CYPRESS, Texas — A twin brother and sister were hospitalized after authorities said they had escaped from their abusive Texas home.
Jeff McShan, a spokesperson for Harris County Constable Precinct 5, said the 16-year-old twins, a boy and a girl, contacted a neighbor in Cypress on Monday and asked her to call 911 because they had escaped from their home, NBC News reported. The teens claimed they “had been handcuffed and held against their will by their mom.”
The teens’ mother, Zaikiya Duncan, 40, and her boyfriend, Jova Terrell, 27, were arrested in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on Tuesday, according to East Baton Rouge Parish online booking records.
Duncan is charged with injury to a child and aggravated assault in Harris County, Texas, KTRK-TV reported. Terrell was charged with continuous violence against a family member, according to the television station.
They were taken into custody in Louisiana after they fled with five of Duncan’s other children, which triggered an Amber Alert.
In charging documents obtained by KHOU-TV, the boy told authorities that Duncan once gave him 24 Benadryl tablets to make him sleep, and that they caused him to have a seizure. The girl was also given an unspecified dosage of Benadryl, according to the television station.
The victims said Duncan poured bleach down their throats and on their genitals until it burned their skin, KHOU reported. They claimed that she also made them drink cleaners like Lysol and Easy Off if they “talked too much,” according to court documents.
They said their mother beat them with extension cords, curtain rods and other metal poles, while Terrell often punched the boy, KTRK reported.
The siblings told authorities that they had only recently moved to the home and did not know their address, McShan said.
“It was obvious to us and the fire department that the children were in distress. They had marks on their wrists, pretty deep marks from the handcuffs,” McShan said. “They were bruised and malnourished in our eyes.”
The twins were hospitalized and are in the custody of Child Protective Services, KPRC-TV reported.
The other children with Duncan and Terrell were found at a relative’s home in Louisiana and were deemed to be safe by the state police, NBC News reported.
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