The boy and woman mentioned they had been saved handcuffed and bare in a laundry room and compelled to drink their very own urine. (WARNING: Story accommodates graphic content material.)
CYPRESS, Texas — WARNING: Contains graphic content material
The handcuffed teens whose escape from a Cypress dwelling led to the arrests of their mom and her boyfriend suffered horrific abuse, based on a supply.
The 16-year-old twins ran door to door via the neighborhood for half an hour early Tuesday pleading for assist.Â
Editor’s word: A earlier model of this story mentioned Zaikiya  Duncan and Jova Terrell are charged. However, as of Thursday morning, no official expenses had been filed.
The boy was shirtless, each had been barefoot and shivering when a form lady in a close-by subdivision answered her door and allow them to inside.Â
“They were so skinny and so frail. They just looked like they had been through a lot,” the girl mentioned. “They told me that their mom kept them locked in the laundry room, naked, zip tied from the ankles and handcuffed from the wrist.”
RELATED: Woman accused of abusing her kids lengthy earlier than Tuesday’s AMBER Alert
The lady fed them, wrapped them in blankets and known as the Precinct 5 Constable’s Office.
The twins instructed investigators they weren’t allowed to make use of the bathroom and had been pressured to drink their very own urine and dwell surrounded by feces within the laundry room. Both had been malnourished and the boy had at the least one fractured bone that had healed, a supply mentioned. They additionally had bruises, cuts and scars throughout their our bodies and had been extraordinarily skinny with their bones protruding.Â
“They would only feed them a sandwich, only if they were quiet the whole day, if they made any type of noise they wouldn’t be fed,” the girl mentioned. “How a mother could do this to her kids and… I feel like my tears are out of frustration anger and sadness.”
Deputies went to the home to analyze however the couple and 5 different kids, ages 8 to 14, had been gone so an AMBER Alert was issued.
Hours later, Zaikiya  Duncan, 40, and Jova Terrell, 27, were arrested in Baton Rouge, La. Both may very well be charged with injury to a child and can be introduced again to Houston on Thursday.
Only one little one was with the couple once they had been arrested. The different 4 boys had been later discovered protected with relations in Louisiana. All seven kids had been positioned in Child Protective Service custody, based on authorities.
The twins who escaped mentioned their 12-year-old twin brothers had been additionally abused however not as a lot as them.Â
Troubling previous
It’s not the primary time Duncan has been arrested and charged as a result of alleged little one abuse.
According to Louisiana court docket paperwork from 10 years in the past, a then 5-year-old little one of Duncan’s was taken from faculty to an area hospital to be handled for burns to his toes, genitals, and different elements of his physique.
Doctors decided it was probably the end result of being burned by sizzling water.
According to the documents, when police went to Duncan’s home, they found a 20-month-old child wrapped in clothing with his hands bound. The only other person in the home was the child’s 4-year-old brother, according to the documents.
During questioning, police said Duncan admitted to routinely disciplining one child by making him get into a push-up position for up to an hour, causing the child’s hands to swell. The child was also forced to sleep on the floor of the closet, court documents said. The door of the closet was blocked by boards to keep the child from “escaping” and “stealing food from the kitchen,” court records said.
Police reported at the time that two of Duncan’s other children also showed signs of abuse and were removed from the home. They said Duncan admitted she had been investigated for allegedly abusing the children in the past. She was charged with cruelty to juveniles.
It’s not clear how long Duncan and her current boyfriend had lived in the house on Marina Alto Lane, close to the intersection of West Road and Fry Road.Â
Anyone with information about this case is requested to name the Harris County Precinct 5 Constables Dispatch Office at 281-463-6666.
Houston Children’s Assessment Center psychologist Dr. Whitney Crowson mentioned kids that suffer this type of abuse can get well with correct assist.
“Oftentimes, we expect there’s no approach they will get via all of this, however kids are a lot extra resilient than we give them credit score for. Really, what they want is ongoing and constant assist,” she mentioned.
To report abuse, name the Texas Abuse Hotline at 1-800-252-5400. They are open 24 hours a day, seven days per week.
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