A 13-year-old girl escaped a basement in Ohio on Wednesday where a father and son kept her captive for nearly a year, police said.
Timothy Ciboro, 53, and Esten Ciboro, 27, had kept the girl shackled to a support beam in Toledo. They gave the girl scraps of old or spoiled food and forced her to use a bucket filled with ammonia as a toilet, according to The Blade newspaper.
The father and son were jogging in a park when the girl used a spare key she had found and kept hidden to free herself. She left the home at 9 p.m. on Wednesday night, and a neighbor called 911 after the girl ran to her home.
The Ciboros were arrested on Thursday morning and they face endangering children by torture, cruel abuse, and kidnapping charges, WNWO-TV reported.
A 911 call was released to the station.
When police arrived at her home, Timothy and Esten were in the process of escaping in a van with Timothy’s younger sons. The suspects were carrying a lockbox and a firearm, along with other items. The two boys were taken to Children’s Services.
According to the station:
Police say evidence supporting the allegations was recovered from inside the home. A set of large handcuffs or leg irons was found in the basement. They were chained to a support beam. A bucket with ammonia was also found.
The two men appeared before a judge on Thursday morning at the Toledo Municipal Court.
Travis Bell, a neighbor, told WNWO that the family was quiet. “They didn’t want to talk at all,” he said. “They weren’t trying to get to know you.”
“I never thought anything like this would happen, that’s sickening, that’s nasty,” added Bell. “If I would have (known), I swear I would have kicked that door in.”
The head of Lucas County Children Services said the girl was found with poor hygiene, but the two other children who also lived in the house appeared to be OK.
“They were not victims, to my knowledge,” said Robin Reese, the agency’s executive director.
The agency had contact with the girl in 2014, but she did not show signs of being malnourished or mistreated and was never removed from the home, she said.
The girl was home-schooled, Reese said. All three children were placed in foster care Thursday.
Information about the girl’s mother wasn’t immediately known.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
