Insets, from left: Latricia Crawley, Benjamin Lockett, Denaria Graham and Shankyria Clayton (Broward County Jail). Background: The home in Margate, Florida, where a girl was allegedly tortured for several years (WPLG/YouTube).
Cops in Florida arrested the final of four suspects who allegedly tortured a young girl for years by striking her toes with a hammer, forcing her to kneel on rice and stay in a closet over several days.
Denaria Graham, 24, was arrested on Wednesday. She faces charges of aggravated child abuse, child neglect and failure to report child abuse.
Latricia Crawley, 49, Benjamin Lockett, 46, and Shankyria Clayton, 23, face the same charges and were arrested in 2023.
Crawley and Lockett, who are the girl’s aunt and uncle and served as her legal guardians, appeared to dole out the most abuse, a probable cause arrest affidavit said.
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The case began in October 2023 when the girl wrote to her online teacher that she needed help and asked that police be sent to her home in Margate, which sits just north of Fort Lauderdale.
Cops arrived at the home to find the then-15-year-old girl bleeding from her head. She said Lockett had punched her in the face, causing her to fall back and hit her head on the corner of a desk.
She was taken to the hospital for treatment.
But that head wound was far from the only injury officers observed. Officers saw “significant long-term trauma to the victim’s body.” Those included ligature marks, bruising, insect bite marks and “general signs and symptoms of malnutrition.”
Investigators interviewed the girl, who divulged horrific details of her life over the previous four years.
She said Crawley and Lockett became her legal guardians in 2014. The abuse started almost immediately, cops said.
Crawley and Lockett would bind the victim with zip ties and force her to stay in closets with only a bucket to go to the bathroom over long periods of time, the girl said.
Lockett allegedly kicked her in the chin in 2019, causing a “noticeable permanent scar.” Two years later, when the girl was 13, Crawley allegedly oiled the girl’s knees and forced her to kneel on rice for several hours at a time over several days. It caused scar tissue that remained on the victim, cops said.
During the same year, Crawley allegedly tied her niece to a “fixed object and struck her toes with a hammer.”
When the girl was 14, Crawley and Lockett allegedly tied up the victim on numerous occasions, leaving behind ligature marks on her stomach, shoulders and wrists. Crawley also allegedly threw a pot of boiling water on her.
Other punishments included taping the girl’s eyes shut and dunking her in cold water, the affidavit stated. The defendants would also throw cold water on her while she was sleeping “just to see her wake up,” cops wrote.
Graham and Clayton are accused of knowing about the abuse and not reporting it or doing anything to stop it. Clayton is the girl’s sister, and Graham is her cousin.
All four suspects lived in the same home. Another woman, 32-year-old Treaunshae Gibbons, was also arrested. She is related to the victim and lived at the home for a time and worked for a child abuse prevention agency. She also never reported the abuse despite knowing about it, authorities allege.
Child protective services took custody of the girl.
Graham remains in the Broward County Jail while the other suspects remain free on bond. Their next court dates are set for Sept. 14.
The post Family beat girl’s toes with hammer, forced her to kneel on rice and locked her in closet during yearslong torture: Cops first appeared on Law & Crime.
