California couple and adult daughter arrested over ‘severe’ and ‘prolonged’ torture of six foster children

A California couple and their adult daughter have been arrested in San Bernardino County in connection with the alleged abuse and torture of six foster children between the ages of 5 to 16.

The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department's Crimes Against Children Detail said in a news release that it had launched an investigation into "severe and prolonged abuse and neglect" at a home on Helena Drive in Victorville, California.

The city is approximately 35 miles north of San Bernardino.

Kenneth Key, 60, Tina Key, 60, and Katlynn Key, 23, were all identified as suspects in the investigation. All three were arrested on May 12 and charged with torture. They were booked into the Central Detention Center, where their bail has been set at $1 million each, according to police.

“The abuse included daily beatings, strangulation to the point of unconsciousness, and punishments of withholding food and water from the children for a period of days,” the District Attorney's office said in a statement.

Neighbors on the street told KTLA that they only saw the children when they were being loaded into the family's car.

“Other than that, these kids never came outside like normal kids. They were only allowed to go to the backyard,” one woman told the broadcaster.

Details of the abuse the children were subjected to were not released to the public.

“Any kind of child abuse or neglect going on in a home, whether it’s a biological home, a family home, foster home, reach out and report that,” SBCSD spokesperson Mara Rodriguez told the broadcaster. “We would much rather do an investigation and find that everything is just fine in that home than find out several years later that there was some abuse.”

Rodriguez told USA TODAY that the children were "subjected to severe trauma and physical abuse," and that they were removed from the home at the start of the sheriff's department investigation.

Officials confirmed that some of the abuse may have begun shortly after the children we placed into the home a decade ago.

The SBCSD is continuing its investigation into the matter and has urged anyone with further information to contact the department and ask for Katie Mettill of the Specialized Investigations Division, Crimes Against Children Detail, using the number 909-890-4904.