Police called over 50 times to home where father allegedly beat, chained disabled twins

MINNEAPOLIS -- Court records show Minneapolis police were repeatedly called to the home of mentally disabled twin girls in the years before charges of sexual assault, beatings and neglect were filed against their parents. Minnesota Public Radio reports that one of the 21-year-old twins escaped in May and told shelter workers that she was afraid of returning home. An examination revealed she'd suffered injuries consistent with abuse, reported CBS affiliate WCCO.

Records show that police had been called to the home more than 50 times since 2011 to check on the welfare of residents, reports of lost children and domestic abuse allegations. It's unclear if the family was reported to county workers who investigate child abuse reports.

The girls' father is jailed on charges of rape, assault and stalking, while their mother is being held for criminal neglect. The Associated Press is not naming the parents to avoid identifying their daughters.

Police say that both the adult daughters are vulnerable individuals, whom psychologists have deemed to be incapable of independent living.

In June, both of the adult daughters reported abuse by their father, the complaint against the father states. The twins reportedly told shelter officials that their father beat them with paddles and bats and kept their hands and feet bound in chains to his bedroom door.

They reported that they were kept in chains for days at a time, with one of the daughters adding that the bondage began when she became sexually active at 15.

The Center for Safe and Healthy Children concluded the injuries to both twins were consistent with torture.

Both of the twins had scars on their bodies from being kept in chains and repeated beatings. The daughter who ran away had lost sight in one eye and suffered a slightly detached ear after she said her father stomped on her head, according to the station.

The other daughter reported to medical officials that her father had repeatedly raped her when her mother was not home. In October, she reportedly gave birth to a child, and investigators said the DNA results pointed to her father.

Investigators also spoke with the 10-year-old sibling, the complaint states. She said that the suspect hit her with a golf club and made her hit her twin sisters with a stick.

The younger daughter said that she was not kept in chains, but added that the father would lock her sisters up whenever they misbehaved.

If convicted of the charges, the father faces several decades in prison.