Fernando and Sophia Richter have been arrested and are charged with holding her daughters hostages for anywhere from six months to two years.
What is going on in the world? How could something like this happen and no one be aware of it? Did these girls have no other family? So many questions need to be answered.
Police responded to the Tucson, Arizona house on Tuesday after the two youngest girls, ages 12 and 13, ran to a neighbor’s house and said their stepfather had kicked in their bedroom door and tried to attack them with a knife, Tucson police Captain Michael Gillooly told reporters.
They were called to the rented property at around 4 a. m. when two of the girls ran to a neighbor and called 911. They said that they feared for their safety after their stepfather kicked down their bedroom door and threatened them with a knife. The girls were filthy and appeared undernourished. They said they had not been allowed to bathe for several months and were fed only once a day.
When police arrived to the house, they discovered a 17 year old girl still locked in a different room. They believe that she too had been imprisoned for the same time as her sisters.
The girls were kept in deplorable conditions and separeated from each other. The younger girls stated that they had not seen their sister in about two years.
The mother and stepfather, Sophia and Fernando Richter, were arrested and booked into Pima County jail on charges of emotional and physical abuse and three counts of kidnapping tied to holding the girls in their bedrooms, Widmer said. Fernando Richter, 34, was also charged with sex abuse.
The girls, whose names were not released, were taken into protective custody, police said. It was not clear if Fernando and Sophia Richter had obtained an attorney.
We can only hope that these girls will be taken into a family that will give them the love they’ve not had for so long.
