Stephanie Stone and her stepfather’s fiancée, Wanda Sue Redfern, were arrested after a Murray County deputy found the boy trapped in the makeshift contraption Thursday, Greg Ramey, special agent at the Georgia Bureau of Investigations Calhoun office, told the Daily News.
Advertisement
Murray County Sheriff Gary Lankford and GBI special agent Greg Ramey said during a press conference today that two women are charged in the investigation so far.
Murray County, the Georgia Bureau of Investigations and the state Department of Family and Children’s Services are now investigating the child abuse. An eight-year-old girl with special needs was also in the home, NBC News affiliate First Coast News reports.
Authorities arrested Redfern along with 34-year-old Stephanie Elizabeth Stone, and charged them both with cruelty to children and false imprisonment.
A deputy went to a home in Chatsworth after getting a 911 call from a concerned citizen.
A deputy was called out to the 500 block of Bahamas Drive in Chatworth around 11:00 a.m. Thursday after a 911 call was made reporting a child had been left alone. They also said the boy’s cage was made from two twin beds held together with zip-ties and wooden slats.
A boy was found living inside the second cage, police said.
The other horrid contraption was made from wooden bed frames with added wooden pieces and metal shelving, Ramey said.
Ramey said both children were in relatively good condition. They believe the children were being kept in the cages since at least June.
The mother of the siblings was identified as Stephanie Stone, 34, and she was later arrested.
Ramey and Langford say more arrests may be coming.
The Murray County Sheriff’s Office, GBI, and the Conasauga District Attorney’s office are involved in the investigation. The deputy was met at the door by a girl and an adult female. The deputy arrived back at the house and saw the same child with Wanda Redferd.
Advertisement
During his second visit, the deputy got permission to search the home and found two homemade cages inside a bedroom, one occupied by an 11-year-old boy and one empty. The children have been taken from the home and placed in protective custody.
