A Missouri couple face 12 felony charges each after police allege they abused and neglected two teenagers, including locking them in a chicken pen and forcing them to fight each other. Chantel Hayford and her boyfriend, Jerry Menees, were taken into custody on Tuesday following a police search of her home in Potosi.
The Washington County Sheriff's Office said the alleged abuse spanned from January 2023 to December 2025. The couple allegedly refused to feed or house the 13-year-old and 14-year-old, locking them in a chicken coop and shooting at them with BB guns. They also forced the teens to fight each other during a birthday 'fight night'.
Court documents indicate the couple allegedly forced the teens to try methamphetamine, beat them, and threw rocks at them. Menees allegedly pointed a gun at the teens and threatened to kill them, while Hayford is accused of inappropriate sexual contact with one of the teens.
Sheriff Scott Reed said local authorities never received any reports about the alleged abuse. 'Where they live is very rural. No neighbours close,' he told KSDK. 'We never got a call from any school saying the kids are saying this or that. We never got a hotline call from DFS. We never got anything.'
Both adults face 12 counts of neglect and child abuse. Hayford is charged with four counts of child abuse, three counts of endangering the welfare of a child, two counts of kidnapping, two counts of domestic assault, and one count of sexual abuse. Menees faces three counts of domestic assault, two counts each of abuse or neglect of a child, kidnapping, endangering the welfare of a child, and armed criminal action, and one count of unlawful use of a weapon.
The pair are being held at the Washington County Jail without bond and have a court hearing scheduled for Tuesday. Sheriff Reed urged adults to take children's reports of abuse seriously: 'If a kid comes and tells you a crazy story, that don't mean it isn't true.'
