A New Jersey couple has been arrested and charged with kidnapping, imprisonment, and sexual assault after allegedly holding a teenage girl captive for seven years, subjecting her to severe abuse, including living in a dog cage, according to Camden County Prosecutor Grace MacAulay.
The girl, now 18 years old, was held captive by her mother, Brenda Spencer, 38, and her stepfather, Brandon Mosley, 41, a train conductor. According to the prosecutor’s statement, Spencer withdrew her daughter from school in 2018 and began to confine her to the house.
The victim reported that she was forced to live inside a dog cage for nearly a year, only allowed out periodically. Over the course of seven years, she endured captivity in locked bathrooms, empty rooms monitored by motion detectors, and severe physical and psychological abuse.
The couple reportedly allowed her out during family visits, only to imprison her again afterward.
The victim managed to escape on May 8th, with the help of a neighbour. Authorities were informed two days later, and the couple was arrested the following day.
They are facing multiple charges, including kidnapping, false imprisonment, assault, and conspiracy. Brandon Mosley is also facing additional charges of sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a minor.
The case draws eerie comparisons to that of Natasha Kampusch, the Austrian girl who was held captive for eight years in a hidden basement room by Wolfgang Priklopil. After being abducted in 1998 at the age of 10, Kampusch spent most of those years imprisoned in a 6-square-metre cellar that Priklopil had built under his garage.
Natasha managed to escape on August 23, 2006, and mere hours later, Priklopil took his own life by throwing himself in front of a train. Kampusch’s case remains one of the most high-profile kidnappings in Europe, symbolising both the horrors of captivity and the strength of survival.
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