if you are allergic to Eblis. Tell your doctor if you have new or not receive a live vaccine when treated with Eblis. Before starting Eblis, tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. Respect your time. Ask your doctor about Eblis and visit eblis.com or call 1-800-LILLY-RX or 1-800-545-5979. Become foster parents with what's being alleged. If that's true, I mean, how do they go through the system? And I know that they adopted these kids in 2021, but you know, law enforcement saying that this abuse went on for years and you just are like, you see it. It's like, these look like, if this is true, there could not be a worse fit for someone to be a foster parent for children who have probably had a pretty traumatic childhood up to that point. And yet we do see in a lot of cases where the foster system, not all, but like the foster system, There are these types of stories like what type of investigation is done on the front end, making sure people are actually fit to be taking care of these kids. You know, Chris, I'll just say this. I'm a dog person. And in some cases, it's harder to adopt a dog than it is a child. I mean, you have to jump through all kinds of hoops if you're going to adopt an animal. Sometimes we see misses and I don't understand it. I've heard the excuses and the systemic failures. But I mean, it's similar to how people put themselves out on social media where we're this big, happy family and everything's great and good. And when the people that come that are doing the investigations, they usually announce their visit. You have a general idea when these workers are coming to check. And so you're going to have your home spotless. You're going to put on this act. And there are misses. And I don't know what we need to do. But we being all the agencies involved need to do a better job of screening these monsters out because children are too precious. Children are way too precious to be subjected to these horrors, like horrors like this case and horrors like the cases I've seen and horrors like the cases we read in the head. Quite frankly, you know, I think the sheriff's department's done a good job of having six charges against each of them now. And I would hope and I believe that they're continuing to investigate because I think there's probably more coming. There could be. There could be. I mean, you know, I think it seemed like they moved pretty fast to an extent where you had, you know, this person came forward and then they seemed like it was within, you know, a pretty quick amount of time. That they moved in and then press charges against Erica and Gail. They are facing six charges. And these are serious charges, serious felonies that they're facing, child abuse and neglect charges. And yet they're both out on bond. And I know that, you know, the comments section will be like, how are these people out on bond? And that is certainly a question now looking at what these allegations, you know, are claiming. Yeah. Why are they out on bond? But like, why would you know, not just why are they out on bond, but like, what is typically the thought process in the legal system? As to why someone facing something like this would be able to be granted the opportunity to be out and be free with restrictions as their case plays out? Well, there was a shift some years back towards decreasing bonds and, you know, cash bond. There was there was some discussion in the system about whether or not these high cash bonds were fair bond. And keep in mind, and as frustrating as it is. To many that are reading these charges, knowing of these allegations, these individuals through the eyes of the justice system are still innocent until proven guilty. So technically, these are innocent people who have been arrested on these charges. And so the judges are looking at this. They're innocent. I just need to secure their presence for trial in the next proceedings. So that's what the purpose of bond is supposed to be. But when you're looking at. When you're looking at people that are harming the most vulnerable amongst us, it's hard to swallow at times that they're walking around free to maybe maybe do something terrible to someone else. We don't know. Yeah. And I get it with like, you know, and I know it's like a big debate, you know, a lot of circles, it gets political. But like, you know, there are examples of people who are like low level, nonviolent offenders who just don't have the financial means to make. You know, a pretty attainable for, say, middle class income bonds, and they end up being in jail for long periods of time. And then on the flip side of it, you'll have individuals who are accused of very serious charges. Like I think of like Lee Gillies, a case out of Houston. I think his bond was at a million dollars he posted and now he's in Italy. And that's a whole extradition process that people can look up online. Right. Like there's a lot of people that can't make the bond that Lee Gillies could. And yet he's able to get out and then you'll have someone who is busted for maybe selling weed on the side of the street. Not excusing any sort of activity. And then they're in jail for a long period of time as their case. You may not know this, but I have eczema, so I get how it can steal your time. But why let eczema take over when you can talk to your doctor about Eblis, Eblis? Leberkizumab LBKZ, a 250 milligram per two milliliter injection, is a prescription medicine used to treat adults and children 12 years of age and older who weigh at least 88 pounds or 40 kilograms with moderate to severe eczema. It's called atopic dermatitis that is not well controlled with prescription therapies used on the skin or topicals or who cannot use topical therapies. You should not receive a live vaccine when treated with Eblis. Respect your time. Ask your doctor about Eblis and visit Eblis.com or call 1-800-322-7000. 1-800-LILLY-RX or 1-800-545-5979. I wrote a little song to remind you. Choice Hotels gets you more of the experiences you value. So I see like that debate, but then it's like in this case, and it's like you read these allegations and then, you know, if they're convicted and we'll see where this case goes, like, there's a possibility they're in prison for a long time. And I know, you know, it's unclear if they're on like GPS monitoring that that can make sure that they're, you know, still in the area. But it is like shocking that they're out. Erica Sire, she's going to have a preliminary hearing on November 20th. And in cases, Lisa, that you've investigated, because I think like you've been in the room with some pretty bad people. You've investigated some pretty bad people. I guess how often are individuals who are accused of some of the worst crimes imaginable, like are the people who you would lease to? Oh, quite often. I can tell you it happens way too much. And people around them, I go back to one child that had serious bodily injury charges against them. And the people around the mother knew her, knew her family. Her grandfather was kind of a pillar of the community type, right? And this child came in with an obvious injury. And nobody believed it. Nobody believed it. Nobody believed that it was an intentional thing. Actually, in the case, there was a guilty verdict later on. She ended up admitting. And people were floored because of the family she came from, the act that she put on. But this is where the investigation comes in. You tighten the timeline. You corroborate everything. You weed out the other people that were around the children that could have done this. Investigation here in a case like this is perilous. So you have to jump on everything. And good detectives are peremptory in trying to find out the excuses. Because these people always have excuses. They'll say, the child pushed me to this. Oh, teenagers. You know how teenagers are. Or, you know, my mental health, my stress, my this. And that's why you start talking to everybody in the orbit of the offender. Finding out, do you know if they had mental health challenges? Have they committed? Have they committed acts of violence before? Have they committed acts of violence against an adult, against a child? Are they a bully in the workplace? Were they a bully in school? Good detectives are going to try to preempt every excuse imaginable by the questions they ask of the people in the orbit. So we can go to our prosecutors and go, hey, I think we're prepared. This is what we learned about them. Or this is what we didn't learn. Nobody knew anything about X, Y, or Z. So good detectives prep the case. Prep the prosecutor, because nobody likes surprises. And in a case like this, quite frankly, if these parents did it, we want conviction. Yeah. No, and we'll see what other pieces of information come out. But just the allegations that were laid out in this Facebook post that the Jackson County Sheriff put up this week. I mean, this story went viral pretty quick because the allegations are that bad. We'll see where the truth lies as this case moves forward. Lisa Miller, always great to have you on Law & Crime. Thanks for doing this. Thank you, Chris. Thank you, Chris. That will do it for On the Case, presented by Law & Crime. I'm Chris Stewart. I'm Chris Stewart.