Tortured Teen Held 10 Years by Dungeon Keeper: Cops

Case 'makes you want to cry,' says Philly police commissioner
By Mary Papenfuss,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 20, 2011 12:32 AM CDT
Tortured Teen Held 10 Years by Dungeon Keeper: Cops
The dank sub-basement room in Philadelphia where four weak and malnourished mentally disabled adults, one chained to the boiler, were found locked inside on Saturday is shown Monday, Oct. 17, 2011. Police arrested three adults staying in an apartment upstairs, including the person accused of being the...   (AP Photo/Ron Cortes, Pool)

Police rescued eight children from a Philadelphia home where four mentally disabled adults were found chained in a cellar. The kids ranged in age from a 2-year-old to a 19-year-old girl, who had been snatched 10 years ago and tortured so horribly it "makes you want to cry," said the police commissioner. Beatrice Weston, who was locked in a closet when police discovered the adults in the cellar, was taken from her mother's home at the age of 8 by her aunt, Linda Weston, following a family feud, said investigators. The girl had pellet-gun scars, burn marks, open wounds on her head, and badly healed broken bones, reports ABC News. "This girl was beaten, tortured, absolutely the worst thing you can see one person do to another," said Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey. "I've never seen anything like this, that kind of cruelty over and over again. No penalty is too harsh for the people who did this."

Two of the younger children, who were severely malnourished, are believed to be the son and daughter of two of the imprisoned adults, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. Linda Weston, 51, her boyfriend, a second man, and Weston's adult daughter have been charged with a long list of crimes. Police believe they may have victimized as many as 50 people in a plot to steal their Social Security checks. Mayor Michael Nutter called the situation in Weston's apartment building "sheer madness," adding that the case is an "incredibly tangled web of horror." (More Philadelphia stories.)

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