Behind the closet, the wall sounded hollow, a space where there should have been solid foundation. One officer fetched a toolkit from their patrol car and returned to carefully remove a section of drywall. The parents gasped as a hidden crawl space was revealed, a secret cavity that even they had not known existed.

Inside, amidst the dust and shadows, lay a sight that made the hair on the officers’ necks stand on end. Old, forgotten toys and yellowed newspapers were strewn about, relics of a time long past. But that wasn’t all. Buried beneath the clutter was a small, makeshift bed, the sheets rumpled as if someone had recently lain there.