A teen weighing 70 pounds turned up at a hospital badly injured. Four family members are charged

By HANNAH FINGERHUT and JIM SALTER
Associated Press

ZEARING, Iowa (AP) — Four members of a rural Iowa family are accused of abducting and abusing another relative from their home, a teenager who suffered a brain bleed and other injuries and weighed just 70 pounds (32 kilograms) when he showed up at a hospital in January. The suspects are a 44-year-old man, a 42-year-old woman, a 20-year-old man and a 16-year-old girl. Court documents say the abuse happened at a home in Zearing, a town of about 500 people. The teenager told police he was handcuffed and shackled much of the time, and often abused. He said no one in the home would help him. He’s out of the hospital but authorities say he faces a long recovery.