Tampa family wants to care for children neglected in Dallas

Three children found shut in a Dallas motel bathroom this month were "literally skin and bones, dirty and unkempt" and so malnourished they couldn't keep food down, a Texas Department of Family and Protective Services spokeswoman said today.

Now, relatives in Tampa and Ohio want to take custody of the children.

The children - ages 6, 10 and 11 - were kept in the bathroom day and night for about a year, and when they were found their ribs were protruding, according to The Dallas Morning News.

Investigators say there were indications that one of the children was raped, Abner Santiago, their uncle told The Tampa Tribune today.

"It's a tragic story," Santiago said.

Child protective caseworkers received a report July 2 about the children. By then, the three had been taken to a hospital.

Family and protective services spokeswoman Marissa Gonzales said the children were fed intravenously but are beginning to recover physically from their abuse. They stayed in the hospital until July 13, when they were placed in temporary foster care.

The youngsters won't be placed with family anytime soon. "Particularly since we want to make sure that they're getting sufficient emotional and psychological care," Gonzales said.

After a September court hearing about the children, they potentially could be placed with relatives, Gonzales said.

The children's mother, 30-year-old former Tampa resident Abneris Santiago, was charged with injury to a child, according to the Morning News. Her husband, 37-year-old Alfred Santiago, was charged with aggravated sexual assault and continuous sexual abuse.

Investigators learned about the abuse after Abner Santiago drove from Ohio to check on the family. Abneris Santiago had told her mother, who lives in Tampa, that Alfred Santiago was abusing the woman and threatening to kill the children.

The 11-year-old daughter later told investigators that Alfred had been raping her for three years and that she and the two boys could leave the bathroom only when Alfred Santiago took a shower, according to the Morning News. The girl said she and the other children often spent days without meals, and they resorted to hoarding food in clothes and shampoo bottles

The 10-year-old boy had been physically beaten and was emotionally traumatized, Abner Santiago said.

Abneris Santiago lived in the Tampa area from when she was 18 until she was about 26, working odd jobs including hotel maid and restaurant employee, her brother said. She moved to Fort Myers in about 2005, her sister said.

Later, Abneris left Florida without telling anyone. She called one day to say Alfred Santiago's mother was terminally ill and they had needed to move to Dallas.

Though Abner Santiago met Alfred Santiago once before the move to Dallas, the meeting was brief. Though Abner didn't think Alfred was the best person in the world, he was glad his sister was happy.

There were conversations after the move to Texas, but in recent months Abneris wouldn't answer the phone, Abner Santiago said. On July 1, his sister told family that her relationship with her husband was "abusive, with him drinking a lot and hitting her. She wanted to get away from the situation."

Abner Santiago drove to Texas to help.

When he learned more there, he called law enforcement. When he learned how ill the children were, he was heartbroken and mad at his sister and her husband.

"I didn't know how to grasp it," Abner Santiago said. "It seemed like a nightmare. It was a shock."

He said his Abneris Santiago needs to be held accountable for not reaching out for help earlier.

"She could have gotten these kids help," Abner Santiago said. "She was going to work every day. She could have told someone. She could have called the police. ... He possibly brainwashed her."

Abneris Santiago's sister, whom the Tribune is not naming to protect the identity of her niece, said the past month has been a nightmare. In the coming months, she hopes that she and her mother can take care of the children.

"Emotionally, they're getting a lot of help right now," she said. "And when they come our way, we're going to get them all the help we can."