Body camera video reveals conditions, makeshift cage a 13-year-old Arizona girl was kept in before she died, police say

TEMPE, Ariz. — Newly released police body camera footage shows a makeshift cage inside a Tempe apartment where officers say a 13-year-old girl was kept before she died, a child abuse case that led to the arrests of both her mother and grandmother.

RELATED: Tempe police arrest mother, grandmother in connection with death of 13-year-old kept in cage

The incident happened last January. Tempe police said the girl was found covered in bruises before she died.

The body camera video begins with officers entering the apartment of 55-year-old Virginia Lujan, who called 911 to report that her 13-year-old granddaughter was not breathing. Firefighters are seen performing CPR on the girl as officers enter through the back door.

Lujan and her daughter, 33-year-old Jami Hodges, the girl’s mother, were at the apartment along with Hodges’ other young children.

Firefighters performed life-saving measures for more than 15 minutes before taking the teen to the hospital, where she died.

Officers at the scene noticed the girl was covered in bruises. Some appeared to be old while others looked new. Her face was swollen, and there was dried blood inside her right ear, according to arrest documents.

An officer questioned Hodges about the injuries.

“She thinks she fell out of her bed,” Hodges said.

Hodges claimed that was what Lujan told her. Lujan had custody of four of Hodges’ children. Court documents write that Lujan did not call for help in this situation because she did not want to get in trouble over how the girl looked.

When police questioned Lujan, those same documents claim she told them days earlier her granddaughter had fallen down a flight of stairs and hit her head on a wall. Officers later saw damage at the bottom of the stairs. It showed a head-sized hole in the drywall. Documents write that a clump of hair was attached to it. Lujan told police she did not call 911 at the time because the girl seemed fine.

Officers then searched the apartment, describing it as filthy, with trash littering the floor and cockroaches throughout the home.

They eventually entered the girl’s room, where police say they found a makeshift cage.

“There was no mattress, there was no bedding, it was fashioned with zip ties so that the victim couldn’t get out, and the floor was covered in feces and urine. According to the biological mother, the victim hadn’t been out of that room in weeks,” prosecutors said during Lujan’s initial court appearance.

The family told police the 13-year-old was developmentally delayed with the mental capacity of a 3-year-old. Lujan kept the girl in the cage for extended periods to control her.

“I couldn’t be with her 24 hours a day,” Lujan said in an interview with investigators.

Lujan told police she could not handle caring for all the children. She said she had been given custody years earlier because her daughter was in an abusive relationship.

When police asked Hodges about this, Hodges told them she was addicted to drugs and couldn’t take care of them. When they asked the last time she saw her daughter before her death, Hodges said she did not want anything to do with her.

“I stopped checking on her because it was easier just not to,” Hodges said.

Lujan was arrested and indicted on several charges, including child abuse. Authorities said she died in September while in jail. The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office said no foul play was suspected.

Hodges was arrested and later released. Charges are pending. Police said the investigation remains ongoing.

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