From the article:
“Overall, this is readily identifiable and hazardous with extremely filthy living conditions which greatly resemble that of what would be considered ‘third world country in nature’ with odorous trash everywhere, no clean water, no electricity, no plumbing/sewer, and the children were not clean, without shoes and without proper hygiene, and rags of clothing,” according to the sheriff’s office affidavit. It went on to say that the children had likely not eaten in days.
Yesterday's article detailed the location of the compound on the Colorado border at 8,470 feet elevation as one of the coldest locations in the continental US. It is in the southernmost portion of the San Luis valley 40 miles south of Alamosa. In winter that city commonly has the coldest low temperature in the US. With those conditions and the wind and the cold beginning in September, those children would have surely died if they had not been rescued.
Yes, they would have starved and frozen to death.