A 61-year-old man and his 50-year-old girlfriend have been charged with torture and other charges after the man's sister was found locked in a storage shed in Lancaster, prosecutors said.
Elias Abdurahman and Sara Kebede Tadesse face one count each of false imprisonment by violence; torture; assault with a deadly weapon, a cane; and dependent adult abuse with special allegations that they personally inflicted great bodily injury, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.
Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies investigating reports of screaming sounds on Sept. 22 discovered the 54-year-old victim locked in a storage shed in the backyard of a house in the 45000 block of East Second Street, the prosecutor said.
The woman was reportedly frail, malnourished and had fresh and old wounds, prosecutors said. They described her as having an “intellectual disability.”
Neighbor Krista Lopez said she became suspicious after spotting bruises on the woman and bars on the shed’s windows.
“I could hear the woman beating the other woman,” Lopez said.
