Award of warning this podcast explores graphic and disturbing stories and includes some strong language it therefore may not be suitable for our young listeners or other folks who may find it disturbing.

Hello and welcome to true crime daily the podcast covering high profile and under the radar cases from across the country every week.

I'm your host Anna Garcia. We are recording this on August 4th 2021 and our guest today is Mike Cavalucci a criminal defense attorney based here in Los Angeles a friend of the show Mike welcome back it's great to be back.

Mike I'm really glad that you're here today. I'm just so sorry that we have such hideous cases. I mean this is like depravity central. It's just the worst just the worst so very sad cases today.

They really are and you know I always try when we when the team talks about putting the program together I try to find hope inspiration and justice especially for survivors of crime and I got to tell you today I can't find any of that I can't find the justice I can't find the hope and and we do have you know a conviction at the at the end of the show I mean we've got a case with with an incredible conviction but still I think as we will explain.

Survivor still don't feel justice.

So let's get into the two cases Mike. This is what we're looking at a Milwaukee man has been sentenced to 200 and five years for killing five of his family members it was horrific and he admitted it from the very beginning he even called 911 to tell them what he had done.

But first a Florida woman has been accused of keeping we believe to be her child we're going to discuss that but a child with severe autism in a metal and wood cage.

This is horrendous I am so upset about this case I've been thinking on it so much trying to figure out how I feel about this and how I feel about this person we'll discuss that let's get into the details Mike.

So on Saturday July 24th the Palm Bay Police Department gets a call about a girl who was climbed offense over the backyard fence into a neighbor's backyard and the couple who live at that house called the police and said that the girl had not only scaled over the fence but that she had now gotten into there and closed screen porch.

Police respond and it is very apparent to the police officers that this girl and her age has not been released is nonverbal and is incapable of communicating and is of special needs.

The girl came from the neighbor's property the neighbor is 43 year old Melissa Doss is where she lives so now the police realize they have a special needs girl they go and they knock on the door from the home that she came from and police say they see Melissa Doss the person who lives there like coming out the back and police you know come around and they talked to her.

And obviously they had a lot of questions a lot of questions for this woman so this Melissa Doss tells police that she was unaware that the girl had gotten out of the house she explains to the officers she has severe autism.

The officers ask to go inside they ask and she says no so Mike at this point when you have a situation like this because I guess they don't have a warrant do police at this point have reason to say wait a minute what's going on here is this young person in danger.

So there is an exception to having a valid judge signed a search warrant which would be if there are exigent circumstances meaning that there is the danger of imminent crime occurring inside the home the police could gain entry that way and it is interesting that the police didn't utilize that exception in this case.

And it makes me wonder what condition the girl was in first when they encountered her the first time because the first time they seem to bring her back to the home and leave and then they return a second time when the girl apparently escapes a second time and goes back to the neighbors.

It makes me curious as to what condition the girl was in if she was what is commonly referred to as hygienically intact meaning that she appeared to be clean clothes and cared for and perhaps that's why they didn't go inside or if the police simply didn't want to deal with the situation at hand.

And thought it might just be best to get the Department of Children and Family Services involved every state has their different name for that in California it's referred to as the Department of Children and Family Services it could have a different acronym in Florida.

But regardless it's bringing in this separate agency whose job it is to evaluate homes and when the agency comes in with the concern and there are miners in the home.

Citizens I believe are required to allow social workers into the home not to search it but simply to evaluate it.

It's unclear what condition the girl was in because the police have not made that part public along with it's unclear the police will not say what the relationship is between this girl whose age we do not know we do not know her name and we do not know her relationship to Melissa.

The police won't say and several news agencies have reported that Melissa Doss is the mother of this child along with two other siblings who were in the house.

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