Captive cases: A grim history

The confinement of four mentally disabled adults in a Tacony basement already deserves a special place in the history of criminal cruelty in Philadelphia, and the number of victims seems likely to grow.

Tuesday night, authorities took custody of 10 children and teens, apparently malnourished and traumatized, who had been in the care of Linda Ann Weston, accused of imprisoning the adults to collect their social security benefits.

Even more gruesome examples could be uncovered as the investigation expands to other states.

And yet the case is far from unprecedented here.

Over the years, captivity cases have included the worst imaginable crimes - enslavement, child abuse, rape, torture and murder.

In a league of its own is the infamous case of Gary Heidnik, the last man executed in Pennsylvania, in July 1999. He abducted five African American women over a few months, from late 1986 to early 1987, and kept them in the basement of his Franklinville home, sexually abusing and torturing them, sometimes putting them in a covered pit. Two died from their grotesque mistreatment. One woman's dismembered limbs were found in his freezer. A sixth woman managed to call 911 in March 1987, leading to his arrest.

Here are some other cases.

1997: 5-year-old starves in basement. In 1999, a jury found Charlene Wise of North Philadelphia guilty of third-degree murder for confining her daughter Charnae to a basement for two months and giving her little to eat. Police found the skeletal remains under basement debris after an older sister told them where to look.

2006: Teen with cerebral palsy starves to death. Danieal Kelly, 14, weighed only 42 pounds when her body was found with infested bedsores on a feces-stained mattress in her mother's West Philadelphia apartment. The mother, Andrea Kelly, starting serving 20 to 40 years for third-degree murder after a 2009 guilty plea. In July, the girl's father, Daniel, was convicted on an endangerment charge, and two negligent child caseworkers were found guilty by a jury of additional charges, from perjury to criminal conspiracy.

2003: Adopted boys found emaciated. Four brothers were removed from a home in Collingswood after Bruce Jackson, 19 years old but weighing just 45 pounds, was discovered rummaging through a neighborhood trash can. The other boys, then 9, 11 and 14, "weighed less than 100 pounds combined," according to an Inquirer article. Four siblings, the biological children of Vanessa Jackson, were well-fed. Her husband, Ray Sr., also accused of starving the four, died of a stroke in 2004. Vanessa Jackson was released from prison last year after serving four years. The defense contention that the four boys had difficult medical conditions looked insupportable after they all gained considerable weight.

1999-2000: Slave den in Southwest Philadelphia. A homeless man and his girlfriend were kept prisoner for months, sometimes locked in a basement and forced to sleep on a concrete floor, by a married couple and two men. Drugs, intimidation, a lack of food were used to force the victims to do housework and steal using pilfered credit cards. The victims escaped during an errand, but the man didn't go to police until his girlfriend was re-abducted. Lupina "Mira" Rainey got 15 to 30 years, her husband, Ronald Moore, 6 to 12.

1997: Baby stolen, recovered years later. Luzaida Cuevas believed her 10-day-old daughter, Delimar, died in a Feltonville house fire, but the baby was kidnapped by Carolyn Correa of Willingboro, who raised her as Aaliyah. In 2005, the mother recognized Delimar by a dimple, and DNA testing proved her true identity. Correa was sentenced to 9 to 30 years for kidnapping, interfering with child custody, and conspiracy, but was never charged with child abuse.

1993-95: Woman confined in hotel closet. Hiram "Jake" Thelmon was convicted in 1996 of misdemeanors related to regularly locking up his mildly retarded girlfriend at the Kesmon Hotel at 12th and Spruce Streets. He said she was dangerous, and he was protecting her, with her consent. The prosecution said he knocked out three of her teeth, banged her head against a wall, made her use a bucket as a toilet, and cashed her Social Security checks. He risked her life by leaving her alone for days once, the judge said, sentencing him to one to five years.

1987: Immigrant maid treated as sex slave. A 19-year-old woman from Sri Lanka, working as a maid and nanny for an Ambler couple, accused them of making her a virtual captive for months and forcing her to perform sex acts with them. Amitha and Yvonne Nanayakkara contended the woman made the advances and was free to come and go, but they were convicted of charges including involuntary deviant sexual intercourse and criminal conspiracy.