Four children found near train tracks, mother arrested

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - A call to police from a mother looking for her four children led to officers discovering a home in squalor and children living in deplorable conditions in the Cayce Homes neighborhood on Wednesday.

According to the arrest affidavits, 23-year-old Takeeva Brown called Metro Nashville Police around 7:30 a.m. to report her four children missing. Officers arrived at the apartment on South 6th Street to look for the children and discovered them to be living in deplorable conditions.

Officers described food and liquids, believed to be urine, were visible all over the floors. None of the three beds in the apartments had blankets or any linens and the two children’s beds were “dirty and soiled.” Officers also witnessed cockroaches crawling on the floors.

The four children, all younger than 8 years old, were actually located several hours before, wandering roughly 1 mile away in an industrial area, near the train tracks on South 2nd Street along the Cumberland River.

Brown told officers her children likely wandered off overnight while she was sleeping. She also admitted that it has happened before.

Brown was arrested and charged with four counts of child neglect, along with a domestic assault charge from June where she physically assaulted the children’s father over money. She remains in custody on $42,000 bond.

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