More than a year after police said five children were discovered living inside a Pennsylvania home in conditions so disturbing that investigators described their bedroom as a “dungeon,” one of the two adults charged in the case is out of jail.

James Russell Kahl, who was arrested in September 2025 alongside Carly Kahl, has been released on bond while awaiting trial in Fayette County.

His release comes with an important restriction: court documents say he is prohibited from having contact with the children identified as alleged victims in the case and must comply with pretrial supervision.

But for Rachel Silbaugh, the mother of two of those children, the court order has not eased her fears.

“My concern is for the safety of me and my children,” Silbaugh told KDKA-TV after learning Kahl had been released.

She says previous court orders have not made her feel protected before — and she worries this one may not be enough either.

Police Said Five Children Were Living in “Deplorable” Conditions

The case first drew national attention in 2025 after Pennsylvania State Police and Fayette County Children and Youth Services went to a home on Willis Avenue in Redstone Township.

Authorities had received a complaint concerning the living conditions of five children, who ranged in age from 5 to 14.

What investigators said they found inside immediately escalated the case.

According to police records, the house had no proper beds for the children, boarded-up windows, fleas, limited food and clothing and feces on bedroom walls.

Investigators said the children’s room could be locked from the outside.

Troopers reported finding three deadbolt locks on the outside of the door and no interior door handle that would allow the children to leave on their own.

Police said James Kahl would keep the children confined there during portions of the day and throughout the night.

Authorities used an especially stark description in court paperwork: the room “functioned as a dungeon.”

Video cameras inside the room were also allegedly hardwired to James Kahl’s bedroom, allowing the children to be monitored from elsewhere in the house.

The Children Were Removed Before the Arrests

The investigation began on Aug. 8, 2025, when state police assisted Children and Youth Services at the home.

The children were removed and placed into protective custody.

The investigation continued after they were taken to safety.

On Sept. 3, authorities executed a search warrant and arrested James Kahl, then 65, and Carly Kahl, then 41. Police said they recovered items including a stun gun, a replica firearm, surveillance equipment, drugs and drug paraphernalia from the property.

Both defendants were charged with multiple offenses, including child endangerment, aggravated assault and reckless endangerment.

The charges remain allegations. Neither James nor Carly Kahl has been convicted in the case.

Both were initially held without bail.

That changed for James Kahl roughly one year later.

Why Was Kahl Released?

His release appears to center not on a finding that the allegations were weak, but on Pennsylvania’s rules governing how long a defendant can remain jailed while waiting for trial.

CBS Pittsburgh reported that under Pennsylvania Rule of Criminal Procedure 600, the Commonwealth generally has 180 days to bring an incarcerated criminal defendant to trial.

In Kahl’s case, that deadline expired in May 2026, while a relevant hearing did not take place until June.

His attorney then filed a petition seeking bond.

The court granted it.

Kahl is now required to have no contact with the alleged victims and to participate in pretrial services through the Fayette County Adult Probation Office.

Fayette County District Attorney Mike Aubele said prosecutors are continuing to prepare the case for trial and hopes proceedings can move forward within the next month or two.

If Kahl violates the no-contact order, Aubele said his office will take whatever action is necessary to protect the public.

Kahl’s attorney, Nicholas Clark, told KDKA-TV that his client will receive a “zealous defense.”

Carly Kahl, meanwhile, remains behind bars.

The Mother of Two Children Says She Is Afraid

Silbaugh’s reaction to the release has become one of the most significant new developments in the case.

Two of the five children discovered in the home are hers.

She told KDKA-TV that Kahl knows where she and the children live and that she does not believe a no-contact order guarantees their safety.

Silbaugh says she has sought multiple protection-from-abuse orders over the years and claims Kahl has previously ignored court-imposed boundaries.

“He’s violated the past PFA orders,” she said. “Just because there’s a no-contact doesn’t mean that he’s not going to try to do something.”

She also alleges that Kahl previously appeared at her home and confronted her at a courthouse.

Those are Silbaugh’s claims, and Kahl has not been convicted of wrongdoing related to the current allegations.

Still, for a mother who says she had repeatedly raised concerns before the children were removed, his release feels less like a procedural court decision and more like another moment of uncertainty.

Silbaugh told CBS Pittsburgh she believes the justice system has failed her family.

One of Her Children Has Significant Disabilities

Silbaugh previously spoke publicly about what happened after the children were removed from the house.

She said one of her children has nonverbal autism and uses a wheelchair, adding another troubling dimension to allegations that the children were confined in a room they could not freely exit.

According to Silbaugh, Kahl had custody of her two children in part because she had experienced medical problems.

She has said she had reported concerns about the children’s treatment before the 2025 arrests.

Authorities credited a family member with coming forward and helping bring attention to conditions inside the home.

District Attorney Aubele praised that decision after the arrests, saying investigators were grateful someone had reported what was happening and that Children and Youth Services had removed the children while police continued building the criminal case.

The Case Is Now Moving Toward Trial

More than a year after the children were removed, the underlying accusations remain unresolved in court.

Prosecutors will still have to prove the charges against James and Carly Kahl beyond a reasonable doubt.

The defense will have an opportunity to challenge the government’s evidence, witnesses and account of what occurred inside the Redstone Township home.

James Kahl’s release on bond does not dismiss the charges against him.

Nor does it represent a finding that police were wrong about what they said they discovered.

It means that while the case continues toward trial, he will wait outside jail under court-ordered conditions.

For Silbaugh, however, the legal distinction offers little comfort.

The images described in court records — boarded windows, feces-covered walls, surveillance cameras and a bedroom secured by three deadbolts — remain at the center of the prosecution.

Now another question has been added to the case.

After spending roughly a year behind bars, Kahl is free pending trial.

And the mother of two of the children says she is afraid of what could happen before that trial ever begins.