A 14-year-old girl, alone, sick, and trying to steady herself along a rural road, caught the eye of a Dollar General worker who realized something was badly wrong. That quick read of a stranger’s body language, and the gut feeling that “she needed help,” opened a window into nearly a year of alleged abandonment and neglect that neighbors never fully saw. What has emerged since is a story of a child left to fend for herself with a pack of dogs in a filthy Alabama house while the adults in her life built a new routine across the state line.
Investigators say the teen had been surviving largely on her own since around her 14th birthday, a stretch that would be hard on any kid, let alone one with special needs. By the time authorities stepped in, she was exhausted, in pain, and finally in a position to tell someone how long she had been suffering in silence.
The walk to Dollar General and a worker who would not look away
The turning point came when Jan, an employee at a local Dollar General, saw the girl stumbling along the road outside the store and noticed how unsteady and disoriented she seemed. The worker later told investigators that the teen’s appearance and the way she moved made it clear this was not a quick errand or a kid cutting through a parking lot, and that instinct pushed her to call for help, a decision that led deputies to the girl and ultimately to the squalid house she had been calling home. Authorities say the teen was transported from that roadside encounter to get medical attention, and that initial welfare check opened the door to a deeper look at her living conditions back in Mobile County, where she had been left alone with several dogs for months at a time, according to Jan.
Deputies who followed up on that call say what they found inside the Mobile County home was a scene that no child should have to navigate. The 14-year-old, who investigators describe as having special needs, had allegedly been living there since around Feb in conditions they called filthy, surrounded by seven dogs, animal waste, and general disarray that spoke to long term neglect rather than a bad week of housekeeping. Officials say the parents were not just out running errands but had moved their lives to Florida, leaving their daughter to manage the house, the animals, and her own health with little more than sporadic check ins, a pattern that came into focus once deputies documented the filthy conditions she had endured.
Inside the house, a calendar of broken promises
Back at the property, investigators say the details told their own story. According to their account, the girl’s mother, Marchelle Lynn Pertilla, and stepfather, Eugene Medrano, had moved to Pensacola for work, leaving the teen behind in Mobile County with the dogs and a house that reeked of urine and feces throughout the residence. Officials say the teen had limited access to food and basic care, and that the adults would return only occasionally, a pattern that, in their view, crossed the line from hardship into criminal neglect once they saw how long the arrangement had gone on and how little support the girl actually had, facts that were laid out after authorities spoke with the parents and documented the Pensacola for move.
One detail that stuck with deputies was a handwritten note they say they found inside, a kind of personal scorecard the teen had kept. On it, according to their description, she had written a phrase about how many times her mom did not come pick her up, then marked each missed visit with a tally. By the time authorities saw it, there were exactly 87 hash marks, a quiet record of disappointment that suggested she had been counting each broken promise for months. That small piece of paper, investigators say, captured the emotional side of the case in a way that photos of trash and dog feces could not, and it became a key part of how they explained the depth of the alleged neglect after reviewing the 87 marks.
Parents in custody, a child in recovery, and a worker still replaying the moment
Once the investigation moved from the house to the adults, authorities in Alabama obtained warrants and arrested the girl’s mother and stepfather. Police say Eugene Medrano and Marchelle Pertilla were taken into custody and booked into the Mobile County Metro Jail, accused of abandoning their daughter for nearly a year while they lived and worked out of state. According to law enforcement, the case centers on the allegation that the pair effectively outsourced their parental responsibilities to a teenager with special needs and a pack of dogs, a choice that, in their telling, crossed into criminal territory once the length of time and the condition of the home were fully documented by Police in Alabama.
For the teen, the path forward started not at the jail but at a hospital. She was taken there after deputies found her alone and in pain, and it was in that safer setting, investigators say, that she finally told her story and laid out how long she had been living by herself. Officials in MOBILE COUNTY, Ala describe the allegations as disturbing, both for the physical conditions and for the emotional isolation she described once she felt secure enough to talk about how long she suffered in silence, a picture that emerged after authorities in MOBILE COUNTY, Ala gathered more details about the child’s living situation.
The worker’s lingering regret and the quiet power of speaking up
At the center of all this is still that Dollar General employee, the person who first saw a teenager who looked lost and decided to act. The worker, identified as Burch in some accounts, has said she keeps replaying the moment and wishes the girl had come to her sooner, a mix of relief and regret that is common in bystanders who step into abuse cases only after the damage has piled up. Authorities say the parents later tried to explain that They believed their daughter did not want to leave because she did not want to abandon her two service animals, but for Burch, the lasting memory is of a child who finally reached a breaking point and a 911 call that changed everything, a sequence she has reflected on since Burch saw the girl.
For local deputies, the case has become a kind of shorthand for what can happen when community members trust their instincts. Officials have publicly credited the store worker’s decision to call for turning a quiet pattern of neglect into a criminal case, and they have pointed to the girl’s eventual hospital stay as the moment She finally felt safe enough to explain how long she had been alone. As the legal process plays out, the images of the house, the note with 87 hash marks, and the sight of a teenager walking unsteadily along a roadside remain powerful reminders of how easily a child can slip through the cracks until someone decides to speak up, a reality that has been underscored in follow up accounts of how She was taken to the hospital.
Investigators have also highlighted how the case unfolded across state lines, with parents living in Florida while their daughter remained in Alabama, a setup that complicated oversight until someone on the ground raised the alarm. Video coverage of the arrests has shown Eugene Madrano being led away in handcuffs, a visual that has fueled public anger and renewed calls for neighbors, teachers, and front line workers to pay attention to the quiet signs of distress in kids they see every day, a message that has been repeated as more details about Eugene Madrano and the family’s arrangement have come out.
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