Florida's Attorney General, James Uthmeier, has announced that his office will seek the death penalty against a couple accused of confining four children in the cab of a tractor-trailer for nearly seven years while subjecting them to sexual abuse and severe neglect. Keisha Monique Epps, 51, a truck driver, and her fiancé Tamra Marshon Stewart, 37, face charges including sexual battery, molestation and neglect over the treatment of two girls and two boys, aged between five and nine. Florida law permits capital punishment for adults convicted of sexually assaulting children under 12, and Uthmeier described the case as among the most horrific his team has handled.

According to court documents, the children were kept in the truck's cramped cab, sharing a single bunk, and were denied schooling for around five years, regular showers, medical or dental care, and were made to relieve themselves in cups and bags. Investigators say Stewart sexually abused two of the children over several years and assaulted the boys after they witnessed the abuse, while Epps allegedly knew of the abuse but did nothing to stop it. The children reportedly suffered lasting harm, including an untreated sexually transmitted infection, severe scarring from untreated burns, and an abnormal gait from prolonged confinement.