Police in New Mexico found an 8-year-old girl locked in a cage in a darkened mobile home, authorities said on Tuesday, adding that they charged the girl's adoptive mother, who had gone to the movies, with child abuse.
Cindy Patriarchias, 33, and her boyfriend, Edmond Gonzales, 37, were arrested after police found the caged girl on Friday evening, Las Cruces Police Department spokesman Dan Trujillo said.
He said police, acting on a tip from the woman's estranged husband, found the girl in the corner of a bedroom locked inside the cage, about 4 feet high, slightly more than 2 feet wide and about 5 feet long.