BELL, Fla. – A report from the Alachua County Sheriff's Office shows it and the Department of Children and Families knew there were reports of abuse in the Bell family that was killed at the hands of Donald Spirit a week ago, and nothing was done to remove the children from the home.
Spirit shot and killed his daughter and her six children, then killed himself last week at their home.
According to the report taken in June 2013, it's clear to see what was happening to the children while in their mother's care and what happened when she would leave them with their grandfather.
Even though the children lived in Gilchrist County, the Alachua County Sheriff's Office was involved because the grandmother who was taking care of three of the children lived in Alachua and came to deputies there with complaints that the children reported to her.
Among the allegations in the report, Sarah Spirt, the children's mother, and the father of the three youngest children used drugs in front of the kids.
The report also says when the children were staying at their grandfather's house in Bell, Donald Spirt beat the kids with belts and would leave bruises on them. The reason, according to the report, was that the children would wake him up while he was sleeping.
There was one instance where Donald Spirt told his daughter to get the kids out of his house and was throwing their clothes out the door. The grandmother told investigator Donald Spirit was bipolar, according to the report.
There was also concern of sexual abuse of one of the young girls.
Investigators were told that the children's mother was often sent out of the house by her husband to collect money, and that Sarah Spirit and one of the children's fathers would take the kids along when they bought drugs.
The report was sent to DCF, and an investigator responded that the department would not shelter the children and determined they would stay with their grandmother.
A DCF spokesperson said Thursday the department is reviewing this and will have more to say in a few days.