AKRON, Ohio -- A mother and her life partner allegedly subjected six children in their care to abuses that shocked officials.

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Abuse Expert Kids Locked In Closet

NewsChannel5's Brad Harvey reported that Akron police are still interviewing the kids involved, but charges against the women may be pending.

Officials said the kids were regularly starved, beaten and locked up. Three of them were kept prisoner in a closet for the last 2½ months, let out only once a day for meager scraps of food. They were punished even to the point of eating dog and cat feces as well as vomit, which caused them to become ill.

Neighbors saw the kids rarely, then not at all.

"But then, all of a sudden, we didn't hear nothing from them," neighbor Pam Woodward said. "And, like, this past winter has been worse, where the house stayed dark all the time."

The children claimed that, at one point, the women nailed down the windows to keep them from getting out. Somehow, though, the boys pried nails, climbed out onto the porch and ran away.

Police found the emaciated and severely malnourished boys wandering the streets barefoot.

"It's one of the worst neglectful cases we've seen in a very long time," said Joseph White Jr., director of Children's Services.

White said there's no question something went horribly wrong here, inside the house and with the system itself.

Although reports of abuse surfaced in November, no one visited the home until after the first of the year, and even then, no investigation was opened.

"I have major concerns," White said. "We're required to investigate cases of abuse within 24 to 72 hours. To have this large a gap, I can't explain it. I don't know how it happened, and I want to find out."

The kids are between the ages of 6 and 14. One was 8 years old and weighed only 28 pounds.