A grandmother and mother in Arizona are accused of child abuse in the death of a 13-year-old special needs girl after they allegedly disciplined the teen by beating her and keeping her in a feces-covered cage.
Virginia Lujan, 55, was taken into custody and charged with one count of child abuse following the death of her granddaughter earlier this week, according to the Tempe Police Department.
The child’s mother, 33-year-old Jami Hodges, was also arrested, but has since been released as charges are pending, AZFamily reported.
Police responded to Lujan’s home around 9 p.m. on Tuesday after the grandmother called 911 to report that her granddaughter was not breathing. First responders found the teenager, who had the mental capacity of a toddler, “covered in bruises and sores” that were “in various stages of healing,” police said.
She was transported to a nearby hospital where she was pronounced dead on Wednesday morning.
Lujan, who was caring for the teen at the time of her death, told investigators that she had fallen down the stairs two days earlier, police said in a news release.
“She said she did not seek medical attention because she believed the girl would be fine,” police said of the girl who had a “cognitive delay and had the mental capacity of a three-year-old.”
When detectives searched the home after obtaining a warrant, they found “what appeared to be a makeshift cage, which was full of feces and had a foul odor.” Both Lujan and Hodges admitted that the “girl was kept in this ‘cage’ to keep control of her,” police said.
“The best way to describe it, it was a bunk bed, but the lower bed of that bunk was not there. And the bunk bed around the bottom was surrounded by baby cages and makeshift bars,” Tempe police spokesperson Jessica Ells said, according to AZFamily.
“The home was very disorderly; it was not very clean,” Ells added. “It was just very deplorable conditions to say the least.”
Investigators said that Hodges had been temporarily staying with Lujan, who was caring for four of Hodges’ five children, including the teen. Hodges admitted that she had not seen the girl regularly since staying at her mother’s home.
Hodges also told police that she was “not aware of a fall” that Lujan claimed happened on Sunday.
Police said more charges could be added as more evidence is uncovered.
Four other children were in the home, ranging in age from 2 to 15, and according to the authorities had not been attending school. They are now in the custody of the state.
“The tragic loss of a child is a profound reminder of our shared responsibility to protect the most vulnerable in our community,” Chief McCoy said. “Investigations like this demand meticulous attention to detail and sensitivity to the emotional toll it takes on everyone involved.”
