16-Year-Old Girl Rescues Zip-Tied Brothers In Escape From Abusive Home: Police Say

Three injured minors who reportedly escaped Monday from a relative’s home in Phoenix while wearing zip ties on their wrists told authorities that they had been abused and that other children were still restrained in the relative’s apartment.

The victims’ relative, a 33-year-old woman, has been charged with 12 counts of child abuse and kidnapping, according to court records reviewed by HuffPost. (HuffPost is not naming the relative in order to protect the identity of the children.)

A 16-year-old girl and two brothers, ages 10 and 7, said they escaped from the relative’s apartment and knocked on a neighbor’s door seeking help, according to a probable cause statement attached to a release questionnaire obtained by HuffPost.

The three kids told the neighbor that they had been zip-tied and that the 10-year-old had been struck with a handgun, according to the arrest document, and that other children were being restrained in the apartment.

Officers who responded to the neighbor’s 911 call conducted a “protective sweep” but did not find the woman or other children inside, according to the probable cause statement.

The neighbor told police that bruises and red marks were observed on the children’s hands, wrists and shoulders, according to the probable cause statement,No other children were found in the apartment, though.

One of the boys had “bruises all over his body,” the neighbor said, according to official documents. “More on his face, on the side of his face. And then he had zip ties on his hands. He could barely even walk. He was really pale. He said that he didn’t eat for days.”

The three children were taken into police care and questioned in forensic interviews. They allegedly detailed the abuse suffered in their