11-08-2025
Mom abandoned kids in Pennsylvania hovel home...then grandma said it was too disgusting for her to check on them
A mother has been charged with child endangerment after she allegedly abandoned her five children alone in a hovel home without any food or water.
Heidi Beer, 35, left her children unsupervised in a rural Pennsylvania home that was littered with urine and feces, the Westmoreland County district attorney alleges.
The property in Vandergrift, about 30 miles from Pittsburgh, had no running water, leaky pipes and emanated a 'pungent odor', investigators say.
Rotten food and garbage was sprawled across the residence, the bathtub was filled with dirty dishes and the shower faucet had been broken off.
The children - ages 9, 10, 14, 15 and 16 - slept on bunkbeds made of plywood without mattresses and kept their clothing in an abandoned house nearby, the DA claims.
Vandergrift police first learned of the children's deplorable living conditions on July 28 after responding to an altercation involving some of the siblings. The eldest revealed she was taking care of her siblings and could not get in contact with Beer.
Police contacted other relatives, including their grandmother Leslie Keller, who admitted she had not gone into the home for months because it was 'too gross'.
Beer and Keller, 69, have both been charged with five counts of child endangerment. Beer also faces additional charges of false reports and recklessly endangering.
The children told police their mother was living in Pittsburgh with her boyfriend John Kenny but had not checked on them for several days.
Kenny allegedly beat the children and choked one with a belt, according to a criminal complaint obtained by WTAE.
He allegedly encouraged Beer to abandon her children and promised to 'give her a new and better life without them,' the complaint states.
The children told the officer they did not have food or water, alleging they were reliant on free lunches provided by the school.
They would also take empty cat litter containers to Keller's home in Parks Township, about four miles away, and fill them up with water. The grandmother admitted this to investigators, the complaint alleges.
Police forced Keller to walk through the residence, during which she allegedly screamed at the 16-year-old for not cleaning the home.
The teen said she was trying to keep up with the cleaning but claimed it had gotten to be too much, the report states.
The officer reprimanded Keller, claiming it was 'not the children's responsibility to clean this absolute disgrace of a mess'.
Police ultimately made contact with Beer, who said she had been staying in West Virginia and admitted that she knew the home was in a deplorable state, according to the DA.
The children were placed in the custody of another family member and Beer was remanded to the Westmoreland County Prison after failing to post bail.
She is also facing additional charges after she allegedly lied to police about the whereabouts of her 14-year-old child and endangering her a second time after the initial incident.
Keller, when approached by KDKA last week, said she was not aware of the charges filed against her.
'Nobody has said anything to me about it. There have been no police here, nothing like that,' she told the news outlet.
She added: 'The children were supposed to at least clean up after themselves, and they didn't even do that.'
Their other grandmother, Darla Updegraff, has vowed to 'do everything in my power' to ensure the children's safety.
She described the residence as being a 'hoarder house with a real bad, strong, disgusting animal smell', adding how the children were 'hungry, dirty, and stunk'.
She believes Beer deserves to be punished to the full extent of the law.
Police, meanwhile, say their investigation remains ongoing and that it is possible further charges could be filed in Westmoreland and Allegheny counties.
