SPLENDORA, Texas (AP) — The abandoned school bus had no engine and no front wheels. But there were crude curtains in the windows, an air conditioner and even bunk beds inside.

So when a postal worker repeatedly ran across two unkempt children at the scene, she grew concerned and this week contacted authorities to report that the pair had apparently been living there for months.

Now child welfare agents are trying to unravel the story of the siblings, a 5-year-old boy and an 11-year-old girl, whose parents are in prison and whose home was a dilapidated vehicle at the end of a muddy, one-lane road.

The postal carrier discovered the kids Wednesday near Houston, and the two were swiftly placed in foster care while authorities investigate.

“The little girl’s hair was just matted, like a stray dog’s,” Vanessa Picazo said.

The father of the pair said he never intended for the bus to be a permanent home. He said the family had originally planned to build a house at the site, which was now strewn with reeking trash.

“The house is normally clean. If me or my wife were there, it would not be in that shape, I assure you,” Shorten said. “Our house would be completed or almost completed.”

Randal McCann, a Louisiana attorney who represented the children’s mother prior to her imprisonment, said the aunt had been taking care of the kids since the case against the parents was launched more than a year ago.