Kayla Howren

Name:
Howren, Kayla Brooke

Date of Booking:
04/11/2025

Reason(s) For Booking:
CRUELTY TO ANIMALS

CRUELTY TO CHILDREN-(Second Degree) CRIMINAL NEGLIGENCE/CAUSES EXCESSIVE PHYSICAL/MENTAL PAIN – 3 counts

Officer’s Narrative:
[Please note: The following is a direct transcription from the official initial incident report. The Georgia Gazette does not fix any spelling or grammatical errors that may exist. Any changes or redactions made by our staff are placed inside brackets. Some errors may exist. All subjects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. The topics discussed may be sensitive to some readers. Discretion is advised.]

[NARRATIVE #1 on April 11, 2025]

On Friday, the 11th of April 2025, at approximately 1621hrs, PFC White contacted me about a possible child abuse at [REDACTED BY AGENCY]. He advised me that the child he was out with threatened to kill herself if she had to live there any longer. Her boyfriend, [WITNESS #1] (witness), pulled PFC White to the side and told him about the inside of the house. When I arrived on the scene, Mr. [WITNESS #1] showed me the video of the inside of the house. It showed animal fecal matter all over the floor, trash left on the floor, in bedrooms, inside the fridge, and in the sink.

I went inside, took photos of the house’s condition, and observed suspected mold growing on the walls. Moldy food was in the fridge, not in containers on the shelves, and trash was left in the sink. There were an abundant amount of cobwebs in every room. There is a hole in the wall next to the washer and dryer that was left open, but only a small cinderblock was put in the hole, allowing access into the house. In the laundry, there were clothes all over and animal urine and fecal matter on the clothing. In the bathroom, there was a small open square container with a brown liquid in it. The floor in the bathroom was dirty to the point where you couldn’t safely walk in it without shoes on because of the trash and unsanitary conditions.

I returned and told PFC White to call DCFS because we were taking the kids out of this home. The house conditions were jeopardizing the kids’ health, and they needed to be removed. We also contacted building inspections to come out because I believed the house’s hygienic state made it unsafe for anyone to live inside. We sat in our patrol vehicles, and [VICTIM #1] (victim), who talked to PFC White and her boyfriend, sat in the back of PEG White’s patrol car till her mom, Kayla Howren (offender), got home. When she pulled up, I walked up to the driver’s door and explained why we were there and that due to the unsafe conditions of the house, we had to remove the children from her care, and DCFS was on the way to develop a safety plan.

The building inspector, [WITNESS #2], was the first to arrive, and I walked through the house with him so he could take photos. Because of the living conditions, the building inspector contacted animal control to get the animals. DCFS [WITNESS #3] arrived second and walked through the house, taking photos. Animal control came, and Ms. Howren surrendered the two dogs and cats to him. She talked to Ms. Howren and tried to find out who would be safe for them to go to while this matter was being taken care of. The grandmother came and got the two boys, and the grandpa came and got the daughter. Please see PEG Whites report for the names of the grandparents. Once all the children were gone, Ms. Howren signed some documents for DCFS, and she was placed under arrest for Cruelty to children in the second degree and animal cruelty. PFC Whites transported her to the jail.

[End of Narrative]

[NARRATIVE #2 on April 12, 2025]

At approximately 1535 hours on Friday, April 12, 2025, I was dispatched to [REDACTED BY AGENCY] about of complaint of child abuse.

Upon arrival, I made contact with a seventeen-year-old female named [VICTIM #1] and her boyfriend, [WITNESS #1]. [VICTIM #1] appeared to be upset as I made contact with her. She told me that her mother, Kayla Howren, has severe bipolar disorder and is supposed to be on medicine, but she does not take the medication. She informed me that her mother constantly keeps her in the house, screams at her, kicks her out, and then lets her back in the house the next day, calling the cops on her for walking out of the house and up the driveway to the road. She stated that her mother used to beat her, which is why she was moved by DFCS years ago.

As I talked to her, she tried to get her boyfriend, [WITNESS #1], to walk away because she was upset. However, he stepped in and stated that the inside of the house was dirty and nasty.

Once he finished talking, [VICTIM #1] stated that when her mother tells her to clean the house, if she tries to talk to her while she’s cleaning, she will either take her phone away from her or beat her. She disclosed that if she’s cleaning, her mother will say she did not clean, and she will get in trouble ten times worse. She stated that her brothers have it way easier than her. She told me that she is not allowed to leave the house, she cannot go to her grandparent’s house because her mother does not like them, she cannot see friends or her boyfriend half of the time, she cannot even walk to the neighbor’s house and ask to borrow something. She stated that she cannot go anywhere without the cops being called on her for runaway, which she stated she has only ever done once, which was because of her mother. She informed me that in the past, her mother has made her almost kill herself, and she has been in multiple mental hospitals because of her mother. She told me that she was not supposed to return to her mother’s house, but she, her mother, and her DFCS case worker sat down and worked out a way for her to return to her mother’s house because she wanted to return. She stated that in the beginning, everything was good. However, she stated that now, if she even opens the door, she gets screamed at or throws something at her.

[VICTIM #1] enlightened me that if she asks to do something, she is always told no, gets screamed at, and constantly has to use her money for her mother’s personal needs. She has to beg her grandparents for things for her mother. She has to take care of her brothers and make sure they get up for school while her mother stays away from the house all the time, and she does not stay here in Rome; she is in another county. She informed me that she wanted to stay with her grandparents, but when she asked her mother if she could, she told her if she left, she would call the cops on her. She told me that she has in the past tried to cut/kill herself, but she has not done that since she was 15; however, she stated that if she has to stay with her mother any longer, she will kill herself.

Once she finished telling me all this, I got back in my vehicle to call Juvenile Investigator York to explain the situation to him and see what he recommended. As I returned to my car to call him, [WITNESS #1] approached me and asked if he could talk to me, stating that he wanted to tell me what [VICTIM #1] was not. He noted that the inside of the house was extremely nasty, and dog and cat feces were everywhere, even on the couch. He disclosed that he had taken a shower in the house a few days ago and felt dirtier after the shower because of the bathroom condition. He said that the only light in the house that works is in the kitchen.

Once [WITNESS #1] finished talking to me, I called Investigator York and apprised him of the situation. Initially, I did not tell him what was being said about the condition of the house as I was unsure of the reliability of the comments and [VICTIM #1]’s statement that she would kill herself if she had to stay with her mother. Based on what she had said about how her mother treats her, he stated it was not enough to call DFCS, and she would have to stay with her mother.

After speaking with Investigator York, I talked to [VICTIM #1] again. I told her that in some cases, at the age of 17, she is considered an adult, but not in this particular case. I told her that if she left to stay with her grandparents without her mother’s permission and she wanted to file a runaway charge against her, her mother had the right to do that. She talked about the previous DFCS case and why she had to be taken by DFCS. She had mentioned before I spoke to Investigator York that her previous DFCS case worker was a lady named [REDACTED]; however, she stated that she had been unable to get in touch with her. So I asked her if she had attempted to call DCFS and speak with someone since she could not get in touch with [REDACTED], and she stated she had not.

She told me that when her mother gets back today, she will do the same thing she always does, and she will get yelled at, stuff thrown at her, and screamed at because she did not clean the house. I told her that when things like that happen, she needs to call 911 so we can come out and stop the incident and report it so it’s on record what happened. At this point, [WITNESS #1] commented that if we looked at the inside of the house, there would be something we could do. [VICTIM #1] then started talking about how the house used to be nice and stay clean, but she told me that she could not keep the house clean like her mother wanted, with her being gone 24/7 and having to take care of her brothers. She then told me that she could not keep doing this; if she stayed there any longer, she promised she would kill herself.

At this point, after hearing everything she had to say, hearing her comment twice that she would kill herself, hearing them talk about the condition of the house, and hearing the concern in her voice during the entire conversation, I decided that I needed a second opinion. I knew that most of the other Officers on the east side of town were busy, so I called Sergeant Kasmar over the radio and requested that he respond to my location. Once he advised dispatch that he was en route to my location, I called him and told him everything that I had learned thus far. He was on the same page as me, thinking we needed to walk through the residence and determine the living conditions.

Once Sergeant Kasmar arrived on the scene, he spoke with [VICTIM #1] and asked her if we could walk through the house to look at the living conditions. [WITNESS #1] stated that he had just taken a video of the inside of the house and showed it to Sergeant Kasmar. After watching the video, Sergeant Kasmar asked again if we could walk through the house to verify the living conditions. [VICTIM #1] initially hesitated, stating she had a dog inside the house that would bite us. However, [WITNESS #1] said he would go inside and put the dog up. Sergeant Kasmar went inside the house to verify the living conditions and take pictures. I stayed outside and called Investigator York again, per Sergeant Kasmar, to see if he could give us a direct number for DFCS.

Upon calling Investigator York, he sent me [REDACTED] with DFCS contact number. I told [REDACTED] about our situation, and she sent the on-call DFCS worker to our location. After I spoke with [REDACTED], Sergeant Kasmar told me to contact Building Inspections and have them respond to our location. I attempted to call [REDACTED] but could not get in touch with him, so I had dispatch contact the Building Inspections Office and have someone call me. [WITNESS #2] with Building Inspections called me, and I told him what was happening; he said he would be on his way. Once he arrived, he contacted Animal Control and had them come to the scene because two dogs and two cats were in the house.

While waiting for everyone to respond, Kayla arrived at the house. According to [VICTIM #1], she had been in Cartersville at an arcade with [VICTIM #1]’s two brothers. When she got home, Sergeant Kasmar told her what was happening. We had the two boys go inside the house and get anything they needed to take with them. After a short while, [WITNESS #3] Floyd County DFCS arrived on the scene. She started working with Kayla, who was not cooperative, to determine who the kids could be placed with. While she was doing this, [WITNESS #2] arrived on the scene and started walking through the house, taking pictures and determining what needed to be done with the residence so it could become liveable again. As [WITNESS #2] was walking through the house, he contacted Animal Control. Once the Animal Control Officer arrived, he walked through the house. He stated that based on the house’s condition. we could charge the mother, Kayla, with misdemeanor Cruelty to Animals due to the dog being in a crate and living in unsanitary conditions.

After [WITNESS #3] placed all the children with other family members, we got Kayla out of her vehicle. [WITNESS #3] went over the safety plan with her, and then I put her in handcuffs, searched her, and placed her in the rear passenger seat of my patrol vehicle. I then transported her to the Floyd County Jail without incident, where she was booked in on three counts of Cruelty to Children 3rd Degree and one count of misdemeanor Cruelly to Animals.

[End of Narrative]