Inset: Azyia Zielinski (Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Workplace). Background: The within of the storage unit the place Azyia Zielinski and Charles Dupriest allegedly locked their six children (MCSO).
A 26-year-old mom in Wisconsin will keep away from jail after she and her husband had been caught leaving their six youngsters — 4 of whom had been underneath the age of 6 — locked inside a storage unit in a single day with solely a bucket to make use of as a restroom.
A Milwaukee County choose on Thursday stayed a jail sentence for Azyia C. Zielinski in favor of probation after the mom pleaded responsible to 2 misdemeanor counts of kid neglect. Zielinski’s husband, Charles Dupriest, was convicted of kid neglect in January.
Throughout Thursday’s sentencing listening to, prosecutors advisable 18 months in a state correctional facility to be stayed for 3 years of probation, offered she full an alcohol and drug abuse evaluation, parenting class, psychological well being remedy, and preserve full sobriety.
The state selected to not delve into the underlying details of Zielinski’s crimes, solely referring to the ordeal as a “tremendously unhappy case for the six baby victims.”
In recommending a probationary disposition targeted totally on the defendant’s rehabilitation, the prosecutor mentioned the punishment was “proportionate to Zielinski’s stage of culpability and her actions on this case,” including that she was “considerably much less culpable” than her husband.
“She was in an emotionally and bodily abusive relationship and that context is vital to understanding her conduct,” he mentioned. “This was not an equal partnership. It was a one-directional, controlling relationship.”
The prosecutor additionally emphasised that Zielinski testified honestly in opposition to her husband throughout his trial.
Zielinski’s protection lawyer requested 18 months of probation, saying three years was “past what is critical” for her rehabilitation, a course of she mentioned the defendant had already begun. She additionally emphasised that Zielinski was “extremely remorseful” for what she put her youngsters via.
The choose in the end sided with Zielinski, ordering her to serve 18 months in jail, staying that sentence in favor of 18 months of probation.
As Legislation&Crime beforehand reported, officers with the Milwaukee Police Division at 1:33 a.m. on Sept. 16, 2025, responded to a report of a crying baby inside a locked storage unit on the Storsafe within the 5500 block of North twenty seventh Avenue. The caller informed the dispatcher they had been involved for the welfare of the child.
Upon arriving on the facility, first responders heard a toddler nonetheless crying inside storage unit B58, which had a garage-style door secured with a padlock. Fireplace division personnel reduce the padlock to achieve entry.
After the officer pronounces, “Milwaukee Police, we’re coming in,” he enters the pitch-black unit and will be heard saying, “Hey, what is going on on right here?” in accordance with the video performed in courtroom, a few of which was posted by native ABC affiliate WISN.
The footage reveals a sectional sofa and twin mattress surrounded by mounds of things, together with a single bucket that authorities say the kids had been pressured to make use of as a rest room.
Officer Nash Dathe reportedly testified that the unit smelled “prefer it was getting used as a toilet.”
A legal grievance obtained by Legislation&Crime offered extra observations made by police after getting into the storage unit.
“Inside, they noticed a bucket containing urine in the midst of the room and 6 youngsters ranging in age from 2 months to 9 years. Detectives later discovered that the one mild seen to the kids got here via the crack of the storage door,” the grievance says. “[A detective] entered the unit and noticed the six youngsters sleeping. 5-year-old ‘ED’ informed [the detective], ‘We’re not alleged to be loud.’ Shortly afterward, ED urinated in an orange bucket within the heart of the unit.”
The oldest baby informed investigators that he was “accountable for caring for his 5 youthful siblings” when his mother and father weren’t round. Apart from the 2-month-old toddler, the kids had been 9, 7, 5, 3, and a couple of years outdated.
“[The 9-year-old] reported that he stays on the storage unit about 50% of the time and that they use a bucket to urinate and defecate,” the affidavit says. “[The 9-year-old] said he’s supposed to offer the 2-month-old a bottle or pacifier and decide her up when she cries. [The 9-year-old] informed [the detective] he was hungry and had no machine to contact his mother and father or anybody else in an emergency.”
Police mentioned the stench from inside was “so putrid they may not stay inside even with the storage door open.”
An worker on the facility allegedly informed investigators that he remembered in Could listening to a male voice contained in the unit saying “Sit down and be quiet,” and noticed surveillance footage of the kids being dropped off on the unit by their mother and father, which he reported to administration.
At 2:11 a.m., authorities situated Dupriest and Zielinski sleeping in a Ford Expedition parked within the lot together with their canine. Officers famous that the center row of the car was fully unoccupied whereas all the kids, together with their toddler, had been within the storage unit.
Dupriest and Zielinski mentioned the household was “homeless,” however admitted the kids may have been staying with different relations.
In a forensic interview, the 5-year-old lady sufferer, recognized as “LD,” mentioned she “felt ‘unhappy’ when locked within the storage unit and ‘mad’ so she made the unit soiled.”
“She mentioned she tried to open the door however couldn’t,” the affidavit mentioned. “She reported utilizing a bucket to urinate and defecate, generally with a bag positioned inside. She mentioned she was upset the canine received to sleep within the automobile whereas she and her siblings slept within the unit. LD said her mother and father went to mattress whereas the kids had been nonetheless awake. She mentioned her father carried a firearm, pointing to her hip.”
The 9-year-old mentioned his father disciplines him with “whoopings,” and that after one such whooping, he thought he ought to go to the hospital.
In response to courtroom data, Dupriest will probably be sentenced on April 9.
