Authorities in Texas say five roommates are facing serious criminal charges after a woman was found half-naked, injured, and chained to exercise equipment in a South Austin yard.
Investigators believe the woman had been held captive for several months in what officials have called a disturbing case of prolonged abuse and confinement.
The Austin Police Department identified the suspects as Michelle Garcia, 51, Crystal Garcia, 21, Mache Carney, 32, Juan Pablo Castro, 30, and Maynard Lefevers, 21.
Each has been charged with aggravated kidnapping, aggravated assault, injury to the elderly or disabled with intentional bodily harm, and unlawful restraint.
Police made the arrests last week after responding to a 911 call that led to the discovery of the alleged victim.
According to law enforcement, officers were dispatched around midnight on Oct. 30 to a home on Bitter Creek Drive following an urgent welfare check request.
Police later confirmed that the investigation began when a neighbor called 911 after hearing desperate screams coming from the property.
When they arrived, they found a woman restrained outside the residence, handcuffed to what police described as “a piece of exercise equipment.”
The device was later identified as a punching bag stand that had been wedged into a backyard fence.
Responding officers said they immediately called for medical and fire assistance after realizing the woman was shackled with heavy, rusted metal chains.
Emergency personnel reportedly had to cut through thick metal links to free her.
“The woman showed signs of physical distress and had visible injuries consistent with prolonged restraint,” police said in a statement.
“The woman told officers she had been held at the residence for several months and was not allowed to leave.”
Authorities said the woman was rushed to a local hospital for treatment and evaluation.
While officers tended to the victim, several adults exited the home and were immediately detained.
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“While officers were assisting the woman, multiple adults began exiting the residence,” police said. “Those individuals were detained while officers secured the scene to ensure there were no additional victims or potential threats inside.”
Three children were also removed from the property and are now in the custody of Child Protective Services.
The arrest affidavit, obtained by local media, detailed the woman’s ordeal and the grim state in which she was found.
Officers described the victim as naked from the waist down and visibly malnourished. Her wrists were swollen, and her body bore deep lacerations and open wounds.
Investigators also noted that pieces of flesh appeared to be missing from her hands and feet, and her skin was marked by extensive scarring.
Medical professionals later told police that many of the scars were consistent with injuries from repeated BB gun pellets.
According to the affidavit, the woman told police she had once been friends with one of the residents and visited the home regularly.
Eventually, she said, the dynamic changed dramatically. “[O]ne day they decided they didn’t like her anymore and no longer allowed her to leave,” the affidavit stated.
The defendants, interviewed separately, reportedly gave conflicting explanations about why the woman was restrained.
Some claimed she was a family friend who had lived at the home, while others suggested the restraints were intended to stop her from leaving or causing trouble.
Michelle Garcia allegedly told investigators that she began handcuffing the woman outside because she would sometimes relieve herself in the yard, and Garcia did not want neighbors to witness it.
Carney allegedly offered a different reason, saying the confinement was meant to prevent theft.
In one of the more harrowing details, the woman told police that on Oct. 29 she “got in trouble” because her pants fell down.
That incident, she said, led to a group punishment in which several of the suspects shot her repeatedly with the BB gun.
Later that night, she was handcuffed and left outside without pants as temperatures dipped into the 40s.
She reportedly cried and begged for help but was threatened with further violence if she continued.
All five defendants are currently being held in the Travis County Jail on $305,000 bail each.
In a separate but similarly disturbing case out of Connecticut, authorities say a woman accused of imprisoning her stepson for decades appeared in court last week.
Kimberly Sullivan, of Waterbury, was arrested in March after police alleged she kept her stepson locked in a small, unheated room for more than 20 years.
According to police reports, officers and firefighters responded to a burning home in February where they found Sullivan outside and her 32-year-old stepson still trapped inside.
Firefighters pulled the man from the blaze and discovered he was severely underweight, weighing just 68 pounds despite standing nearly 5-foot-9. He suffered from smoke inhalation, burns, and signs of long-term neglect.
While receiving emergency care, the man told first responders he had intentionally set the fire to free himself from the home.
He claimed he had been confined since age 11 in a tiny room with no heating or air conditioning, provided with very little food, and locked behind a door that Sullivan kept secured.
Police allege the man used hand sanitizer and paper from a printer to ignite the blaze.
Following an investigation, Sullivan was charged with first-degree assault, second-degree kidnapping, first-degree unlawful restraint, cruelty to persons, and first-degree reckless endangerment. She was taken into custody on March 12 and has pleaded not guilty.
The man, identified in court documents as “S,” has since been given a new name and identity for his protection.
Prosecutors filed a motion to keep his new name, address, and medical information sealed.
However, Sullivan’s defense team argued that withholding the information violated her constitutional right to confront her accuser.
A judge ultimately ruled in favor of the defense, allowing Sullivan and her attorney access to the man’s new identity for court purposes only.
The information remains sealed from the public, and any disclosure by Sullivan would result in contempt charges, the court warned.
Sullivan remains under GPS monitoring as her case moves through court. A motion from her attorney to remove the ankle monitor was denied.
