Police suspect that a 17-year-old girl's notebook might hold some answers in the case of her mother and stepmother, who allegedly kept her imprisoned in their house.
Officers in Tucson pored over the teen's journal on Wednesday, looking for evidence to build a case against the 32-year-old mother Sophia Richter and stepfather, Fernando Richter, 34, according to the Associated Press.
Police Chief Roberto Villasenor wouldn't say exactly what was written in the journal, but did reveal that the girl held keepsakes - including a picture of singer Enrique Iglesias - stuck between its pages. The diary was held inside of a satchel.
"It did contain a lot of information that I feel will be useful in helping us to determine the method and length of the imprisonment," Villasenor told AP.
Law enforcement officials were alerted to the atrocities happening behind the doors of the home when two of the younger girls, aged 12 and 13, managed to flee out of their shared bedroom window. They ran to a neighbor's house after their stepfather attempted to break into the room through the door with a knife.
The three girls were reportedly badly underfed, and told police that they hadn't bathed in about six months. There were no records of their attendance in local schools, and their accounts of being held captive were consistent, AP reported. They're currently together in the state's custody at a group home.
Fernando Richter's bail has been set at $100,000, while Sophia's is being held at $75,000. The mother and stepfather have been charged on multiple counts of kidnapping and child abuse, and Fernando has also received one charge for sexual abuse.
When officers visited the Richter home, Villasenor reported seeing motion sensors on the doors of the girls' bedrooms. Video cameras faced their beds, and if the girls had to use the bathroom, they gave their parents a signal to request usage.
Villasenor also stated that music was always blasting loudly from the girls' bedrooms, while towels were duct taped to the doors so neighbors couldn't hear what was happening inside.
Maternal aunt to the three girls Chame Bueno said that Sophia Richter wouldn't allow her to talk to her nieces on the phone and lied about living in San Diego when they, in fact, had a home in Tucson, Ariz.
34-year-old Bueno also told AP that the stepfather was abusive to the family.
"She always talked him up, 'Oh well, he pays for all my kids' clothes and he takes them here and he takes them to eat and do this' - and all that time, being locked up in a room," she said. "And he hasn't done nothing she said. She has just been lying."
