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Couple jailed after 4 Missouri children found in windowless rooms

Head -photo St. Francis Co.

FARMINGTON, Mo. (AP) – Authorities say two adults are jailed after police found four children who were apparently being kept in small, windowless rooms at their southeast Missouri home.

St. Francois County Sheriff Daniel Bullock says officers found the children Tuesday in a home in Farmington, about 60 miles south of St. Louis.

Daryl Justen Head and Laura Elizabeth Cheatham, both 38, are each charged with five counts of endangering the welfare of a child and three counts of kidnapping.

Cheatham -photo St. Francois County

Bullock says the children were in “fairly good” shape. They’re in state custody. They had been adopted by Cheatham and her estranged husband.

The sheriff says the rooms were smaller than a jail cell and had no access to water or toilets. He had no information on a possible motive.

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