RANKIN COUNTY, Miss. (WLBT) – Two Brandon parents have been charged with child neglect.

According to the Rankin County Sheriff’s Office, deputies responded to the Bay Pointe subdivision off Highway 471 around 12:28 a.m. Sunday after a 3-year-old child wandered into a home.

After arriving on scene, deputies began canvassing the area and found another home about a quarter mile away with the front door open.

While clearing the home for possible suspects or victims, deputies located a 6-year-old child in one of the bedrooms.

Deputies were able to gather information for the children’s parents, William and Kimberly Ouderkirk. However, after contacting the parents, they never returned home.

The couple said they were “a few houses down from their house and turned back.”

After trying to contact the family, Rankin County said William Ouderkick contacted the sheriff’s office a short time later and explained he needed to have a babysitter until 2 a.m.

Further investigation of this information led to an interview with the alleged babysitter, who stated that she neither knew the Ouderkicks nor knew where the house was.

Child Protective Services was called to the scene based on the totality of the circumstances and took custody of the children.

Both Kimberly and William Ouderkick were found and arrested, then charged with child neglect. Bail for both parents was set at $20,000.

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