Report: 15-year-old girl weighing 40 pounds found locked in room with bucket, no heat

ANDERSON, Ind. -- A disturbing picture of child abuse and neglect is unfolding at a home in Madison County, Indiana, after a 15-year-old girl was found weighing 40 pounds and living in a locked room surrounded by her own feces.

According to FOX59, the 15-year-old girl was kept locked away with inadequate food and heat.

Her grandfather, Steve Sells, and grandmother were arrested and both face charges of criminal confinement.

The girl's grandparents were given care of the girl in 2009, FOX59 reports. The girl, who police say is mentally disabled, was spotted during a child care checkup on the home.

During the checkup, investigators found an upstairs room with a lock at the top. Inside they found a mattress, space heater, blankets and a bowl of oatmeal with a bucket.

Police noticed blood on the floor and  “feces on everything in the room,” court documents said.

“It’s very disturbing, we wouldn’t accept treatment of an animal this way let alone a human being,” said Detective Joel Sandefur with the Anderson Police Department.

A 4-year-old child who lives in the home told police that the 15-year-old girl was locked in the room and would sometimes “stick her fingers out around the door trying to get out.”

Another child said Sells would lock the door “during the day and nights” and that the girl was left in the room with inadequate heat. That child described Sells “picking up (the girl) by her hair and dragging her.”

Police noted that while the girl weighs less than 40 pounds,  Sells weighs somewhere between 200 and 225.

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