--- description: Jennifer Nichols and Joshua Sanders were arrested on Nov. 30. The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office charged the pair with neglecting a child. title: Couple Left Child to Live Alone in Trailer, Police Say image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc133097ce32c5f10/6988f45422fb85fd44e23fad/joshua-sanders-jennifer-nichols.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Crime](/tag/crime/) ## Crime Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Couple Left Child to Live Alone in Trailer for Months, Police Say by [Abigail Abrams / People](/author/people/) ## Abigail Abrams / People Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 8, 2017 2:31 PM CUT  Escambia County Jail by [Abigail Abrams / People](/author/people/) ## Abigail Abrams / People Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 8, 2017 2:31 PM CUT A Florida pair is facing charges after police say they left a child to live alone in a trailer, often without food, for months. Jennifer Nichols, 34, and 32-year-old Joshua Sanders were arrested on Nov. 30, according to [the _Pensacola News Journal_.](http://www.pnj.com/story/news/crime/2017/12/04/two-arrested-claims-they-left-child-living-alone-without-food-furniture-months/920842001/ "undefined") The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office has charged the pair with one count of neglecting a child. A witness told the sheriff’s office she began renting the trailer to Nichols and Sanders in September and later realized that only a child — and not the pair — lived there, the _News Journal_ reported. The woman said she tried to take care of the child, whose age was not revealed, but she could not provide as much support as the boy needed, according to the report. The child had not attended school in months and told the police he sometimes talked with Sanders and Nichols, who would give him a small amount of money and a few meals, but he often could not reach them, according to the _News Journal._ The Florida Department of Children and Families took the child into custody. _This_ [_article_](http://people.com/crime/florida-couple-allegedly-left-child-trailer-months/ "undefined") _originally appeared on_ [_People.com_](http://people.com "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5055881/jennifer-nichols-joshua-sanders-abandoned-child/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5055881/jennifer-nichols-joshua-sanders-abandoned-child/"},"headline":"Couple Left Child to Live Alone in Trailer for Months, Police Say","datePublished":"2017-12-08T14:31:32.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T18:30:11.163Z","description":"The child had not attended school in months","url":"https://time.com/5055881/jennifer-nichols-joshua-sanders-abandoned-child/","keywords":["Crime","onetime","onetimecrime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc133097ce32c5f10/6988f45422fb85fd44e23fad/joshua-sanders-jennifer-nichols.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Abigail Abrams / People"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc133097ce32c5f10/6988f45422fb85fd44e23fad/joshua-sanders-jennifer-nichols.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"joshua-sanders-jennifer-nichols","caption":"","creditText":"Escambia County Jail","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/crime/","name":"Crime"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5055881/jennifer-nichols-joshua-sanders-abandoned-child/","name":"Couple Left Child to Live Alone in Trailer for Months, Police Say"}}]}] ```