US couple locks 12-year-old daughter in filthy basement for month to 'punish' her

Washington, July 18 (ANI): A couple in southwest Ohio, US, locked their 12-year-old daughter in the basement of their house for nearly a month, unbathed and starved until her ribs were clearly visible, police said.

According to New York Daily News, Middletown Police rescued the child on July 3 after an anonymous tip off.

The girl's father Shawn Blackston, 40, and stepmother Joanna Blackston, 36, to 'punish' her, created the makeshift prison.

The girl told police that her stepmother bound her wrists with duct tape and also put tape over her mouth and eyes.

She was fed only cereal and hadn't brushed her teeth in six months because her parents had taken away her toothbrush as punishment, she told the police.hen the police found the girl, she had scars on her back and legs and bruises.

Investigators said she had been locked in the basement since June 18, about a month after her last day of sixth grade.

The couple has been charged with kidnapping and child endangerment. (ANI)