The grandmother of a teenage girl with epilepsy who died after police said she had been locked in a makeshift cage for extended periods of time has been indicted by a grand jury in Arizona, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office announced.
Virginia Lujan, 55, has been charged with child abuse and other crimes following the death last month of her granddaughter, who suffered from a rare form of epilepsy and had cognitive impairments causing her to function at the level of a 3-year-old.
Lujan called 911 on Jan. 20 to report that her granddaughter was unresponsive at her two-story townhouse in Tempe near U.S. 60 and Mill Avenue, prosecutors said.
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When officers arrived, they found the girl lying on the living room floor with marks and bruising on multiple parts of her body. She was transported to a hospital, where she died the following day.
“No child should ever have to endure suffering,” Ken McCoy, the city’s police chief, said the day after her death, per Fox 10.
“We are committed to uncovering the truth and seeking justice on her behalf. The tragic loss of a child is a profound reminder of our shared responsibility to protect the most vulnerable in our community.”
Police said that they discovered a bunk bed that had been adapted into a makeshift enclosure where the victim was kept for extended periods of time, along with grossly unsanitary conditions throughout the home.
Police, according to Fox 10 Phoenix, described Lujan’s home as “disorderly and filthy,” with trash littering the home’s floors and dead insects such as cockroaches being seen in various parts of the home.
When investigating where the girl had been kept, police discovered an elevated bed frame, similar to bunk beds inside, with the exception that there was no bed or mattress on the bottom, according to court documents cited by Fox 10.
Instead, the tall bed frame created a space underneath the top bunk.
A large rail, large enough to enclose the long right side of the bed and another rail with plastic baby gates attached to it were found by this bed. These items, together, were attached to the frame as walls for an enclosure or cage, the outlet reported.
These components were held together with plastic zip ties. Police also said there was human waste on the floor within the enclosure.
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The victim, according to investigators, was one of five children belonging to 33-year-old Jami Hodges, Lujan’s daughter. They ranged in age from 2 to 15 years.
In 2021, Hodges transferred four of her five children’s guardianship to Lujan, and at the time of the victim’s death, she had moved in with her mother because of structural issues that forced her out of her former home, per Fox 10.
They lived in a cramped space inside her three-bedroom townhouse, police said.
Hodges and her 2-year-old daughter slept in the living room on the main floor while Lujan had her own bedroom on the second floor. The rest of the children shared the remaining two bedrooms, investigators wrote in the court documents.
They also wrote that none of Hodges’ children were enrolled in or attending school.
Hodges, according to police reports cited by Fox 10, said that when she returned home from the dentist earlier on Jan. 21, she noticed that the victim was “acting off” and that she saw a large rash or discoloration under the victim’s armpits and on the back of her legs.
The girl later took a turn, and Tempe Police Department officers and crews with Tempe Fire Medical Rescue were called to the home at around 9 p.m.
Lujan told first responders that the victim had fallen a few days prior, investigators wrote.
The victim was found covered in bruises on various parts of her body. The bruises were described as being in various stages of healing, while dried blood was found inside her right ear and her face appeared swollen.
The victim was taken to the hospital and was declared dead hours later.
Hodges was arrested but was released pending charges.
Lujan is currently being held on a $500,000 secured appearance bond, per the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office.
She is also charged with tampering with physical evidence, tampering with a witness and three counts of contributing to the dependency of a child.
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