A young girl who was locked up inside of a room by her abusive mother and never saw the sun or ate solid food for the first seven years of her life has miraculously survived the horrific abuse and recently turned 19 years old.
The girl named Danielle Crockett, or Dani for short, was found by Plant City police detective Mark Holste who responded to a report of child abuse on July 13, 2005 after someone spotted her young face in a broken window, the Tampa Bay Times reported.
Holste along with other officers found an unthinkable scene when they arrived to the rundown home – rooms filled with urine, feces, cockroaches.
Danielle, who was then aged six, was found inside of a dark room the size of a closet wearing a swollen diaper and had feces dribbling down her legs.
The skeletal child was curled up on a moldy mattress and had maggots, lice, and flies covering her.
Holste told the Tampa Bay Times that it was ‘the worst neglect situation I’ve ever seen.’
She was immediately removed from the home and taken to Tampa General Hospital where it was determined that she was in very bad shape.
Danielle Crockett, a young girl who was locked up inside of a room by her abusive mother and never saw the sun or ate solid food for the first seven years of her life, has miraculously survived the horrific abuse and recently turned 19 years old. Pictured above in 2008
Dani was found by Plant City police detective Mark Holste who responded to a report of child abuse on July 13, 2005 after someone spotted her young face in a broken window. Authorities took photos of her while in the hospital in 2005 (above) to illustrate how small she was
Even though she was nearly seven years old, she could not walk, talk or even eat food and weighed in at 46 pounds, doctors said at the time.
She was developmentally likened to an infant by doctors.
The director of pediatric psychology at the University of South Florida medical school, Dr. Kathleen Armstrong, told the Tampa Bay Times that 85 per cent of a child’s brain develops during her first five years of life.
Armstrong described the young girl to be environmentally autistic, given the major lack of human interaction she had endured.
Her birth mother, Michelle Crockett, was arrested. She had told authorities that she was a single mother who was trying to do the best she could after being left widowed.
Dani, who was born a healthy baby weighing seven pounds and six ounces, stayed in the hospital for roughly six weeks.
Prior to her being discovered by police in 2005, people had called to report seeing a little girl naked and starving twice in 2002. Social workers at the time had offered Michelle help, but she declined and they left Dani in her custody.
Michelle waived her parental rights as part of a plea deal in 2005 and was sentenced to two years of house arrest and probation. She never served any time behind bars.
Holste along with other officers found an unthinkable scene when they arrived to the rundown home (above)- rooms filled with urine, feces, cockroaches. The skeletal child was curled up on a moldy mattress and had maggots, lice, and flies covering her
In October 2007, Dani was adopted by Bernie and Diane Lierow. The couple told the Tampa Bay Times that they had always wanted a daughter and believed that God had placed her in their lives for a reason. She is pictured above with Bernie in 2008
‘She should have gotten at least 20 years,’ Holste said.
‘She should burn in hell,’ said Dani’s guardian ad litem, Tracy Sheehan.
Foster care employees had called the young girl a feral child due to the fact that she had never gone to school, eaten solid foods, felt the sun on her skin after essentially living in solitary confinement.
In October 2007, Dani was adopted by Bernie and Diane Lierow. The couple told the Tampa Bay Times that they had always wanted a daughter and believed that God had placed her in their lives for a reason.
‘She just looked like she needed us,’ Bernie said.
The couple moved her into their home in Fort Myers, where they were already raising their youngest son, Willie, who was only a few months older than Dani.
After spending years taking her to doctor appointments and therapy visits, Bernie and his wife eventually divorced. Dani now lives in a group home in Tennessee where Bernie often visits her (above in 2017)
For her 19th birthday in September, Bernie brought her to a nearby state park in Murfreesboro where they celebrated her special day (above)
The couple had success and were able to potty-train Danielle. The family took her to the beach, horseback riding therapy, occupational therapy, church, several doctors and taught her to swim. They also enrolled her in public school, in special education classes, as she also attended private speech therapy sessions five days a week.
In a 2011 interview with DailyMail.com, they said ‘she can go to the cupboard, get a glass and get herself a drink of water. And she’s much more open; she will look at people now, and sometimes she will go to people she doesn’t know that well.’
The Lierows moved to Tennessee shortly after where they started living on a farm where Bernie rehabbed horses and raised goats.
In the next five years, the couple took in more foster children – 15 to be exact including Dani.
‘She’d eat her toothbrush. Eat her hairbrush. They wanted me to teach her sign language, but I gave up on that,’ Bernie said. ‘She’d never sign back.’
Bernie worked hard to keep Dani from harming herself or from destroying the house.
Bernie later remarked that Dani, who still cannot speak or write, is more compliant now. But he still wonders how much she understands and how to reach her exactly
‘I told myself, this is the way it is. We adopted her. I’ll never give up on my baby,’ Bernie said. ‘But after about three years, Diane was done. She figured Dani had gone about as far as she was going to get.’
In 2015, Bernie and Diane go divorced after being married for 18 years.
He didn’t blame it on Dani, but said there was always a lot of stress and never any time for them to be alone as a couple.
‘When I got Dani with just me, she really relaxed,’ Bernie said. ‘But I couldn’t work at all during summers. And then there were those times with the cops. …’
He noted two incidents where police were called by strangers for how Dani was behaving publicly.
‘It got more difficult just to take her out,’ he said. ‘I finally had to admit: God, this is a little too much for me.’
When she turned 18 last year, Dani became eligible for Social Security and Medicaid.
Bernie got a call about a year ago from a state employee who said that a bed had opened for a girl in a small group home located just 40 minutes from Nashville. Just after Christmas, he moved her in with bags full of clothes and toys.
He added that if he had to do it all over again, he would still take Dani in and raise her. He said: ‘The biggest things I gave her were love and respect.’
‘Daddy can’t take care of you anymore,’ he told her while becoming emotional. ‘You’ll have to stay here. But I’ll come visit.’
Since dropping her off, Bernie has visited her a number of times, including when she turned 19 years old in September.
For the special occasion, Bernie took her out of the group home to nearby Stones River National Battlefield.
While there he gave her a cupcake before taking her for a walk through the visitor center and across a battlefield.
Bernie later remarked that Dani, who still cannot speak or write, is more compliant now. But he still wonders how much she understands and how to reach her.
After leaving the park, Bernie took her to a nearby Goodwill store where he let her pick out a gift for her birthday.
He added that if he had to do it all over again, he would still take Dani in and raise her.
‘I’d still do it,’ he said. ‘It makes me so glad we could give her a home and a family to grow up in.
‘The biggest things I gave her were love and respect.’