Authorities with the family services agency (DIF) in Ecatepec, México state, have freed a 13-year-old boy who had been kept confined with a chain around his neck.
Responding to an anonymous tip, authorities entered the home in the Los Bordos neighborhood where they found the boy with a metal chain secured around his neck with a padlock.
It is suspected that the boy’s grandmother was responsible. Civil Protection officials and firefighters freed the child with a bolt cutter.
Officials said the boy will remain in the custody of the DIF for his own protection pending further investigation and the determination of the child’s family status.
This is not the first time that authorities have freed children chained by family members. Earlier this year, police freed a young girl whose hands had been chained together by her mother. When questioned, the mother claimed that her daughter suffered from mental illness and that she had chained her up so that she would not leave the house when the mother left for work.
In 2017, authorities in Mexico City freed a 7-year-old who had been completely bound in chains by his uncles. As a consequence of the boy’s long period of confinement, officials initially believed him to be 5 years old because of his speech development and small stature. The boy also presented cigarette burns and head injuries from many beatings.
Last year, a young boy in Aguascalientes was found chained by the neck to a tree in his backyard. The child testified that his father regularly chained him to the tree and that at the time of his rescue he had not eaten in two days.
