Neighbors rarely saw the 13 siblings who lived inside the home in Southern California, because they never went outside to play. Instead, authorities said, they were held captive in a dirty and foul-smelling house, some of them shackled to the furniture with chains and padlocks.
Before dawn Sunday, a 17-year-old girl escaped from the Perris home, slipping through a window and dialing 911 on a deactivated cellphone, Capt. Greg Fellows with the Riverside County Sheriff's Department said Tuesday at a news conference. Per federal law, cellphones — even those that are no longer functional — must be able to call emergency services.