Tennessee couple charged after child's skeletal remains found buried in back yard: report

A Tennessee couple was charged Monday after the skeletal remains of a young girl were discovered buried in their back yard, according to multiple reports.

Michael Anthony Gray Sr., 63, and his wife, Shirley Ann Gray, 60, face multiple charges, including child abuse, child neglect, kidnapping and abuse of a corpse.

The skeletal remains are believed to belong to their daughter, who authorities say was around 10 years old when she died. Michael Gray allegedly admitted to the state Department of Children's Services that he had buried the girl after she died in 2017, according to the Knoxville News Sentinel.

Her remains were found on Saturday. An autopsy has been planned.

Multiple law enforcement agencies are investigating and have reported chilling new details from the home in Roane County. Authorities said there were three more children in the couple's possession and that they were not the parents, 10 News reported.

The couple is accused of holding one of the surviving children -- a 15-year-old -- locked inside the unfinished basement of their family home for many years, arrest warrants said. Authorities said they discovered the teenager in the partially flooded basement without running water and surrounded by human and animal feces.

"[The child] was confined to the unfinished basement since this date and had no contact with anyone outside the basement, only given small amounts of food, being white bread and some water," the warrants said, according to the paper.

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Roane County authorities originally responded on Friday after someone found one of the children walking alone along a road near their home, 9th Judicial District Attorney General Russell Johnson said in a statement to news outlets.

The three surviving children, aged 11 to 15, were removed from the couple's custody by the state Department of Children’s Services, Johnson said. They are not the couple's biological children, but the couple had legal custody of them, he said.

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"(Two of the children) appear to have no formal education," the warrants said, according to the Knoxville News Sentinel, "and were, in fact, amazed by what a refrigerator does when they observed one in their foster home."

They appeared to be "stunted in growth," the warrants added.

The Roane County couple was charged with aggravated child abuse, especially aggravated kidnapping, aggravated child neglect, and abuse of a corpse, the statement said.

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The Grays remained in custody. It wasn't immediately clear whether they have an attorney.

The Associated Press contributed to this report