On Sunday, deputies in Flagler County arrested 37-year-old Amanda Gaisford after, they say, they discovered her four children living in conditions that could only be described as hazardous and unlivable. Gaisford now faces four counts of felony child neglect, according to the sheriff’s office.
The arrest capped off a chaotic weekend. Just a day earlier, deputies had been called to her home on Fanwood Court for a disturbance involving weapons. When investigators went inside, they say what they found raised alarms immediately. Four children—ages 16, 13, 9 and 7—were living in a house where nearly everything posed a danger.
According to an affidavit, deputies recovered a handgun sitting in the family’s entertainment center, placed casually on top of Disney DVDs and fully loaded, “in a ready state of operation to be fired.” Elsewhere in the house, they reported finding marijuana, small bags of cocaine, and drug paraphernalia scattered within easy reach of the children.
But the most striking details weren’t only about weapons or drugs. The house itself, deputies said, was in ruin. There had been no running water for at least two weeks. The toilets were nonfunctional, filled with human waste. Spoiled food was spread throughout the house, and the air carried such a rancid odor that it could be smelled from outside. Roaches, fleas, and other insects had infested nearly every corner.
Neighbors told reporters the problems weren’t new. “There’s been times where you’ll see, like, just bugs crawling, roaches crawling through the grass when you’re out there cutting the grass,” said Robert Levy, who lives nearby. Another neighbor, Linden Mihalic, described the constant foul smell: “They would smoke cigarettes in the home as well. So, we just smell dirty and cigarettes. You can get whiffs of it right now actually… there’s like a fishy smell.”
The sheriff’s office also noted that local schools had requested a welfare check after one of Gaisford’s children stopped attending classes in late October. Gaisford told authorities the child was often sick, but deputies concluded she was “failing to adequately provide the reasonable basic care and needs” of all four children.
She was arrested Sunday and is being held at the Flagler County Jail without bond.





