CHATSWORTH, Ga. — In the small community here where deputies on Thursday found an 11-year-old boy in a makeshift cage and another cage apparently built to hold an 8-year-old girl, one neighbor said she had no idea the children she often saw playing outside were being imprisoned inside.
Investigators descended on the home Thursday afternoon and arrested the children’s 34-year-old mother, Stephanie Elizabeth Stone, on charges of first-degree cruelty to children, false imprisonment and possession of a controlled substance. Another woman in the home, 49-year-old Wanda Sue Redfern, also was charged with first-degree cruelty to children and false imprisonment. Both are being held without bond, according to Murray County Sheriff Gary Lankford.
“I thought they were good people,” the neighbor said. “I’ve known them the entire time I’ve lived here.”
The neighbor, who asked not to be identified, said she has known the family at 530 Bahamas Drive most of her life. She occasionally visited the home when she corralled the boy after he left his yard, returning him to his mother.
Officials characterized both children as having “special needs,” but they did not describe their conditions any further.