Tip led to discovery of 3 young children locked inside filthy house with no food

LAKE STEVENS, Wash. – The couple accused of leaving three young children alone in a locked home are being held in lieu of $100,000 bail.

Police say it was a tip that led them to the home.

“I’m not sleeping thinking about it, it’s running through my head constantly,” says Sarah Parsley.

She’s haunted by what she saw last Saturday, when police rescued the children who had been left all alone.

“They looked like there were 1 and 4; they looked so tiny and just malnourished.”



Parsley had gone to the home trying to get a hold of Amanda Foley and Mark Dorson, who were supposed to be repairing her car. She had met them through friends, and had no idea they were convicted criminals.

“They seemed like they knew what they were talking about with the cars, they seemed like legitimate people.”

Parsley didn’t know they had kids, until she saw them through the window.

“There was junk all over the front and pop cans, garbage, all around. The kids wouldn’t come to the door, but you could hear them in there.”

She called Crime Stoppers to report what she saw. Detectives say when they found the two oldest kids, they were huddled under a blanket. The infant was in a locked room suffering from hypothermia and dehydration.

“The police officer said if we hadn’t called, that baby would have perished in a day or two.”

Parsley doesn’t know how long the children were living in such terrible conditions. She wishes neighbors or someone else had noticed what was happening.

“You have to be aware of what’s going on around you.”

The children are in the care of Child Protective Services. Now she’s just hoping they recover.

“I wish I could keep them all myself and take care of them, bring them to my nice warm house and hug them and squeeze them.”

In court Tuesday, it was revealed that Foley is using meth and is pregnant with another child. She and Dorson remain in custody. They’re expected to be formally charged in the next few days.