Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced his office will seek the death penalty against two adults accused of confining four young children inside a tractor-trailer cab for more than six years, sexually abusing, starving, and denying them schooling, medical care, and even basic hygiene.
Keisha Monique Epps, 51, and Tamra Marshon Stewart, 37, were arrested August 6 and remain held in Duval County Jail. Uthmeier, speaking at a September 1 news conference in Kissimmee, Florida, described the case as "one of, if not the most, horrific that my team has ever had to work on." He left no ambiguity about his office's intent.
The charges against both defendants include sexual battery by a person in familial or custodial authority and lewd or lascivious molestation of a child under 12, offenses that under Florida law make the defendants eligible for the death penalty. Uthmeier told reporters his office would pursue that maximum penalty without hesitation.
The four victims, two girls and two boys, ages five, five, six, and nine, spent the bulk of their days inside the cab of a tractor-trailer that Epps drove on a route between Miami and Atlanta. Court documents state the children were kept inside the vehicle "for the majority of their days." Some had been confined for more than six years.
Arrest reports describe conditions that belong in a federal abuse case file, not a family home. The children were forced to use the bathroom in cups and paper bags. They received no time to shower, no access to restrooms at truck stops, and no chance to exercise outside. When Epps stopped the truck, she and Stewart would go inside to use the restroom or take a shower, and leave the children locked in the cab.
Uthmeier called it what it was at the news conference:
"The adults would go to the restroom. They might take a shower, but they would leave the kids locked in this rolling dungeon."
Detectives noted the children were "walking with an unnatural gait from being confined to the cab." They had not been allowed to attend school for approximately five years. They were poorly fed. They received no medical or dental care.
Stewart faces two counts of sexual battery by a person in familial or custodial authority, two counts of lewd or lascivious molestation of a child under 12, two counts of battery of a child by expelling certain fluids or materials, two counts of child neglect without great bodily harm, and two counts of child neglect causing permanent disfigurement. Uthmeier's office said Stewart told investigators he had committed three sexual batteries against one of the girls.
When the two boys confronted Stewart about the abuse, he allegedly beat them, punching them in their heads.
One of the girls recalled burning herself badly with cooked noodles. She told investigators "there was a lot of blood." Neither Stewart nor Epps took her for medical treatment. Court documents say she now carries a permanent scar. A second child also suffered untreated burns with significant scarring.
One child was found to have an untreated sexually transmitted infection, a detail that, on its own, tells the story of how thoroughly these adults failed every duty they owed these children. Fox News reported the children slept curled together in a tiny bunk inside the cab, receiving no schooling or medical attention for years.
Epps, the truck driver, faces her own slate of serious charges: two counts of sexual battery by a person in familial or custodial authority, two counts of lewd or lascivious molestation of a child under 12, two counts of child neglect without great bodily harm, two counts of child neglect causing permanent disfigurement, and four counts of failure to report child abuse.
The children told authorities Epps witnessed Stewart's abuse and failed to act. She allegedly called one child derogatory names. Even after being told what Stewart was doing, she continued to leave the children alone with him, while she slept, showered, or drove the truck.
Stewart has been identified as Epps's fiancé. Both were booked through the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office.
At the Kissimmee news conference, Uthmeier did not hedge. He framed the case as a test of Florida's willingness to protect children through the full weight of its criminal law:
"We will pursue with everything we have the death penalty. We will seek executions, if you want to come in here [in Florida] and you want to physically molest, abuse, and violate our little kids."
Florida law permits prosecutors to seek the death penalty for adults convicted of sexual battery against a child younger than 12. The case is being prosecuted in Florida's Ninth Judicial Circuit.
Uthmeier also described the physical toll on the victims:
"These children were trapped in a rolling prison and abused by the adults who were supposed to protect them."
"As a result of the abuse," he said, the children "suffer severe physical infirmities."
Stewart is represented by the Duval County Office of the Public Defender. Epps is represented by Florida's Office of Criminal Conflict and Civil Regional Counsel. Neither office responded to requests for comment before publication.
Several key questions remain unanswered. The exact relationship between the defendants and the four children, whether biological, custodial, or otherwise, has not been publicly clarified. How the children were discovered and what triggered the investigation have not been disclosed. No other adults have been publicly identified as subjects of the investigation.
The current health and custody status of the four children has not been released.
When adults treat children like cargo, locked in a cab, denied light, denied school, denied a doctor, denied the most basic human dignity, the state owes those children more than a prosecution. It owes them a signal that the law still draws a hard line between civilization and cruelty. Uthmeier, to his credit, drew it.
