8-Year-Old Girl Found Locked In Cage

A couple in New Mexico has been arrested after an 8-year-old girl was found locked up in a cage, authorities said.

The child's adoptive mother, Cindy Patriarchias, 33, was charged with child abuse after going to the movies with boyfriend Edmond Gonzales, 37. The girl was found by police after receiving a tip from the woman's estranged husband in the corner of a bedroom trapped in a wooden cage about 4 feet high and a little more than 2 feet wide.

Las Cruces Police Department spokesman Dan Trujillo said the woman had been charged with one count of negligent child abuse while Gonzales was charged with one count of negligently permitting child abuse. Patriarchias was released on bond Tuesday but her boyfriend was still being held Wednesday, authorities said.

The girl showed no visible signs of physical abuse. She apparently suffers from microcephaly, a condition in which the head or cranial capacity is abnormally small, according to Trujillo.

Detectives are investigating why the girl was left locked in the cage. She and three of Patriarchias' other children had been placed in state custody.

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