Six Children Found Living in Locked Milwaukee Storage Unit; Parents Charged With Child Neglect

A Milwaukee-area couple have been charged with six counts of child neglect after investigators found six children living in a locked storage unit at a StorSafe facility, including a two-month-old infant.

Officers were dispatched Tuesday after a report of a child crying inside a unit. When they arrived, they encountered a foul odor and a padlock on the garage-style door preventing anyone from exiting. Firefighters cut the padlock, uncovering six children whose ages ranged from two months to nine years.

The unit was described as disorganized and bare, with only a sectional couch and a twin mattress without sheets; there was no electricity, running water, or lighting, and the only light came from a narrow crack beneath the door. An orange bucket of urine was found in the middle of the room. The oldest child woke and identified the parents as their caregivers.

Detectives learned that the nine-year-old had been assigned most days to care for the younger siblings when the parents were away, and that a five-year-old described the family relying on local food organizations and food stamps, with the parents sometimes drinking and smoking inside the unit or the nearby SUV. The nine-year-old said that Dupriest would administer punishments to all the children except the infant; on one occasion, the child said, the beating caused his lip to bleed. The five-year-old said the children were told to keep quiet about the activities inside the unit and the car.

Authorities say the parents admitted sleeping in the SUV with their dog, while their children remained inside the unit. They said there was no real need for the children to live there, despite explanations of homelessness, and later acknowledged there could have been alternative places to stay. A storage facility employee recalled hearing an adult male tell someone to “Sit down and be quiet” while cleaning outside the unit back in May and provided investigators with surveillance footage showing the couple dropping off the children. The employee said management issued an eviction notice to the unit’s owners after a burnt marijuana blunt was found on the keypad outside the unit.

Detectives also spoke with the parents, who acknowledged owning the firearm found in the center console of their SUV and said both of their DNAs would be on it because they had slept in the vehicle with the dog. Dupriest, who is a registered sex offender, and Zielinski were interviewed; Dupriest said he had slept in the unit but stopped after the dog damaged the truck and denied handling the gun, offering no DNA samples.

The investigation also included interviews with several of the children, who described fear and uncertainty about how—or if—they could ever escape. The nine-year-old described significant discipline by the father and noted that the family depended on the mother’s Social Security benefits and local charities for food.

On Friday, Zielinski appeared in court where the state requested a $1,000 PR bond. Court Commissioner Andrea Bolender emphasized the seriousness of the charges and the protection of the children as a priority, saying in part that the situation could leave lifelong scars. Ultimately, Zielinski was ordered to post a $5,000 cash bond, with a preliminary hearing set for September 25. Later that day, Dupriest also appeared in court; the state asked for a higher cash bond, initially proposing $10,000. The commissioner set the cash bond at $20,000, with his preliminary hearing also scheduled for September 25.