There's another. Oh man. You see the bookshelf? >> You need to see the bookshelf on the other. >> So he's two. Does he have the ability or the knowledge to see the contacts law enforcement or EMS or fire in the event that something happens? [music] >> What did you guys do while you were away from the house? >> We went to the store, you know, just to hang out. We got to walk away. On April 22nd, 2023, officers from the Fort Walton Beach Police Department responded to a call reporting that a 2-year-old boy had been left home alone by his parents. What initially sounded like a troubling case of mistreatment quickly unfolded into something far more disturbing upon their arrival. >> Do we uh we might want to have need animal control to come up? >> We got two brand newborn nutty and a couple week old puppies that need to be taken care of here. >> Can you call out here? Holy moly, these things are starving. >> Just stuck them in a crate. >> Yeah, >> mom's in a in a crate in the bedroom. >> Oh, is she? >> Yeah, she's locked up. >> I guess look at my [ __ ] seat, dude. >> Oh, dude. Uh, almost almost threw up. >> The 2-year-old was found alone inside a home in horrific condition. Officers removed the child through a window after finding no one inside. As they searched the house, they were met with chaos. Starving puppies, smeared on the walls, trash scattered throughout, piles of dirty diapers, and flies swarming so heavily that officers initially feared someone might be deceased inside. The child was taken to the hospital where injuries and bite marks were discovered on his body. Officers soon identified the parents and received a call from the mother confirming the child was hers. When the parents arrived at the hospital, officers acted swiftly, leaving no room for excuses. >> Hey, Diamond. There's a Diamond and Tyler. >> Tyler. All right, Diamond. Go ahead and put your hands behind your back. >> I'm I'm Diamond. >> You're Diamond? Oh, Diamond. Go ahead and put your hands behind your back. >> Drop that. >> You and Tyler both are under arrest for aggravated child. Aggravated child and multiple other charges forthcoming. >> Do you have any questions? >> Your child is going to be remanded into the custody of DCF pending a investigation and a family member to go and uh check them out. He's got a knife down. You have anything in your pockets? Anything that's going to poke me, stick me, hurt, hurt me. All right. Before either one of you say a word, I'm going to read both of you your rights. Okay? You both have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law. You have the right to talk to a lawyer, have him him or her present with you while you're being questioned. If you cannot afford to hire a lawyer, want to be appointed to represent you before any questions if you wish. You can decide at any time to exercise any rights, exercise these rights, not answer any questions or make any statements. All right. We're not asking any questions now, but we will in just a little while. We got to go out the back or is our outback. >> Do you mind if we walk them through to our cars or you want us to bring a car around? >> We can go that way. Right there. Straight out. Straight out that way. >> Let's go. >> The parents, 21-year-old Tyler Puringer and 21-year-old Diamond Atkinson, were immediately taken into custody. The child's condition and the environment in which he was found left no doubt this was a clear case of severe irresponsibility. As they were placed in the patrol car, the reality of the situation began to set in. >> Want to keep them separated? >> Yep. >> I got my I mean we get positive IDs. I don't know if he's got a wallet on him. You have anything on you? >> No, I don't. >> You have anything in your pockets? >> No, I don't. >> All right, go in there and have a seat. >> Hey, can you sit sit right here? I got to go in and grab my laptop and stuff. >> You just want to leave her stranded here? >> Uh, no. Sure. Your dad's coming. >> Okay. All right. Stand right there for me. Okay. >> Anything else? Okay. >> At this point, with both parents in custody, officers were finally in a position to question them about the choices that led to the child's condition and the horrific scene left behind. The state of the house alone was deeply unsettling. And the idea of a toddler left inside it was even worse. What officers did not yet know was that the explanation to come would be so disturbing it would leave anyone speechless. Do you know why you're here, sir? >> Do you know why you're here? >> Before I can ask you any questions or talk to you about anything, I got to read your rights. Okay. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to talk to a lawyer and have him or her present with you while you're being questioned. If you can afford to hire a lawyer, we'll be appointed to represent you for any questioning if you wish one. If you decide to answer questions now that your lawyer be present, you have the right to change your mind at any time and request that your lawyer be present before you answer any further questions. Do you understand each of these rights as I explain them to you? Yes, ma'am. >> Having these rights in mind, do you wish to talk to me now? >> Why are you here? >> Because I lost my son at home. >> Why did you leave your son home? It was because he wanted to go to >> You wanted to go to the mall? >> Yes. >> Okay. Um, [clears throat] how old is your son? >> He's okay. >> And I am aware that that was stupid. I've never done that before. >> I was going to ask if you've if you've done that before. >> I've never done that before. >> Okay. Nobody wanted to take him. I didn't I didn't want to take him out. It was >> Why do you want to take him out? Let me ask you. I have Listen, I have a kid of my own. So, I [clears throat] understand that toddlers are a lot to handle. But, but why didn't you want to take him out with you? >> It's because he was being really [ __ ] and I knew he was going to be crying the whole time. It was really hot outside and last time we took him, he was just he got hot and we had to leave early and he was crying and screaming and he got tired and it just we couldn't do anything and nobody was willing to take him. So, we thought we could leave him for a bit and it was it was my fault that we left him because I, you know, I suggested that we left him and we were originally going to take him and then he was just crying all morning. I was just like, I we can't bring him. >> At this point, the truth began [music] to surface. The parents had wanted a moment without stress and in doing so, they left their son alone inside the [music] house. Earlier that day, they had gone to a mall, convinced that a young child would be able to take care of himself. Diamond was fully aware of the seriousness of the situation. But [music] by then, there was no way to undo what had already been done. >> And Tyler tried turning around twice. He did. It was my fault. He tried turning around twice and said, "No, let's just go back home. Like, this is stupid." And I said, "I know, but we're we're not going to get another day out. We haven't been out in weeks. We haven't been able to enjoy ourselves." and my dog just had 13 puppies and 10 of them died because she wored them [snorts] and we were really stressed out. So I was like, "No, we're going to have a day out. We're going to have one day where we could just enjoy ourselves." And that was >> um it was my fault. Um, we noticed a lot of uh like amount of diapers on top of his changing table and a cover diaper that was in like a little bookshelf. I mean, if it wasn't one there, it shouldn't have been there. I mean, it definitely should have been there, but [music] I don't remember putting anything on the ground within his reach. If anything, he must have got to it. But the diapers, the should have been taken care of. We just change him and then put it there and then he take him out of the room and he just plays and we just get to it another day. >> Okay. >> So, he's he's two. Does he have the ability or the knowledge to to contact law enforcement or EMS or fire in the event that something happens? >> Okay. Uh did he have uh anything in his reach to be able to contact anybody if he needed to? >> Okay. >> Did he have any way to contact through like an Alexa or something like that? Does he know how to use something like that? Contact you guys. >> Call mom. >> The mother's account of the events was deeply disturbing and officers now needed to turn their attention to the father's statement. Sadly, his account only served to compound the extent of their irresponsibility. >> Before I ask you any questions or talk about anything in the case, okay, I got to your rights. All right. >> You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can will be used against you in the court of law. You have the right to talk to a lawyer and have him or her present with you while you're being questioned. If you can afford to hire a lawyer, we'll be appointed to represent you before any questioning if you wish one. If you decide to answer questions now without your lawyer being present, you have the right to change your mind at any time and request that your lawyer be present before you answer any further questions. Yes, sir. >> Do you understand each of these rights as I explained them to you? >> I do. >> Having these rights in mind, you wish you talk to me now. >> I do. >> Tyler, do you know why you're here right now? >> I do. >> Can you tell me why you're here? >> I'm here because uh bad decision I sign at home for about 3 hours. >> Can you tell me why you guys left him at home? >> Um, my uh dog within the past 2 weeks gave birth to 13 puppies and uh we were lucky we were ready for it since we had our son. It was going to be close, but it was she ate one and then we were so stressed by it. It was like we can't we can't leave her alone. we have to be this routine and so for about 3 weeks now and she's been inside all day every day well you know I'm on my work I come home I take over so she can pass out and we're just back and forth so we I like you need to get out and we talked to some people like can you go get Adrian no my stepfather bigger he went to uh Tallaladega NASCAR and my mother's home is in like a spot to where he can go hang out for a day. Um, and her father isn't, you know, he he had stuff to do today, so he couldn't do it. And we're like, well, we're going to pick up her sister. Might as well just, you know, get him his medicine, get him his nap, get him fed. I mean, we were up at 6:00 in the morning getting ready, and I thought he could just chill his room, take it. >> With no one to take care of the child, the parents decided to escape their routine for a day. Unfortunately, the decision and the way they carried it out was deeply misguided. >> Is he is he capable of contacting emergency services if he needs it? Does he know how to use a phone or Alexa or some type of device to contact you or emergency services if something happens? >> No. >> Did you leave something with him like a device to be able to reach you or anybody else if something happens? I did notice that the door handle on the door was locked from the outside >> in his bedroom. >> Yes. >> Did you lock him in before he left? >> We did. Yeah. He comes out in the middle of the night. Uh we had to switch it. Uh I was having a hard time before, but cuz at first we would just put that baby gate. We have one in the kitchen. Uh a wooden one, but he just ended up taking it down at like 2:00 in the morning. So we ended up just switching it around. Um, I didn't think it was bad. I mean, considering it's either that or finding him in the kitchen, you know, full of night. So, >> at this point, the officer shifted her questions, concerned about the child's condition and the circumstances in which he was found. >> Um, I noticed he had like some some bites on him. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. We were outside. Uh, there's lots of mosquitoes and I got a weir on the front uh from my coworker. Um guess there's just bugs everywhere and there's little prickly. So he he he just gets cut out sometimes and that time he ended up falling over outside with concrete and messed up under his face. So it's just stuff that walls. >> Okay. I see you got some red paint on your pants. >> Yeah, that was from a pen that broke. Okay. >> Cuz he had some red stuff in his hair. >> Oh, that's her paint. She has it. And if you go to her desk in the drawer, there's acrylic paint in his reach and there's red paint all over her desk. >> So that's that was >> that. Okay. Why did you guys make the decision to leave him instead of taking him? >> Well, when we take him, you know, when we go places, he can't end up, you know, just touching anything. And it's easier to take him to like Walmart when we go out cuz we have to go every other day. Just not not too constant. usually a couple times a week. But, uh, it it was just seemed easier, you know, cuz he didn't want to, I'm not going to say like participate, getting ready, but it was just being, you know, very upset and he didn't want to go anywhere. And I we're out front. We're cleaning the car. She's coming back and forth taking my Tupperware from lunches back inside and he just didn't want to he didn't want to go. I mean his I cleaned his seat out and I was like get ready to go and we waited a whole hour but we left around 1:20 because you know we weren't going to wait any longer. >> What did you guys do while you were away from the house? Uh we went to the store, you know, just to hang out walk away and we walked, we ate and we were heading our way back when we got a phone call from her father saying, "You need to go, you know, talk to some cops and go see your son." And you know, he didn't give us too much information. He just said, you know, you guys, you guys told him. He was like, "Yeah, you should have just waited it out." And I mean, it's easier just to say that. I just It's >> I don't know. >> Were you I mean, what were you thinking when you guys were walking around? >> Uh once we got there, it was it was just like we we finally get a minute to just not be stuck in the house, not have to feel stuffy and trapped. And it it became more like just as our moment to step away on our whole way there. It was more along the lines that we were arguing, you know. at least we both started on the way uh before even passing through the bridge going to Greece to pick up [music] her sister, you know, like maybe we should turn around, you know, maybe we got this. And then I got upset because she kept, you know, she she got real emotional with it. And I was like, okay, fine. And then when we finally get there, it's like maybe we shouldn't. And then I'm yelling and, you know, telling her, but we just decided finally after driving this far just to it was lots of back and forth. We both felt uneasy for a bit, but once we finally got to just take him back outside. >> In the end, Tyler and Diamond were charged with aggravated abuse and neglect.