'Give these abusers life in prison': Zaikiya Duncan's neighbor reveals the moment she rescued teen twins
If you or anyone you know suspects child abuse, you are urged to immediately call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org.
CYPRESS, TEXAS: A pair of teen twins allegedly fled their abusive home in Cypress, Texas, barefoot on Tuesday morning, October 18, according to law enforcement officials, and were later taken to the hospital. ABC 13 reported. Their mother, Zaikiya Duncan, along with her 27-year-old boyfriend, Jova Terrell, was arrested the same day in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on charges of injury to a child.
The 40-year-old mother confined her 16-year-old twins, a boy and a girl, in a Texas home and along with her boyfriend forced them to drink their own urine while they lived surrounded by their own feces. But on Monday, October 17, the twins fled the home, KHOU reports. An amber alert was issued to find out the mother and her boyfriend by the police and subsequently got arrested.
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The twins, both 16 years old, went door to door in their Marvida neighborhood early in the morning seeking help, according to the Harris County Precinct 5 Constable's Office. It is unknown how many homes they visited before arriving at a woman's house in the next neighborhood at 5.30 am. The woman anonymously spoke to ABC 13 because of her safety concerns.
The twins were caught on her doorbell camera pleading for help while showing their handcuffs. The woman recalled, "When they came inside, they were like, 'We are not here to hurt you." And said, "She was shaking with her handcuffs. She was like, 'We are looking for help. We just need help. We just broke out of our handcuffs. Our mom had us handcuffed in the laundry room.'" She claimed that the teenagers immediately informed her that they had not eaten for more than a week and were starving. They received a snack from the woman, who claimed they consumed everything she put in front of them.
The woman, an ICU nurse, photographed the wounds on their body. When their wrists were removed from the handcuffs, she noticed scarring on their wrists. The woman said, "The little girl was complaining that she couldn't even close her hand because her hand just felt so tight and swollen from her trying to tug and pull off the handcuffs." They told her everything about the abuse they experienced in their home, she said, and they didn't hold anything back. The twins informed her that the day before, they attempted to flee, but their mother discovered them and re-locked them. The woman said, "They complained about feeling stiff from being in just one position in the laundry room."
She claimed that she relayed the situation to her local police department over the phone rather than dialing 911. The woman claimed that arrived shortly and carried the girl away on a stretcher. Child Protective Services in Texas stated that they had never worked with the family before. According to court records, the Louisiana Department of Child and Family Services, where they were from, had at least one documented case of abuse from 2012.
The woman says she is still processing what happened. She is enraged that Duncan had custody of her children and that the abuse had gotten to this point. She aims to follow this case to its conclusion so that the twins know there is someone who truly cares for them. She said, "Give these abusers life in prison, like murderers, because that's ultimately what it's going to lead to and I bet crime would go down. Kids would not be abused, because they would be scared to go to prison for life."