ABC News22%

Woman pleads no contest to abuse after 3 kids are found living alone for years 57%

By The Associated Press63%

7/16/2026, 3:18:48 PM

BS Summary: This article contains 10 faulty reasoning types, including Biased Writer Voice, Unattributed Quote, and Appeal to Emotion, with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 47% saturation with 110 hits. Analysis detected 423 faulty-reasoning hits from 234 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 53.7% and a BS Rank of 57% (9,605 of 21,887 articles). This article is worse (more manipulative) than 56.10% of the article peer group.

PONTIAC, Mich. -- A Michigan woman accused of leaving three children alone for years in a house of squalor pleaded no contest Thursday to child abuse in an agreement that carries a six-year prison sentence, authorities said. 
Conditions at the Pontiac home were so offensive that police evidence specialists wore hazmat suits when the children were discovered in February 2025. 
The kids, ages 15, 13 and 12, had lived on their own since 2020 or 2021, with occasional food drops on the porch and amid trash and feces, police said. 
Sheriff's deputies entered when a landlord said he hadn't been paid in months. 
Kelli Bryant, 35, who was living elsewhere in Pontiac, pleaded no contest to abuse and will return to court in September for her sentencing. 
A message seeking comment from her attorney was not immediately returned. 
“This plea will spare the children from testifying at trial and ensures Bryant remains incarcerated until they are all adults,” Oakland County prosecutor Karen McDonald said. 
“I’m hopeful the children she victimized will continue to have the space and resources to heal from this abhorrent trauma.” 
The father lost contact with the kids while in prison in an unrelated matter and was barred by their mother from seeing them when he was released, Sheriff Mike Bouchard said when Bryant was arrested. 
Article reasoning-pattern comparisonThis article: 11.1%The Associated Press: 2.8%ABC News: 2.2%Confirmation Bias11.1%This article: 0.0%The Associated Press: 1.4%ABC News: 0.7%Anchoring Bias0.0%This article: 12.8%The Associated Press: 3.2%ABC News: 3.0%Availability Heuristic12.8%This article: 0.0%The Associated Press: 0.9%ABC News: 0.9%Representativeness Heuristic0.0%This article: 0.0%The Associated Press: 0.6%ABC News: 0.5%Hindsight Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%The Associated Press: 1.8%ABC News: 1.1%Overconfidence Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%The Associated Press: 11.1%ABC News: 6.8%Framing Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%The Associated Press: 0.6%ABC News: 0.3%Loss Aversion0.0%This article: 0.0%The Associated Press: 0.7%ABC News: 0.4%Status Quo Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%The Associated Press: 0.1%ABC News: 0.1%Sunk Cost Effect0.0%This article: 8.5%The Associated Press: 3.1%ABC News: 2.4%Optimism Bias8.5%This article: 0.0%The Associated Press: 1.7%ABC News: 1.0%Pessimism Bias0.0%This article: 47.0%The Associated Press: 11.0%ABC News: 7.7%Negativity Bias47.0%This article: 0.0%The Associated Press: 2.2%ABC News: 1.5%Self-Serving Bias0.0%This article: 15.0%The Associated Press: 1.2%ABC News: 0.7%Fundamental Attribution Error15.0%This article: 0.0%The Associated Press: 0.2%ABC News: 0.1%Actor-Observer Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%The Associated Press: 2.2%ABC News: 0.8%In-Group Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%The Associated Press: 1.0%ABC News: 0.4%Out-Group Homogeneity Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%The Associated Press: 1.9%ABC News: 2.2%Halo Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%The Associated Press: 0.1%ABC News: 0.1%Horn Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%The Associated Press: 0.0%ABC News: 0.0%Dunning-Kruger Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%The Associated Press: 2.0%ABC News: 1.3%Recency Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%The Associated Press: 0.4%ABC News: 0.4%Primacy Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%The Associated Press: 0.1%ABC News: 0.1%Blind-Spot Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%The Associated Press: 0.9%ABC News: 0.5%Ad Hominem0.0%This article: 0.0%The Associated Press: 0.2%ABC News: 0.1%Straw Man0.0%This article: 11.1%The Associated Press: 3.8%ABC News: 3.3%Appeal to Authority11.1%This article: 0.0%The Associated Press: 1.2%ABC News: 0.9%False Dilemma0.0%This article: 0.0%The Associated Press: 0.8%ABC News: 0.3%Slippery Slope0.0%This article: 0.0%The Associated Press: 0.1%ABC News: 0.1%Circular Reasoning0.0%This article: 0.0%The Associated Press: 3.0%ABC News: 2.8%Hasty Generalization0.0%This article: 0.0%The Associated Press: 0.3%ABC News: 0.4%Red Herring0.0%This article: 0.0%The Associated Press: 0.5%ABC News: 0.4%Bandwagon0.0%This article: 18.4%The Associated Press: 5.6%ABC News: 4.3%Appeal to Emotion18.4%This article: 0.0%The Associated Press: 0.8%ABC News: 0.7%Begging the Question0.0%This article: 0.0%The Associated Press: 2.8%ABC News: 2.1%Post Hoc (False Cause)0.0%This article: 0.0%The Associated Press: 0.1%ABC News: 0.0%Tu Quoque0.0%This article: 0.0%The Associated Press: 0.5%ABC News: 0.4%Burden of Proof0.0%This article: 0.0%The Associated Press: 0.1%ABC News: 0.1%Appeal to Nature0.0%This article: 0.0%The Associated Press: 0.1%ABC News: 0.2%Composition/Division0.0%This article: 0.0%The Associated Press: 1.3%ABC News: 1.2%Anecdotal0.0%This article: 0.0%The Associated Press: 0.0%ABC News: 0.1%No True Scotsman0.0%This article: 8.5%The Associated Press: 1.7%ABC News: 1.8%Ambiguity (Equivocation)8.5%This article: 0.0%The Associated Press: 0.0%ABC News: 0.0%Gambler’s Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%The Associated Press: 0.1%ABC News: 0.0%Middle Ground0.0%This article: 0.0%The Associated Press: 0.1%ABC News: 0.0%Personal Incredulity0.0%This article: 0.0%The Associated Press: 0.2%ABC News: 0.2%Special Pleading0.0%This article: 0.0%The Associated Press: 0.2%ABC News: 0.1%Genetic Fallacy0.0%This article: 19.7%The Associated Press: 1.8%ABC News: 1.9%Unattributed Quote19.7%This article: 0.0%The Associated Press: 1.2%ABC News: 1.0%Quote-first Misdirection0.0%This article: 28.6%The Associated Press: 3.9%ABC News: 3.1%Biased Writer Voice28.6%This article: 0.0%The Associated Press: 0.7%ABC News: 0.6%Indoctrination0.0%This article: 0.0%The Associated Press: 0.8%ABC News: 0.7%Politically Left Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%The Associated Press: 0.3%ABC News: 0.2%Politically Right Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%The Associated Press: 0.4%ABC News: 1.0%Attempt to Sell a Product or S…0.0%

234 words analyzed.

Speakers

2speakers26%attributed speech173writer words
Voice mapSelect a segment to jump to its words
Writer's voice • 15 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 37 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 23 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 30 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 13 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 24 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 11 words • 0.0% coverageKaren McDonald • 26 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 20 words • 100.0% coverageMike Bouchard • 35 words • 0.0% coverage
Selected voice

Karen McDonald

100%flagged-word coverage
26 attributed words43% of attributed speech64% writer coverage
0%50.0%100.0%Unattributed Quote+88.4 ptsWriter: 11.6%Karen McDonald: 100.0%100.0%Biased Writer Voice-38.7 ptsWriter: 38.7%Karen McDonald: 0.0%0.0%

Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.

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Analysis

Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.