The parents of the 14-year-old girl, who escaped from a bathroom where she had been held captive for nearly two months, pleaded not guilty this morning to child abuse and kidnapping charges in Maricopa County Superior Court.
Scott and Andrea Bass, according to prosecutors, held their daughter captive in the bathroom as punishment. While imprisoned, they say, she was forced to exercise and was fed only every few days.
She had no running water and was given a slop bucket to use as a toilet.
When we first reported this story, specifics about the girl were limited, but details emerged today that make the whole scenario even more gruesome than originally believed.
According to court documents dug up by the Arizona Republic, the girl, who is 5-feet-9-inches tall, weighed a frightening 90 pounds when she went to police after escaping from the bathroom on January 24.
The reports also describe life inside the Bass' home that make Al Bundy's family look like the one on Leave it to Beaver.
According to the reports, the 14-year-old girl says her father, Scott bass, spent a night in jail for a domestic-violence incident against Andrea Bass, the girl's step-mother.
Andrea Bass, who almost unbelievably volunteers at a Valley YMCA teaching toddler classes, was no saint, either.
By her own admission, Bass has been involved in at least 15 reports to child protective services in the past.
The abused girl says she hasn't seen her biological mother, Treasure Adams, in nearly seven years and that when Andrea Bass entered her life, Bass turned her father against her.
There are four other children in the family, none of whom are believed to have been abused in the manner of the 14-year-old.
When asked if he cared about his older sister, one of them, an 11-year-old, said, "In certain situations, no."
At the time of Andrea Bass' arrest, she told officers she no longer wanted anything to do with the victim.
As stated in our earlier posts, we have a feeling that after a trip through the court system, Bass won't have to worry about that anymore.
