A New Jersey couple accused of holding their teenage daughter captive for years will remain in jail ahead of trial, a judge ruled Thursday.
Brenda Spencer, 38, and Branndon Mosley, 41, were arrested earlier this month and charged with multiple offenses — including kidnapping, aggravated assault and criminal restraint — in the abuse of their 18-year-old daughter.
The pair appeared in Camden County Superior Court for a detention hearing on Thursday, where Judge Gwendolyn Blue ordered them to remain behind bars ahead of their trial, NJ.com reported.
Prosecutors say the teen escaped the family’s Gloucester Township residence on May 8 and told a neighbor about the physical and sexual abuse she had endured for roughly seven years. The neighbor then alerted police, who launched an investigation into the allegations.
According to prosecutors, the teen told detectives the abuse began in 2018 after she was taken out of school in the sixth grade at Spencer’s direction. She said she was forced to live in a dog crate for about a year and was later confined to a padlocked bathroom while chained up, or kept in a bare room with only a bucket for a toilet.
During the investigation, detectives discovered a 13-year-old girl who also lived in the “squalid” home and has similarly been taken out of school.
Spencer and Mosley were arrested and charged three days after the 18-year-old’s escape. Mosley, the teen’s stepfather, was also charged with sexual assault.
“What this young woman survived was absolutely horrific,” Camden County Prosecutor Grace MacAulay told reporters at a press conference last week.
“I am a parent,” MacAulay said. “To me, this is the most abhorrent, heinous crime anyone could commit.”
The pair is due back in court on July 23 for a pre-indictment conference.
