Left to right: Manuel Ortiz, Licha Ortiz (West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation).
An 11-year-old West Virginia girl was found zip-tied inside a garage bathroom that had been sealed with spray foam and had a camera pointing at the door, leading to the arrest of her parents, cops say.
"They love my brother but not me," the child wrote on one of the bathroom walls, according to a criminal complaint obtained by local CBS affiliate WDTV. "No one on my side," the girl said. "Just me."
Manuel Ortiz Jr., 69, and Licha Ortiz, 54, are each facing charges of child abuse creating serious risk of bodily injury or death and conspiracy in connection with the makeshift imprisonment, according to court records reviewed by Law&Crime.
A witness reported finding the couple's daughter restrained inside the family's garage at their home in Beverly, West Virginia. The girl was allegedly in a bathroom inside the garage, with the edges of the bathroom door sealed shut with the spray foam. A crack in the door is how she communicated with the witness and her parents, according to the complaint.
The witness used tools to remove the foam and opened the door to find the victim with her hands zip-tied behind her back and zip ties around her ankles, police say. It's unclear how long the child had been inside the bathroom.
"It makes you uncomfortable," Manuel Ortiz allegedly told the witness's boyfriend when he asked about what was going on, WDTV reports.
Police say the victim had ligature marks on her wrists and ankles when examined by officers. Her feet also appeared swollen and red.
Police executed a search warrant at the Ortiz residence and found large amounts of trash and belongings piled up in the home. Officers also found a camera on an end table facing the bathroom door in the garage, which Licha Ortiz claimed was broken, according to The Inter-Mountain newspaper. Officers seized the camera as evidence.
Manuel Ortiz and Licha Ortiz were both being held this week on cash-only bonds set at $150,000 each.
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