Children beaten, shocked, forced to eat dog feces, police say

MARDELA SPRINGS, Md. — Two women beat, shocked and fed dog excrement to the three children in their care, police said.

The children, aged 8, 9 and 10, were locked in closets and a basement, and beaten with hands, extension cords, belts, stick and assaulted multiple times with stun gun, according to WMDT.

"It is hard to imagine this type of abuse, and certainly even harder to imagine the motive behind it," Greg Shipley, a police spokesman, told WMDT. "It's a tragic situation that these children had to endure during that period of time."

Amanda Wright, 29, and Besline Joseph, 25, were arrested and charged with child abuse, assault, reckless endangerment, stalking, use of a dangerous weapon with intent to injure, false imprisonment and causing ingestion of a bodily fluid, according to WMDT.

Investigators got a tip about the abuse Jan. 26 and removed the children from the home that night, according to WMDT. Police discovered a stun gun during a search of the house.

The children lived with Wright and her live-in girlfriend, according to investigators. The children subsisted on a diet of bread, water and oatmeal. Sometimes they were forced to eat dog feces, according to WMDT.

Cox Media Group