Mom Forced Kids to Live Outside in Yard While She Stayed Elsewhere as Home Was ‘Unlivable’: Police

The sentence comes after Betty Sue Snider, 35, entered an Alford plea on four counts of wanton endangerment, four counts of endangering the welfare of a minor, and three counts of abandonment of a minor. This plea is equivalent to a guilty plea as it results in conviction, but allows the defendant to maintain their innocence while conceding there is enough evidence to convict at trial.

Snider was arrested on August 29, 2024, after an investigation uncovered that her three children had allegedly been forced to live outside in the yard for an unknown amount of time, but believed to be months, according to the Louisville Metro Police Department.

The children, aged 10, 11, and 16, were hospitalized when she was arrested, suffering from malnourishment, dehydration, and neglect. According to LMPD records reviewed by the Louisville Courier Journal, police became involved when the teen showed up to school in poor physical condition, and her younger siblings stopped showing up at all.

Administrators at Jefferson County Public Schools contacted police about the teen’s condition, and expressed their concerns that her siblings could be in “possible danger” as they had not seen them.

Officers then made their way to the family’s home at around 2 p.m. on August 29 for a welfare check, but they found the younger children outside, where all three kids had been allegedly living without access to water, electricity, or shelter. The younger children were reportedly “appeared dirty, hungry, and had visible injuries,” according to police documentation.

According to the children, their trailer home was filthy, and so they would often sleep outside, finding rest in a tent, or on chairs and even a swing. Police described the home as “unlivable” in their reports, describing bugs and trash visible everywhere.

The children further told police, per court documents, that their mother was aware of the home’s condition and that she often left them alone for extended periods of time.

When police made contact with Snider, she agreed that the house was “unlivable,” adding that she had not gone inside of it herself in the past several months. She further “admitted to not being at the location for extended periods of time,” per the arrest affidavit.

She reportedly explained the conditions of the home in court, telling the judge, per ABC affiliate WHAS, “I was in the process of moving to another house. Another location that I owned myself.”

The children’s great-grandmother, Mary Burkhammer, spoke with ABC affiliate WHAS after Snider’s 2024 arrest, telling the outlet, “They’ve been treated like dogs and animals.” She added that the children would “sneak down here when she was gone to get something to eat or drink. They wasn’t allowed in their home.”

She explained to the outlet that even though she lived on the same street as Snider, her granddaughter would not let the children seen her. She further alleged that Snider has a history of neglect and said she’d leave the kids alone for “three or four days,” asking, “What did she think these kids were eating?”

Burkhammer and other family members told the media they’ve reached out to both the police and the Cabinet of Health and Family Services several times to report the living conditions at Snider’s home, but very little had been done prior to Snider’s arrest.

“We’re not the only people who call,” the children’s cousin Kaylee Grismer told NBC affiliate WAVE. “We have people streets over who call. We have a neighbor down here who calls. Our neighbor calls. Dude over there calls.”

One neighbor told the outlet that they’d hear the children “outside at four in the morning, screaming and fighting with each other” and wonder, “Okay, that don’t seem right. Why are they outside?”

Buckhammer told the outlet that she reported the situation to CHFS and the police, telling them, “There’s kids living outside, using the bathroom outside, don’t take showers, eats once they can get their food. Mother’s gone several days at a time at night. They really need help. They need somebody to do something.”

She said the most they’ve seen in response are notices posted on Snider’s door, which Buckhammer said she would just ignore. She told WAVE she was about to take the kids “and go somewhere” if something wasn’t done to help them soon.

“Yeah, I’d have probably gotten locked up. But do I care? No, because they would be with me,” she said. “They’d have been fed. They wouldn’t be scared. They would be safe.”

CHFS confirmed previous contact with the family to WAVE and released the following statement: “The administration believes that every child deserves a nurturing environment where they have a chance to succeed.”

“We also recognize a societal challenge where as long as there is this level of abuse and neglect in the world, then the need for remediation will persist,” the statement continued. “Early intervention is key and it’s an area we’re continuing to focus on. The Cabinet has had contact with this family. We cannot comment on matters that may be under investigation but as always, we will work with law enforcement.”