They were locked in a dungeon inside a house of horrors. But incredible footage shows five kids’ daring acts while their parents were out… and it left neighbors speechless
This is the heart-stopping moment children locked in a Pennsylvania house of horrors clambered out of a window on to a roof, as neighbors told of the ‘neglect’ they allegedly suffered in the years before their parents’ arrest last week.
In shocking video footage obtained by the Daily Mail, three young boys can be seen running across an old shingle porch roof after climbing out of their bedroom window – with no parents in sight.
In the video, shot in April last year, one boy is seen shimmying across the corner of the sloped roof before scaling a much more steeply pitched roof, which leads round to the back of the house.
The other two are seen gingerly peeking around the corner to see where he went, before running back towards their bedroom window and jumping inside.
In a second video obtained by the Daily Mail and filmed a day earlier, two of the boys can be seen on the roof as one carefully peers into another bedroom window, before the other joins him and attempts to pry it open.
Unsuccessful, the pair then sprint back to their bedroom window and jump back inside.
But this is not ordinary horseplay.
The three boys are among five kids who police say suffered ‘sickening’ neglect while held in a dungeon-like bedroom in a house in Redstone Township, Pennsylvania.
Daily Mail obtained disturbing video showing children who were locked in a Pennsylvania ‘house of horrors’ climbing out a window and running unsupervised across the roof
Another video shows a toddler joining the two children as one of the older kids clambers onto a nearby but disconnected roof and runs to the top
The parents of these children and James and Carly Kahl (pictured) who were arrested last week over the heinous conditions and cruel punishment they subjected their five kids to
Their parents, James and Carly Kahl, were arrested last week over the ‘deplorable living conditions’, which allegedly saw one child punished with a stun gun.
The children, four boys and a girl aged between five and 14, were kept in a squalid bedroom with ‘no beds, boarded-up windows, feces covered on the bedroom walls, fleas, limited clothing and food’, a criminal complaint obtained by Daily Mail states.
James Kahl, 65, ‘locked the children’s bedroom door from the outside trapping the children inside their rooms throughout part of the day and all the night, the complaint states.
‘This room functioned as a dungeon with video cameras hardwired to the father’s room.’
There were three deadbolt locks on the outside of the door and no door handle, blocking the children’s escape, cops added.
‘Kahl stated… that he would not be removing the locks from the bedroom door for any reason,’ the complaint said.
The children were removed from the property on August 8, after Fayette County child and youth services (CYS) investigated a tip-off by a family member.
The Kahls were arrested on September 9 and charged with endangering the welfare of children and other charges.
At the Pennsylvania home (pictured), father James allegedly locked the children in a dungeon-like bedroom, trapping them for hours at a time, both during the day and night
The side of the home that shows mystery trash scattered along the fence on top of the dead. unkept lawn
James, 65, and his wife Carly, 41, were arrested on September 9 and charged with child endangerment a day after Fayette County child and youth services investigated their home following a tip-off from a family member
During a search, cops found a stun gun, replica pistol, video surveillance camera, drugs and drug paraphernalia.
The five children were initially taken into CYS care, but Daily Mail can reveal three boys are now in the care of Carly Kahl’s adoptive mother, Autumn Laskody, and her husband Randy.
The pair declined to comment when approached by the Daily Mail, but the children appeared happy and in good health.
It is understood a fourth boy with a disability is in special care and the girl is staying with a friend.
It comes as the biological mother of two of the children told of her heartbreak over the conditions the kids were allegedly kept in.
Rachel Silbaugh says she is the mother of the two oldest children and Carly, 41, who married James in 2014, is mom to the other three.
She told WTAE-TV how James Kahl used a stun gun on her non-verbal, autistic son while he was in his care.
Silbaugh, who has several serious medical conditions, says a judge ordered 50-50 custody between her and Kahl, but that she soon alerted CYS after spotting signs of abuse on the kids.
James also had camera throughout the home, as seen by the caution sign in front of the door. But he took it a step further by putting cameras in the same room where the kids were locked up and hardwiring them to his room
The two oldest kids who were taken by CYS last week are the biological kids of James and Rachel Silbaugh, who fought for custody after she discovered signs of physical abuse on her autistic son
‘I saw marks on my children when I was still getting visitations. My son’s head was busted open at one point when he was still in a wheelchair,’ she said.
She said she filed protection-from-abuse orders against Kahl in 2016, with one order reportedly stating that he ‘threatened to lock one of the children in the garage if she did not shut up and stop crying’.
Neighbors remain in shock, insisting they had no idea what was happening inside the house of horrors on quiet Willis Avenue in Redstone Township, 40 miles south of Pittsburgh.
They claim the children were often left unsupervised to run riot on the street, including scaling roofs and zooming their bicycles up and down before dumping them on the road.
They fear the Kahls may have started to lock up the kids after a string of complaints were made to authorities about their safety.
One neighbor, who did not want to be identified, said she would often see the boys escape from their bedroom window and run down the street with no shoes on.
But three years ago, things took a turn for the worst when the Kahls accused her of turning them in to child services.
She told the Daily Mail: ‘I did ring the State Police because the autistic boy was running around the neighborhood.
Neighbors told Daily Mail they often saw the children left unsupervised, running riot on the street – scaling roofs, racing bikes up and down and dumping them on the road, reminiscent of this photo showing bikes tossed into the bushes in the driveway
One neighbor said James launched a campaign of harassment against her after suspecting she reported him to child services, despite her only calling police when his autistic son appeared at the door nearly naked in 32 degree weather
‘It was January, 32 degrees, and seven o’clock in the morning, and he came to my door, and he was trying to open it, no clothes on, except for a pull-up. I think he was 10 at the time.
‘That’s when I called police, they came out, the boy ran, they got him and brought him back to the house.
She said James Kahl blamed her for CYS coming to check on them.
‘But then he taught the boys to say ‘F*** you’. I couldn’t walk out here, I couldn’t sit on my front porch, this was even as recent as last year.’
She says Kahl once came out of his house and held up two middle fingers at her and screamed ‘F*** you, I hope you die, I’ll walk all over your body.’
The neighbor claimed her son once went over to the Kahl house because the children were allegedly throwing rocks at his brand-new car.
Another time, she claims the autistic child escaped the house and got into a neighbor’s pool area.
‘The cover was on the pool, but he must have loosened it somehow, and he was hanging over the pool. He could have fallen in there and drowned, and nobody would know.
She also claimed that after this incident, James (right) taught his sons to scream ‘F*** you’ if they saw her outside and told her ‘I hope you die, I’ll walk all over your body’
Neighbors noted the were shocked to hear about the level of regret, partially due to James’ extensive vehicle collection, including this camper parked in the driveway
Looking back, she now believes there were signs the children were being neglected, saying she never saw the parents bring home bags of groceries for their large family.
‘The house never had any lights on. I wondered how can you maneuver in a house with no lights?’
Neither of the parents worked, the neighbor said, yet Kahl had a collection of vehicles.
‘He neglected those children, yet in the garage he had a $35,000 backhoe, two Harley motorcycles, a camper… and this 1952 Ford truck he put new wheels and tires on.
‘They’re going to jail and they’re going to be in jail a long time, and they deserve it,’ the neighbor added. ‘I hope they are treated the way they treated those kids.’
Another neighbor said it was clear the kids ‘didn’t really get a lot of attention’. ‘They would always come over here and we would talk to them, play with them, whatever.’
Another neighbor said the Kahls ‘kept to themselves’ and nobody got ‘close enough’ to them to discover what was going on in the house.
He said he only spoke to Kahl – known as ‘Rusty’ – once but noticed the kids tearing up the road on their scooters unsupervised.
James’ Facebook posts also revealed a disturbing level of behavior in his attitude towards his kids, with one repost illustrated with a wooden paddle eluding to children getting corporal punishment in school
Another post callously suggested that a Christmas gift for his kids could be ‘things they like’, which was defined as basic necessities such as groceries, electricity, and water
‘I would have never suspected they were keeping them locked up, because they ran around the street.
‘Now, if that was his way of punishing them because the neighbors were b**ching about his kids cussing and being on their porch, now that’s a whole different ball game.’
Posts on Kahl’s Facebook account – which is littered with photos of the children – offer a potential insight into his parenting.
In 2015, he shared an image of a wooden paddle with the caption: ‘How many children got this in school, and it made you a better person?’
In a 2019 post, he shared a post which read: ‘Just a heads up!! If anyone is wanting to get my kids a Christmas present, they like groceries, electricity and water.’
Meanwhile, Carly has shared photos and videos of the children inside the house on dirty carpets surrounded by piles of clothing.
She describes herself on Facebook as ‘a wife and a proud mommy of 4 wonderful kids. My husband thinks the world of me and treats me like gold. I love my family so much that I wouldn’t know how to live without then [sic] now.’
The Kahls remain in custody and have a preliminary court hearing on September 17.
