Police charge parents with locking 12-year-old girl in closet for about a year

In a humble, pink duplex in West Brownsville, police officers say, a young girl was kept locked away in a closet by her parents for about a year.

She went to school every day and held steady grades, but once she was home she was not allowed to watch television or play with her brothers, investigators said. The 12-year-old girl had to stay inside the room.

She was only let out to use the restroom, and sometimes, to eat, according to the police report. She did her homework using light coming from underneath the crack of the door.

No one would have ever noticed the abuse, police officers said, had not one of her brothers reported it to officials at his school, which initiated an investigation by Child Protective Services.

"Everyone in the house knew what was going on, but you have children, who based on fear, hold this secret," said Sgt. Jimmy Manrrique, spokesman for the Brownsville Police Department.

When investigators arrived at the home, they found the girl so malnourished she appeared to be only 8 years old, Manrrique said. She was old enough to be in seventh grade but instead was in fifth.

Investigator’s photographs show she slept on plush, fleece quilts on the cement floor. By the blankets, there were pictures of the Virgin of Guadalupe, a ratty, yellow notebook and a white bucket, which Manrrique said the girl used to go to the restroom at night. In the morning, she was said to have to clean it out.

At the home, some sundresses still hang on a rack in the small room. Child’s scribbles and a few little stars, bright blue and lime green, appear to have been drawn across the walls in magic markers, sporadic flares of color on grimy ivory. But inside, investigators said the place was usually dark.

The girl’s parents, Leticia, 40, and Alfredo Ines, 43, were charged Saturday with second-degree injury to a child and unlawful restraint. They were each assessed $275,000 bonds and have been transferred to Cameron County Jail.

Many questions remain under investigation, such as why the girl was the only one of the children who apparently was abused.

The couple has three other boys, who are ages 17, 13 and 11. Alfredo is only the biological father of the youngest son, investigators said. The boys have been taken to family members, police officials said. Their daughter is now in foster care.