Tempe Police received a call on Tuesday night that scarred them. Around 9:00 pm, they were notified that a teenage girl was not breathing and was unresponsive. When they rushed to the scene to try and save her, they found detestable living conditions. As well as the teenage girl living in a dog cage.
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Teenage Girl Found Living In Dog Cage And Horrific Conditions
Tempe Police responded to a 911 call of a grandmother claiming that her granddaughter was not breathing. Virginia Lujan called police and asked for assistance in saving her granddaughter's life. Although police arrived to the scene and rushed the teenage girl to the hospital, she tragically died the following morning.
The teenage girl, Melanie, was found living in a dog cage in horrific conditions. The bruises and sores that covered her body, prompted police to investigate further. When they returned to the home, they found that Melanie had been living in deplorable conditions.
The Daily Mail shares that she was "being held in a 'makeshift cage' that was littered with feces." Lujan, and Melanie's mother, Jami Hodges, claimed they needed to keep her in a cage. Apparently, although she was 13 years old, Melanie had the mental capacity of a three-year-old. Her grandmother and mother claimed she needed to be caged so that they could "maintain control of her."
Charges Are Filed
In addition to the inhumane cage she was kept in, police also questioned Lujan and Hodges about the wounds covering Melanie's body. It wasn't bad enough that the teenage girl was found living in a sort of dog cage, but she was clearly injured as well.
Lujan told the officers that Melanie had fallen down the stairs on Sunday, but that she assumed the girl would be fine. Hodges told the police that she did not regularly see her daughter, so she was unaware of her most recent fall. Naturally, police are not fully buying this story.
Chief McCoy spoke out about the incident during a press conference. He said, "The tragic loss of a child is a profound reminder of our shared responsibility to protect the most vulnerable in our community." However it appears that no one was there to protect Melanie. Those left in charge of her care, seem to have dropped the ball.
Now, Lujan and Hodges have both been arrested on felony charges of child abuse. Additionally, the other four children that were found in the home have been taken into custody by the Department of Child Services. They will remain there as the investigation is ongoing. Moving forward, police plan to question neighbors to better determine the extent of the abuse that was happening in the home.
