Horror parents I: Sons left starving in house of filth

The boys were so undernourished that they couldn't speak.

The four brothers, aged from two to six, were living in an apartment in Denver, Colorado, which was filled with faeces, cat urine and flies.

The boys were removed from the apartment late last month and placed in state custody, the police said.

Their parents, Wayne Sperling and Lorinda Bailey, were in court early this week on charges of felony child abuse.

Bailey, 35, is free on bail, while her husband, Sperling, 66, is in custody.

"These kids have lived in such a bizarre environment that they probably haven't developed any level of trust," said Ms Diane Baird, a licensed clinical social worker and paediatrics instructor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.

Doctors found the boys were malnourished, not toilet-trained and had poor and delayed verbal skills, according to an arrest warrant affidavit. They made "infant-like noises" to each other, one officer reported.

The apartment had an unbearable odour like that of a decaying animal, AP reported.

After the boys were taken into protective care, neighbours complained that they'd reported abuse more than a year ago but no action was taken.

Police said officers had been called in April last year after the children were seen hanging from a window at the couple's apartment building.

They reported that there was food in the home, the children appeared well-fed and that the house was "messy and crowded".

Police followed up after learning Bailey and Sperling had both pleaded guilty to one count of child abuse in 2009.

Sperling was cited with a municipal charge for allowing the children to hang out from the window.

The latest charges came after an investigation that began on Sept 29, when Bailey took her youngest son to hospital for a cut on his forehead that she said happened after a fall, AP reported.

An emergency room doctor informed authorities that the child smelled like cigarette smoke and was unwashed.

Bruising behind the child's right ear appeared consistent with pinching, the doctor said.

This prompted a welfare check by a Denver Human Services case worker.

A Denver police Officer who accompanied the case worker to the apartment noted that flies covered every surface in one room.

There was also about 5cm of faeces under the bunk bed where the boys slept.

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