3 UNNAMED SISTERS - 12, 13, 17 yo - / Arrested: Mother and stepfather, Sophia and Fernando Richter - Touson, AZ

Three sisters aged 12, 13 and 17, are rescued in a 'filthy, malnourished state after being kept prisoner in their bedrooms for TWO YEARS... by their parents'

• Girls aged 12, 13, and 17 found 'malnourished and in filthy conditions'
  
  
• Youngest children ran to neighbor for help after escaping Tucson house
  
• Stepfather allegedly knocked down door and threatened girls with knife
  
• Fernando Richter faces charges of kidnap and sexual abuse
  
  

By Jessica Jerreat

PUBLISHED: 22:31 EST, 26 November 2013 | UPDATED: 09:18 EST, 27 November 2013

Three sisters rescued from a house in Tucson on Tuesday claim they had been held captive in their bedrooms by their parents for nearly two years and were not allowed to wash.

Sophia and Fernando Richter were arrested on kidnapping and child abuse charges after two of the girls ran to a neighbor's for help when their stepfather allegedly threatened them with a knife at about 4am.

The sisters, aged 12, 13, and 17, were found to be malnourished and filthy, and they said they hadn't seen each other for nearly two years, police said.


As well as the child abuse charges, their 34-year-old stepfather, Fernando, faces one count of sexual abuse with a person under 15.

'It was alleged by the girls that they had been imprisoned in their bedrooms for at least the last several months and possibly up to two years,' according to a Tucson Police Department statement.

Investigators were still seeking to determine exactly how long the girls were held captive, police spokesman Sergeant Chris Widmer said.


Police were called to the rented property at about 4am after receiving reports of a domestic abuse incident but when they arrived they found the 17-year-old sister locked in separate bedroom from the room the younger girls claimed they were held in.

The girls ran to a neighbor to call 911, and said they feared for their safety after their stepfather allegedly kicked down their bedroom door and threatened them with a knife.

The neighbor told AZ Family the girls were begging to come in and were afraid. 

A neighbor, who did not want to be identified, told Tucson News Nowthat when the girls ran to her for help they were hysterical and visibly shaking.

'All three juveniles were extremely dirty ...  and malnourished and stated that they had not bathed in the last four to six months,' Police Captain Michael Gillooly said.

The sisters were kept in filthy conditions, were fed only once a day, and the younger girls told a patrol officer they had not seen their older sister in about two years, he added.

Other neighbors said they didn't realize any children had been living at the house, which is set back from the road.


Police could be seen carrying away bags of evidence, including what appeared to be a computer earlier today, the Arizona Daily Star reported. 

The children have been taken into protective custody. Their mother and stepfather were booked into Pima County Jail on three counts each of kidnapping, child abuse with emotional abuse and child abuse with physical abuse.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2514187/Three-sisters-rescued-family-home-say-locked-inside-room-years-denied-baths-fed-day.html