ALTON - A small white A-frame house on Hillcrest Avenue here housed for weeks a torturous environment of beatings, scaldings, even BB gun shootings that eventually led to the death of a mentally disabled pregnant woman, officials, neighbors and family members said.

Former occupant Judy Woods, 43, was charged by the Madison County state attorney's office last month with first-degree murder and intentional homicide of an unborn child in the death of Dorothy Dixon, 29, and her 6-month-old fetus.

On Monday, Alton police announced that five more tenants three of them minors have been charged. They are Michelle Riley, 35; LeShelle McBride, 15; Michael Elliot, 18; Benny Lee Wilson, 14; and a 12-year-old.

Each faces four counts of first-degree murder and charges of intentional homicide of Dixon's unborn child, heinous battery, aggravated battery and unlawful restraint. LeShelle and Wilson, who are juveniles, are being charged as adults. Each is being held on $1 million bond.

The unnamed 12-year-old will face charges in juvenile court.

But two of Riley's family members and a neighbor said that Riley was an abusive and controlling ringleader who manipulated and threatened everyone in the house. They said the children involved are innocent and only did what Riley said because they were scared.

The abuse took place between Dec. 1 and Jan. 30, court records say. Dixon was found dead Jan. 31 in her apartment in the 2900 block of Hillcrest Avenue. Woods was arrested and charged the next day.

"I think it can be characterized as torturous," said Lt. David Hayes, Alton police's chief of detectives.

Riley had been taking Dixon's monthly Social Security check that she presumably received as a result of developmental disabilities, Hayes said.

"If there was one single motive, it was probably money," he said.

The house on Hillcrest has three bedrooms and housed at least six people with a seventh on the way. Dixon and Riley rented the place in June or July for $800 a month.

"I thought I knew them real well," the landlord, property owner Steve Atkins, said.

Atkins said Dixon was quiet and friendly. Riley, on the other hand, wasn't as easy going, Atkins said. He was on the property one day making some repairs, and Riley was barking orders, Atkins said.

"I asked her, 'Do I need to call the Army and tell them to come get their drill sergeant?"' Atkins, 39, said. "I thought that was funny. But she didn't laugh."

Quincy police said that Riley and Dixon lived together in Quincy for some time before moving to Alton.

Glenda Farkas, director of the West Central Illinois Center for Independent Living, confirmed that Dixon had been a client and that Riley was an employee. The center assists developmentally disabled people with housing and other services.

It's unclear how Woods and Wilson were connected to the group. LeShelle McBride and the unnamed 12 year old are Riley's children. Elliott didn't live at the Hillcrest house, but police said he had a "relationship" with one of the residents.

Riley has a criminal record that includes narcotics offenses in Quincy in 2002 and 2004, and of fighting in 2003, Adams County court records show.

Riley was a long-time drug abuser who had been prescribed drugs for mental issues, said Gary Farha, first assistant Adams County state's attorney. But Riley said in court hearings that she didn't like taking her medication because it made her gain weight.

"Michelle has never been a stable person," Riley's sister, Tynisa Nebe, 30, said.

Riley ran away from home often and would panhandle, she said.

"I knew something was wrong with her but I never thought in a million years she'd do something like this," Nebe said.

Farha said Riley sold drugs on the street to finance her own use. He said prosecutors originally charged her with selling drugs but reduced the charges, in part "because we didn't want to send a woman with that many children to prison."

So instead, they moved to Alton.

Dixon slept in an unfinished section of the basement, Atkins said. He believes Woods moved into her room, too. Atkins said he didn't know at the time that Woods was living on the property.

Terri Brandt, 27, said her next-door neighbors were always making a racket. She said she witnessed Riley punish Dixon by making her run naked, and that Riley would pour boiling water and use a hot glue gun on Dixon. Riley had baby monitors in all the rooms to keep tabs on everyone, Brandt said.

Riley forced the others in the house to run her bath water, lay out her clothes and rub her feet at night until she fell asleep, Brandt said.

Like Atkins, the landlord, Nebe also described her sister as a "drill sergeant."

When Woods was the first occupant arrested at the end of January, everyone else moved out. Atkins, the landlord, came to clean up. He found a bucket of feces in Dixon's room and BBs all over the place. A waist-high door had been nailed shut from inside Dixon's room. Atkins had to clean blood on walls, the washer and dryer and in the basement shower near Dixon's room.

"It's a total disgrace what happened," Atkins said. "What does a person have to do to deserve to die like that?"

Pamela Hodge, Riley's mother in law and the grandmother of the 12 year old boy charged, said her grandson is innocent and was scared of Riley.

"She's not a mother," Hodge said of Riley. "I don't know what to call her. But it's not those kids' fault."

"She moved those kids in and out," Nebe, Riley's sister, said. "Those kids have seen it all. Anything these kids did was Michelle (Riley)'s fault."

Brandt, the neighbor, had been watching Wilson since everyone moved out of the Hillcrest home. Brandt said she has legal custody over Wilson, who she now visits nightly at 6 p.m. in an Edwardsville jail. Brandt said Benny was afraid of Riley and did whatever he was told. Brandt also described Woods as a mild and friendly woman.

"Judy (Woods) didn't have a mean bone in her body," Brandt said. "Michelle (Riley) made her take the blame for Dorothy (Dixon)'s death."

Tim O'Neil contributed to this report.