Twin teens in Texas held captive by family rescued by neighbor: Police

turn out of that horrific case of alleged child abuse in Texas a mother and her boyfriend in custody tonight after a brother and sister were seen on a neighbor's doorstep asking for help it's disturbing tonight this doorbell camera capturing the boy and girl who said they had been held captive in their own home with their siblings that they'd been handcuffed that neighbor bringing them in giving them blankets and food calling authorities when they arrived at their home their mother and five younger siblings were gone tonight the mother arrested and we have learned that mother had been charged before so the question here how did the system fail these children ABC's Maria Villarreal in Houston for us tonight these are the harrowing images of a brother and sister who police say were being held captive in their own home the images of their pleas for help were captured by a doorbell video camera [Music] the two teens are twins they were going door to door begging for someone to help them there were signs on their arms they'd been handcuffed both Barefoot and One shirtless they were saying that they had just gotten here from Baton Rouge I think they said that they just moved here and that their mom didn't disclose the address to them and so they didn't know where they lived 5 30 a.m Tuesday Morning the pair approached the door of a neighbor who wants to remain anonymous the woman taking the teens in feeding them giving them blankets the brother and sister telling her they hadn't eaten in more than a week and they had unsuccessfully tried to escape the day before but she got caught and her mom beat her hit her in the head the siblings saying they'd been handcuffed and held captive in the family's laundry room the Handcuff visible in this photo they allege abuse at the hands of their mother and her boyfriend law enforcement issuing an amber alert for their five siblings Tuesday afternoon authorities looking for their mother 40-year-old Zakia Duncan and her 27 year old boyfriend Jova Terrell both later arrested in Baton Rouge on preliminary charges of assault and continuous violence and now behind bars in Louisiana waiting to be extradited to Houston and tonight authorities say the five children have been found safe you know David we've also confirmed that there were some charges against This Woman This mother about 10 years ago she was given probation in that case and she just got off probation just a few years ago we're able to confirm also with the Texas Department of Family and protective services as of right now they have opened up their own case right here in Texas those two teenagers are now at a local children's hospital they will likely end up in foster care when they get out but it is very clear that their care and their treatment is being watched very closely by this community that is an absolute shock tonight somebody asking Maria how did the system fail children yet again as we reported another one of these cases Maria thank you [Music] hi everyone George Stephanopoulos here thanks for checking out the ABC News YouTube channel if you'd like to get more videos show highlights and watch live event coverage click on the right over here to subscribe to our Channel and don't forget to download the ABC News app for breaking news alerts thanks for watching

Channel: ABC News

Views: 1,107,691

Keywords: ABC, News, Texas, Tonight, Twin, World, captive, crime, held, p_cmsid=2494279, p_vid=news-91830515, rescued, teens

Id: k82-JvGHOGw

Length: 3min 14sec (194 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 21 2022