LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Finding the courage to escape domestic abuse is a multi-layered challenge. Those running away from abusers often need a lot of help and many are looking for it at SafeNest — Nevada’s largest domestic violence shelter.

But instead of a leg up, SafeNest is a failure, according to a group of victim-survivors who called 13 investigate for help.

Last week, I introduced you four of the 17 people who shared their stories of survival and asked us to amplify their voices and SafeNest concerns.

The report focused on safety issues documented inside the shelter, including accounts of fighting, assault, battery, child abuse and wanted suspects at shelter.

Watch the first part of our investigation here:

SafeNest One

Now, we hear about the unsanitary living conditions at SafeNest.

“It was completely unpleasant,” says Natasha, who was at SafeNest for six months and left the shelter this spring.

She shot several videos during her time there and says, “There are no ground rules at SafeNest. People leave their food out for days. It is so unhealthy. People give millions and millions of dollars to this organization and let people rip it off. They don’t clean, they don’t enforce any rules, they’re not disgusting.

Another resident who did not want to go on camera emailed SafeNest staff in May, saying living conditions are inhumane. She wrote:

“Do you know how many times we’ve gotten sick from that food?” said MJ, who lived at SafeNest for six months. For part of that time, her nine-year-old daughter lived at the shelter with her.

KTNV

Both MJ and Lauren—another woman who shared her experience with SafeNest—were especially worried about the health of their children during their stay.

“The kitchen was completely disgusting. Maggots on the counter, cockroaches everywhere,” Lauren said.

KTNV

As for the bathrooms, Natasha videos show faeces on the walls, blood oozing from a trash can, hair and trash strewn on the floor, and other unsanitary conditions.

“Infested maggots in our trash cans,” MJ said. “There were holes in the walls, holes in the floor, the shower area… It was terrible. Our living environment was terrible.”

KTNV

I brought the concerns to SafeNest CEO Liz Ortenburger.

“They know they shouldn’t take pictures and videos, but they say if they don’t, no one believes them. If they don’t document, no one does anything about it,” I told Ortenburger. “And they also think that the community at large needs to see what it’s like there so they understand that their donations are going to a place where women are living in these conditions. Kitchen and dining area and bathrooms in the pictures. and the videos I have seen are not OK.”

“I have no way of checking…” Ortenburger replied.

“I can show you everything they gave us. None of this is a secret,” I told him.

Ortenburger I didn’t want him to see the picturessaying, “We are in a communal living situation. We have a company that comes in every day and does stock and basic cleaning in the toilets and kitchens. But it’s a shared living situation, so there’s that partnership with the customers that they help clean their spaces.”

SafeNest client

“There were 17 of us in a house,” MJ said. “I was the only one who cleaned the house. And people would say, why are you cleaning up after these other women? I didn’t do it for them. I did it for my daughter.”

say MJ and Lauren the children in the shelter are in danger in many ways.

“My autistic son picked up an ecstasy pill off the bathroom floor,” Lauren said.

And Natasha filed a complaint with SafeNest after finding one M-30 pill on the floor. (Police say M-30s — called “blues” — are oxycodone and are often laced with fentanyl.)

Ortenburger says that when this happens, they want to know about it right away.

“We have a robust complaint policy at the shelter so that people can provide information and information in a way that we can handle on the ground,” Ortenburger said.

But MJ says: “The bigger a complaint you made, it was like you were a problem. So, you were afraid to tell or scared not to tell.”

KTNV

“They all said their complaints fell on deaf ears, that the staff didn’t respond, didn’t act, didn’t keep them safe,” I told Ortenburger.

“So we may have acted on those and that information may not have made it back to the person who filed the complaint as a privacy protection,” she replied.

Until that moment, Natasha was not knowing what, if any, follow-up was done after filing his complaint about the M-30 pill.

“I feel like it’s going into a black hole or it’s going to be shredded or just looked at and swept under the rug,” Natasha said.

It cannot be denied delicate balancing act faced by SafeNest staff — and the crucial services they must provide — but the organization receives millions of taxpayer and donor dollars each year to provide shelter, safety and resources.

We will follow the money when my investigation continues on Tuesday, October 29.