COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — After 26 toddlers were found in a basement behind a false wall at a Colorado Springs daycare, a mother of one of the children shared what she witnessed inside.

A woman who FOX31 is identifying as “Kate” says she came to pick up her 1-year-old daughter at Play Mountain Place Daycare shortly after 3 p.m. on Wednesday.

She says what she witnessed will haunt her for the rest of her life.

“This was not a play area. This was a dungeon,” Kate said, adding, “We’re just sick.”

In a building behind the licensed daycare, Kate says a Colorado Department of Human Services employee took her to where police found 26 toddlers hidden behind the fake wall.

“Down this very narrow staircase that immediately smelled like stale smoke,” Kate said, adding, “She [the DHS worker] walked me back into another room that had probably 10 to 15 metal cribs lined almost like you’d see in movies an orphanage — an orphanage not in the United States — with trash everywhere.”

Panicked and disturbed, Kate says she faced daycare owner Carla Faith on her way out. Faith is now under investigation.

“All I said to her was we have trusted her with our kids for 10 years,” Kate said.

“She’s a fraud and she deceived all of us,” Sheila, a grandmother to one of the daycare children, said.

The Problem Solvers tried to contact Faith in person and by phone. We have not received a response.

“She does this to the kids that can’t say anything to her parents,” Kate said.

Another parent shared a video with FOX31, asking her toddler about their experience in the basement.

“Just scared and I was being alone,” the toddler told the mother.

“You try to be a good parent, you try to protect your kid,” Kate said.

Nicole Fierro wrote this report.