A Wright County man is facing multiple charges after deputies found four young children walking alone toward a creek early Thursday morning and later heard allegations that he threatened to kill them and forced them out of their home.
According to a probable cause affidavit filed August 13, Deputy Bradley Campbell responded around 8:15 a.m. after a resident reported finding four children, ages 2 to 6, walking down McNealy Lane carrying bags and saying they were headed to a creek roughly three miles away. The witness told deputies he stopped the children before they reached Highway EE and kept them at his home until law enforcement arrived.
“The kids were between 2 and 6 years old, were carrying bags, and were going to the creek.”
Deputies spoke with the children, who said their mother was asleep and that Dallas Ray Lansdown, who lives in the home, had packed their clothes and told them to leave. One child, identified as V2, said Lansdown threatened them with a “long black gun” and told them he was “done with all of the cats and us” and was “about to kill all of us.”
The children also reported physical abuse, telling deputies they were spanked with a metal paddle, wooden paddle, belt, and hand. V2 said she was “really scared to go back” and had tried to take care of her younger siblings by packing snacks and water.
Children’s Division took custody of the four children and transported them to the Mountain Grove office.
Deputies then went to the residence, where Lansdown and the children’s mother had just woken up. Both initially claimed they did not know where the children were. Lansdown denied threatening them and said he only owned a pistol. However, deputies noted severe disrepair inside the home, including an overwhelming odor of urine, mold on the walls, rotting floors, and trash throughout the hallway.
When deputies asked to see a storage room, Lansdown allowed them inside. A long black pellet gun matching the children’s description was found in plain view and seized as evidence.
He is being held on four counts each of Domestic Assault, and Neglect of a Child with a bond set at $25,000.
