7-year-old girl escapes to neighbors after being forced by abusers to drink dirty toilet water and lick up her own mess

A young girl reportedly escaped her home in rural California and sought help from a neighbor after enduring brutal abuse at the hands of her uncle and his girlfriend. Now, the couple is facing prison time as they plead guilty to child abuse.

Devin Hughes, 39, and his girlfriend Kayla Reynolds, 32, were sentenced to 25 years in prison on Sept. 11 after being found guilty of abusing Hughes’ seven-year-old niece at their mobile home in rural Boulevard, California, in March, according to Law & Crime. They reportedly pleaded guilty to 15 felony counts, including child abuse, torture, corporal injury, mayhem, and assault likely to cause great bodily injury.

San Diego County District Attorney’s Office said that the victim had fled her abusers’ home, where she was one of four children living on the property, and sought refuge at a neighbor’s residence. She reportedly begged to live with the neighbor “because she was being beaten and abused” by her uncle in July 2025. The neighbor was said to have notified authorities after the confession and after seeing her covered with scars, bruises, a black eye, and burn marks.

Young girl suffers horrific treatment from abusers

Officers reported finding the victim malnourished and suffering from visible injuries when they arrived at the scene. The victim told authorities that Hughes had tied her hands behind her back with a zip tie and tripped her, which she claimed caused her black eye.

The victim said Hughes and Reynolds also burned her using vape pens and used a pocketknife to cut off her hair. But the list of abuse against the young girl doesn’t end there.

Prosecutors said the victim was also forced to drink dirty toilet water, starved, made to sleep on the floor, and frequently chained to a treadmill using a cable lock. They added that the victim was “forced to hold her urine to the point of wetting herself” before eventually being “forced to clean it up using her tongue.”

The victim is now living with other relatives

Authorities reportedly recovered cable locks, zip ties, and vape pens that verified the victim’s claims. It was not clarified whether the three other children living with Hughes and Reynolds were subjected to the same abuse as the victim.

The victim was later brought to Rady Children’s Hospital, where she was admitted and gained five pounds following her treatment. According to prosecutors, the victim is now in the care of a different family member and that she is “thriving in her new environment.”

Summer Stephan, a District Attorney, described the “sickening” abuse inflicted on the 7-year-old as “abhorrent” and “heartbreaking.” “Our prosecution team, the dedicated deputies and detectives at the Sheriff’s Office, along with the medical staff at Rady Children’s Hospital who nursed the victim back to health all stepped in to restore her health and safety,” Stephan said. “She finally has a chance to blossom without the oppressive abuse of her wicked family members.”

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