A woman in West Virginia was arrested after a girl ran from her home in handcuffs to a neighbor for help.
Laura Southworth, 54, is charged with child abuse and unlawful restraint after her eight-year-old granddaughter escaped from her home in handcuffs.
Southworth reportedly admitted to handcuffing the girl Sunday night because she was “making a mess,” “trying to leave without permission” and “stealing food.”
According to a source PeopleThe girl was able to remove the handcuffs from her right wrist, but not from her left, which, they added, was securely secured.
Laura Southworth was arrested on charges of child abuse and unlawful restraint after her eight-year-old granddaughter fled her home in handcuffs to a neighbor for help.
His home, according to the Charleston Police Department in West Virginia, was “cluttered with little room to move around.”
The eight-year-old girl was reportedly able to remove the handcuffs from her right wrist, but was unable to free her left.
The Charleston Police Department said the girl left her home shortly before 9 a.m. and the criminal complaint determined that the handcuffs remained on the girl for 13 hours, it reported. WOWK.
The girl was one of four children living in Southworth’s custody at the home. Two were his teenage children and his three- and eight-year-old grandchildren.
CPD also said the four were home schooled and the house was “extremely messy” with little room to move around.
Neighbor Mike Leadri said: “It makes me sick to know that something so serious was happening so close to me.” I wish I knew’
The girl was one of four children living in Southworth’s custody at the home, two of whom were her teenage children and the other two were her young grandchildren ages three and eight.
Southworth, held on $10,000 bond, has not yet entered a plea and has a preliminary hearing scheduled for Oct. 2.
Neighbor Mike Leadri told Eyewitness News: “It makes me sick to know that something so serious was happening so close to me.” I wish I knew.
He revealed that neighbors rarely saw the children, adding: “Those people are very secretive. I wish I could have prevented it.
Circumstances have once again called into question the safety of home-schooled children, following the death in August of 14-year-old Kyneddi Miller, who was found dead “emaciated” on the floor.
She has not yet entered a plea, People reported, and is currently being held on $10,000 bail with a preliminary hearing scheduled for October 2.
