SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH — A Utah mother has been charged with child abuse by authorities who say she locked her 12-year-old son in a filthy bathroom without lights for at least one year, leaving him dangerously malnourished. The boy’s father found him in the mother’s house Friday night in the small southeastern Utah city of Toquerville near the state line with Arizona, Washington County Sheriff’s Office Lt. David Crouse said on Tuesday. Authorities found feces throughout the bathroom, one blanket, a few empty cans of beans and a camera that may have been used to capture what was going on in there, Crouse said. The boy was likely kept in the dark, he said. Investigators found 3 square feet of duct tape mounted on the light switch so it could not be turned on. The door had locks on the outside. READ MORE HERE

UPDATE: 4:47 p.m.  – Authorities say two siblings of a 12-year-old boy found dangerously malnourished and locked in a filthy bathroom say their brother had been there for at least one year. Washington County Sheriff’s Office Lt. David Crouse said Tuesday the children said they hadn’t even spoken to their brother through the door in six months. He declined to give their ages, but said one was old enough to understand things. The boy was found Sunday at his home in the small southeastern Utah city of Toquerville near the state line with Arizona. READ MORE HERE