Update on Danielle's Horrific Story of Child Neglect | Where Are They Now | Oprah Winfrey Network

my name is detective holstee I work for the plant State Police Department on July 13 2005 myself my partner came to the house this is the house right here I knocked on the door even a female came to door and open the door and asked me what I wanted you know I told her that we were here because of a phone call about a young female child that lived in the house that was possibly the victim of some type of neglect and the house is abandoned now the photos that you're going to see were taken ten days after there was animal feces on the floor there was chewed up food everywhere it was trash everywhere and there were spiderwebs hanging from the ceiling there were thousands and thousands of cockroaches this is actually Daniels bedroom right here when I walked in the room her eyes were open very very wide when she saw me and her mouth chopped up and she did the crab walk into the corner and tucked her knees up to her and wrapped her hands around her knees and made started making grunting noises the only thing she was wearing was a diaper which had been soiled for quite some time and she weighed nothing she couldn't or wouldn't talk to me brought her out to this area here where the mother wasn't living I said how could this happen how could you let this happen and she said I'm doing the very best I can I told her your best is not good enough so where did little Danny go after being rescued from that nightmare meet the family that took her in when Danielle first came to live with us she was a couple months from being 8 years old developmentally she was anywhere between six months to moving okay to 24 months she didn't like walking and she loved being carried she would have the tantrum to seven or eight times a day [Music] she would scream at the top of her lungs she would stomp she was flail around she would throw herself on the floor they were pretty spectacular when Danielle first came food was a constant concern of her she would eat it until she threw up and I heard the first time you saw her you knew it was you said that she was your daughter yeah yeah I know it right from the beginning yeah that's my baby but obviously it didn't matter to you how far she could go you just wanted to provide a safe environment for her he wanted to give her a family and cuz you didn't know when you took her in know for sure how far she would be able to go and we still don't but I could see that there was a potential there I could see somebody in her eyes there's a person in there well today Danny is 15 years old she's a high school student and we checked in with her and her family where they live just outside of Nashville at first when she was going to school it was hard to get her on the bus now a lot of times she doesn't like to get off the bus you know cuz she she likes school she really does you got thank you thanks sweetie that was cool all right you doing good the progress she's making in the last couple of years it doesn't seem like a lot but they're little steps and little steps are big steps for someone that's disabled Jimmy she's learned how to do things that we never thought she would do she said a couple of times hey Dad and it's more than exertion when she says it it's like hey Dad or she'll say I love you you want to go upstairs what you want to do she's not very social mostly she's social with the teacher and like Willie and I and Diane sometimes it's not because Diane's on Ritu or mean to or anything it's because of her mother more than anything else her real mom she doesn't like women figures that are like mothers she just kind of claims to me if you already kind of set her back a little bit because of a lot of different things I mean you got a figure it's a two year old girl in a fifteen year old body and they don't know what's going on the hormones are racing and all that stuff and you can't explain it to them it's tough on that part but she's gotten through it and we have to hear you go go at it she's food aggressive when they found her literally she was starved to death she almost died she was forty some pounds when they found her by the time we had her for about a year she was already up to about 77 pounds and now she's up to about a hundred and thirty so she's doing really good on that but she's still aggressive about it you know she she doesn't think that someone's gonna feed her within two minutes you can craft a picture so what we have to do is put locks on everything and hope you guys she never gets in the lifestyle living on the farm it's relaxed er a lot cutters gotcha having Danny in my life it has been a rollercoaster ride and I don't want to get off she likes you everybody wants her girls to get married and have kids and family and all that but being more independent that would be wonderful and just being a part of society that's a big plus [Music] [Music]

Channel: OWN

Views: 24,391,518

Rating: 4.8574767 out of 5

Keywords: own, oprah winfrey network, own network, oprah, oprah winfrey, oprah: where are they now?, Where Are They Now (TV Program), celebrity, confession, Candy Spelling, Knots Landing (TV Program), Marriage (Marriage/union Type), Danielle, Child Abuse (Crime Type), neglect, Florida (US State), wild animal, notoriety, guests, stories, newsmakers, follow up, change, fame, #WhereAreTheyNow, Where Are They Now, OWN Where Are They Now, transgender, Jazz Jennings, Justin Bieber, Oprah interview

Id: P_IBGS1FQw4

Length: 6min 17sec (377 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 15 2014