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Families reunited with two enslaved victims from Tacony basement

The parents of one of the Tacony dungeon captives thanked their daughter's rescuers Friday, and their lawyer said they would seek custody of her two children.

The parents of one of the Tacony dungeon captives thanked their daughter's rescuers Friday, and their lawyer said they would seek custody of her two children.

Attorney Steven G. Wigrizer said the children of Tamara Breeden, 29 - a 2-year-old boy and a 5-year-old girl - are among the eight children linked to the case involving a Philadelphia woman, her daughter, and two men who allegedly enslaved and abused intellectually disabled individuals in at least four states.

Breeden was one of four adults found last Saturday locked in a dank boiler room of an apartment house on Longshore Avenue in the city's Tacony section.

Over the next two days, police tracked down the children and placed them with the Department of Human Services.

Breeden's parents, Wilbert and Peggy Wanamaker of Kensington, plan to seek temporary custody of their grandchildren, Wigrizer said.

"The Wanamakers are grateful to the residents of Longshore Avenue who first noticed and reported the suspicious behavior that led to the rescue of their daughter," said Wigrizer. "Without them and the landlord, this horror might still be going on."

Charged with kidnapping and imprisoning Breeden and the others are Linda Ann Weston, 51; Gregory Thomas, 47, her boyfriend; Jean "Jane" McIntosh, 32, her daughter; and Eddie Wright, 49.

On Thursday, a Family Court judge ordered DNA testing to ascertain the children's lineage.

They include three teenagers claimed by Weston, and a 3-year-old born to her 17-year-old daughter; McIntosh's two young children; and Breeden's children, reportedly fathered by one of the three men with whom she was held captive.

Weston, Thomas, and Wright allegedly imprisoned, abused, and collected the Social Security checks for the four victims - and possibly many others - from Pennsylvania to Virginia, then from Texas to Florida, with their final stop in Philadelphia.

Police are combing through additional identifications, found in the Longshore Avenue apartment, that belong to other people.

The investigation now spans six states - Pennsylvania, Texas, Florida, Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia - where Weston, Gregory, and Wright may have lived with their alleged captives, or where those victims may have originated.

Police are looking not only for trails of existing victims, but also for evidence of other victims who may not have survived. A Philadelphia woman, Maxine Lee, is known to have died in 2008 while sharing an apartment with Weston in Norfolk, Va. An autopsy ruled that she died of natural causes. The Philadelphia Daily News on Friday quoted Gregory Thomas' mother as remembering another woman who died while living with Weston and Thomas in the city's Lawncrest section.

Police are investigating any people Weston may have had contact with over the years, Philadelphia Police Lt. Ray Evers said, including people she may have lived with in Philadelphia.

"As this moves forward, we're going to find some things we don't expect to find," he said. "There may be death investigations that are reopened. We're looking at everything."

Officials asked for patience as they pieced together a frustratingly complex web of relationships and lineage.

Everett Gillison, Philadelphia's deputy mayor for public safety and chief of staff to Mayor Nutter, said Friday that the basic facts of the investigation - including identities, familial relationships, and personal histories - were all moving targets. Documents may be forged, witnesses are often unreliable, and the victims don't completely understand their own identities.

"This case has so many permutations that it will take us some time to unravel," Gillison said.

Also Friday, victim Edwin Sanabria, 31, was reunited with his father, Ivan, and younger brother Robert.

"It was beautiful," Robert said.

Edwin had run away from his Kensington home when he was 18 and had not been heard from in almost 14 years.

Father and son met at the personal-care facility in Bala Cynwyd where Edwin has been staying.

Before Breeden went missing eight years ago, Wigrizer said, she had been living with her godmother, who is now deceased, within walking distance of her parents' rowhouse.

"So she visited with her mother every day," Wigrizer said, "and then she's not visiting anymore."

Police said Breeden's family filed a missing-persons report in 2005. The Wanamakers have been looking for her ever since, the attorney said.

"There are a lot of pieces to this puzzle that need to be placed," he said, "and will be in the coming days."

Wigrizer said the Wanamakers were unavailable for comment at this time.

"They have been traumatized by this whole ordeal," he said. "They need a little bit of time and space."

Both Wilbert and Peggy Wanamaker - her maiden name is Breeden - are retired, Wigrizer said. Wilbert Wanamaker spent part of his career as a piano finisher.

They have visited their daughter a number of times, he said.

"They have watched as we all have watched the media accounts of their daughter's ordeal," said Wigrizer. "It is horrifying for all of us, but that much worse when you know what your daughter has endured."