When Douglasville police officers walked into the home on James D. Simpson Avenue, they were hit immediately by a strong, foul odor. Every room was in disarray. Inside, they found five children under the age of 10 being watched by their ten-year-old sibling. Their mother, Sherry Magby, had been gone for roughly 12 hours.

The children ranged in age from one to eight years old. There was no adequate food in the home. The ten-year-old, who had effectively become the caretaker, told officers that the one-year-old had been eating cockroaches and ants due to the lack of proper nourishment.

The Neighbor Who Found Out Too Late

That night, the children walked to a neighbor's yard. They told her they could not wake the one-year-old. Emergency responders were called. A Georgia Department of Human Services spokesperson later confirmed that one of the children died.

Another neighbor told reporters she had noticed that Magby was rarely home. "I thought everything was OK, but I just know she's never home, she's never there, and it's just sad," she said.

Help Was Steps Away and Nobody Knew

Ken Howell runs a community outreach center just steps from the home on James D. Simpson Avenue. He told WSB-TV that had he known the children were alone and without food, he would have helped immediately. He had no idea.

The proximity of the resource made the outcome harder to absorb. Six children in need of food were within walking distance of a program built to provide exactly that, and no one knew to send help.

A Pattern Prosecutors Did Not Overlook

Magby was arrested on April 2 and charged with six counts of second-degree child cruelty. The Douglas County District Attorney moved to revoke her bond entirely, citing not only the new charges but also a shoplifting arrest from the previous year as violations of her prior release conditions. The court agreed. She remains in custody without bond.

This was not her first involvement with the criminal justice system in connection to her children. In a separate case from 2023, Magby was accused of throwing a pocket knife at her son as he ran out of the house, cutting him in the back. That case has a trial date scheduled for May 11.

When officers entered the home that night, they described every room as being in a state of significant disorder, with conditions consistent with prolonged neglect. The one-year-old who could not be woken did not survive. Five children remain without their mother, who is awaiting trial on charges that span years.