An Arizona woman has been indicted in the death of her 14-year-old granddaughter she is accused of abusing and keeping in a makeshift cage.
Virginia Lujan, 55, was charged with child abuse and other offenses in connection to the Jan. 20 death of the girl who suffered a rare form of epilepsy and was cognitively impaired.
The victim was found unresponsive at the Tempe townhouse where her grandmother allegedly kept her in a makeshift enclosure in unsanitary conditions for extended periods.
She was covered in bruises in various stages of healing. Her face was swollen and she had dried blood inside her right ear.
Lujan was the custodian of her daughter’s four children. The mother, identified as 33-year-old Jami Hodges, told detectives she noticed the teen was “acting off” and had a large rash under her armpits and on her legs on Jan. 21.
The grandmother told first responders the girl had fallen days before her death.
