HOLLIDAYSBURG — An East Freedom trio accused of torture and endangering the welfare of several children at a “house of horrors” are headed to trial after they waived their rights to preliminary hearings Friday before Magisterial District Judge Andrew L. Blattenberger in Courtroom 1 at the Blair County Courthouse.

Dominic Andrew Zungali and Zoe Elise Zungali, both 31, remain at the Blair County Prison in lieu of their respective $150,000 bails, while Altoona resident Gillian Bem, 18, was released on 10% of $75,000 bail.

The trio’s charges stem from the report of a lost child. That investigation led police to the Zungali home on the 200 block of Fall View Road in East Freedom.

There, police found deplorable living conditions, including drywall ripped from the walls, exposed electrical wiring, a strong odor of urine, a baby gate and household items barricading a doorway and several children in “cages” made from overturned cribs. The children were reportedly being held in unclean conditions, in their own waste.

The children were placed with Blair County Children, Youth and Families and the Zungalis and Bem were charged on July 18 with five felony counts each of endangering the welfare of children, two felony counts of false imprisonment and five misdemeanor counts of cruelty to animals.

After receiving the children’s medical updates from UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, additional charges and amendments were made to the original court filings.

According to the updated docket in her case, Zoe Zungali faces five felony counts of endangering the welfare of children, five felony counts of false imprisonment, six felony counts of aggravated assault, five counts of unlawful restraint of a minor, five misdemeanor counts of recklessly endangering another person and five misdemeanor counts of cruelty to animals.

Bem’s updated docket reflects changes as well. She now faces five felony counts of endangering the welfare of children, and five misdemeanor counts each of recklessly endangering another person and cruelty to animals.

The charges against Dominic Zungali remain at five felony counts of endangering the welfare of children, two felony counts of false imprisonment and five misdemeanor counts of cruelty to animals.

An amended affidavit of probable cause filed in the Zoe Zungali case explains the updated charges to reflect the medical reports that state the “children’s conditions meet the definition of torture, severe malnutrition, severe emotional and social neglect.”

In the initial report, officers found the five children in poor condition, noting that the 2-year-old boy had a distended abdomen and purple legs and feet.

After receiving the hospital’s report, the affidavit states the boy was severely underdeveloped and emaciated. “He does not walk or talk.” In addition, the report states he had a healing fracture to his fibula bone of his left leg and no medical history that it was ever treated.

The doctor treating the child pointed out that he is almost a year behind where he should be developmentally and opined that the delays were due to “malnutrition and social neglect.”

A 4-year-old boy showed severe neglect. He had dangerously low blood sugar levels, the report states, and he had severe dehydration. A bone scan showed that due to severe chronic malnutrition, his bones stopped growing normally. In addition, he had a non-detectable vitamin D level, consistent with not being outside in daylight sunshine at all or minimally in his life, the doctor stated. He also was developmentally delayed due to malnutrition, social and medical neglect, the report states.

A doctor found that the 4-year-old “has been the victim of profound neglect” and the result is that the child faces long-term, possibly lifelong consequences. The doctor said the boy’s condition meets the definition of medical torture: “he has sustained prolonged emotional distress, isolation and deprivation. (The child) is in need of language and feeding rehabilitation” and due to his history “will likely have lifelong implications on his brain development, cognitive abilities and growth.”

A 5-year-old girl found in a cage in the Zungali home is non-verbal, lacking certain communication and social skills. She has been evaluated to be at the 50th percentile in height and weight for a 3-year-old despite being almost 6 years old, the report states. She makes “vocalizations like a bird,” and does not recognize their own name, according to the new affidavit. Since her last medical appearance over three years ago, the child has regressed in growth.

This child, too, faces long-term, possibly lifelong consequences due to profound neglect and psychological abuse, the doctor states in his report.

Another 3-year-old boy barely walks and talks and has not been medically seen since he was 2 months old, the report states. He does not seem to know his name, can’t follow commands and can’t speak. He has “severe malnutrition and developmental delays … due to chronic deprivation,” the doctor reported.

A 7-year-old boy also meets the medical definition of medical torture as his neglect will have “lifelong implications to his brain development, cognitive abilities and growth,” the doctor reported. He had not been to a doctor since he was 24 months old and remains at that skill level, despite being 7 years old, the report states. During those five years, the child only gained 13 pounds, which the doctor said is a “direct result of having received inadequate calories for growth.”

Affidavit of probable cause goes on to state that the child barely talks “but we know he walks because, had he not escaped this house of horrors, no one would know what was happening at 211 Fall View Road.”

All five children wore diapers and were underdeveloped, the affidavit concludes, noting that it is still unknown how long “these children underwent this period of torture, neglect and confinement.”

Two cats, a rabbit and a dog were also found lying in their own waste without food or water in the residence. Central Pennsylvania Humane Society Police Officer Paul Gutshall removed the animals in a serious case of animal cruelty.

Mirror Staff Writer Colette Costlow is at 814-946-7414.