August 21st, 2012
01:33 AM ET

Woman held captive in Philadelphia basement for a decade sues city

A 20-year-old woman whose aunt allegedly beat her and held her captive for a decade in the basement of a Philadelphia apartment building has sued the city, claiming her ordeal could have been avoided if officials had acted appropriately.

Beatrice Weston alleges the city failed to "properly train Department of Human Services workers in child placements," resulting in her being put in the custody of her aunt, Linda Weston - a convicted felon, a statement from her attorney Shanin Specter said. The complaint says the city of Philadelphia failed to release information about the aunt's criminal history.

Linda Weston served eight years in prison for killing her sister's boyfriend in the early 1980s. In that case, the victim "was held captive for an extended period of time, locked in a closet and he literally starved to death," Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey said in October.

Beatrice Weston suffered much of the same abuse, beaten with a baseball bat and forced to consume her own urine during the 10 years she was in her aunt's custody, according to her attorney.

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Filed under: Crime • Justice • U.S.
soundoff (32 Responses)
  1. Mary

    @ saywhat, Good evening to you. What we as a society needs to be examined and at this point I don't see a promising report... given the culture we live in today.

    August 21, 2012 at 7:56 pm | Report abuse |
  2. BOMBO ©

    "Linda Weston served eight years in prison for killing her sister's boyfriend in the early 1980s. In that case, the victim "was held captive for an extended period of time, locked in a closet and he literally starved to death," Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey said in October."

    With that in mind, my question isn't necessarily, 'why did they give her custody of a child?', though that is a valid one. A better question is 'why was she OUT of jail?'

    August 22, 2012 at 12:27 am | Report abuse |
    • BaltoPaul

      'why was she OUT of jail?'

      Ask a liberal.

      September 1, 2012 at 10:10 am | Report abuse |
    • TV

      "Why was she given custody of a child?"
      Ask a conservative.

      September 13, 2012 at 9:47 am | Report abuse |
  3. ronvan

    What can you say? A terrible situation, that should NOT have happened, BUT, now to sue the city? The American Dream, to sue someone or some thing, get rich, and live the good life! Why not sue the neighbors, the people that walked by? While the police do have powers, they cannot just enter someones house based on someone telling them about there concerns. They have to get a search warrant! The question is, would a judge issue a warrant based on someone THINKING, something was wrong?

    August 22, 2012 at 10:28 am | Report abuse |
    • Ryan

      Did you even read the article? The aunt was convicted of killing her sisters boyfriend by holding him captive in her basement. She serves 8 years gets out and then is awarded custody to her niece. You find nothing wrong with that? It was the citys fault for placing her in that environment someone needs to be held acccountable dont you think.

      September 2, 2012 at 12:04 pm | Report abuse |
  4. GovernmentBad

    Example of big gubmint

    August 22, 2012 at 3:37 pm | Report abuse |
  5. gary

    At laest her phisical nightmair is over hopefully shes broke beond repair? and maybee we should look for all the missing ones who are locked in the dark closets and basements right now ya sleep well.?

    August 22, 2012 at 5:51 pm | Report abuse |
  6. gary

    And all the ones free to come and go yet still living in the same hell from those close to them.

    August 22, 2012 at 5:58 pm | Report abuse |
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