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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Chiara Fiorillo

House of horrors where twins 'handcuffed and forced to drink urine' before daring escape

A pair of 16-year-old twins managed to escape a house of horrors where they were allegedly handcuffed and forced to drink urine.

The teenagers, a boy and a girl, ran away after reportedly being shackled by their mother and her boyfriend and left in their home in Houston, Texas.

After they escaped from the property on Monday, the teenagers were taken to the hospital and are now in the custody of Child Protective Services.

Neighbour Krisjen Hurd told local TV station KPRC: "They've been here for about two weeks so they're definitely new as well. They moved in about two weeks ago.

"We didn't speak when they first moved in, but as I said, the child went to school with my brother so we had a few conversations."

Zaikiya Duncan has been arrested (Harris County Constable Precinct)
Jova Terrell is Duncan's boyfriend (Harris County Constable Precinct)

Jeff McShan, the spokesman for Harris County Constable Precinct 5, said an alert was launched for five other siblings - aged seven to 14 - after the twins escaped from the house.

The twins contacted a neighbour and asked them to call the emergency services, saying they did not know their address as they had only recently moved to the home, NBC News reports.

When officers arrived at the house, they understood the children's mother, Zaikiya Duncan, 40, and her boyfriend, Jova Terrell, 27, had left with Duncan's five other children.

The siblings were safe when they were found a day later at a relative's house in Louisiana.

Duncan and Terrell were arrested by Louisiana State Police at 5pm on Tuesday and will be brought back to Harris County, the constable's office said.

The pair will face charges of first-degree injury to a child.

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