DALLAS (AP) — Two young children found chained and leashed outside a San Antonio home had suffered hundreds of scars and injuries from months, perhaps years, of abuse, a sheriff’s official said Friday.
Doctors who treated the children after they were found April 29 determined they had old injuries indicating a long period of abuse. One of them also was suffering from hypothermia and had a broken arm resulting from the way she was tied to a garage door using a dog leash, Bexar County sheriff’s spokesman James Keith said.
Authorities initially said the children were 2 and 3 years old, but Keith says they may be a year older.
“Unfortunately, child abuse is a major problem here, and in this case, we’re just glad we were able to find these children before any further harm could occur to them,” Keith said, explaining that deputies went to the home after a neighbor called about a child who could be heard crying for hours.
The girl’s brother was found tethered to the ground by a dog chain that was clamped to his ankle. Several piles of human feces were found nearby, and the boy was wet, indicating he was left in the rain.
“There was obvious evidence that a switch had been used on the children,” Keith said, referring to a slim tree branch.
Keith said the two children, along with six others found alone inside the home, are in state custody. The six other children showed no apparent signs of physical abuse, but investigators are determining whether they may have suffered mental anguish, Keith said. Those children range from 10 months to 10 years old.
The mother of the two children found outside, 30-year-old Cheryl Reed, is charged with two counts of injury to a child with bodily injury and was being held Friday at the Bexar County jail. She was arrested Thursday at a San Antonio motel.