West Virginia couple arrested over alleged prolonged abuse of three orphans

A couple in Evans, West Virginia, has been accused of subjecting three orphaned children to years of prolonged physical and emotional abuse, the New York Post reported, citing the Jackson County Sheriff's Office. Erica Lynn Sayre, 45, and her husband, Clifford Gale Sayre, 46, allegedly tormented the children about the deaths of their biological parents while starving and beating them. [1]

Investigators were told by the children that over several years they were repeatedly hit, strangled, and denied access to food, water, and the bathroom. According to the New York Post, the suspects also dumped dirty cat litter in the children's beds and put dog feces on their persons. One child told investigators that they could not go back to that home. [1]

The events took place in West Virginia, a mountainous, landlocked state located in the Southern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. It is the tenth smallest state by area and ranks as the twelfth least populous state, with a population of 1,778,373 residents. [2]