Texas mother Susan Rae Helton sentenced to 20 years for caging, starving adopted teens

NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas — A Texas woman has been sentenced to decades in prison after prosecutors said she starved, beat and confined two of her adopted teenage children in makeshift cages inside her home for years.

Susan Rae Helton, 53, was convicted on four counts of injury to a child causing serious bodily injury, according to the Comal County Criminal District Attorney's Office. She was sentenced to 20 years in prison on each count.

Authorities said the abuse involved a 14-year-old girl and a 13-year-old boy who were living in Helton’s home in New Braunfels in 2018.

The investigation began after the New Braunfels Police Department was alerted by child protective services over concerns that children in the home were being abused. Officers and child welfare investigators conducted interviews with the children and later made an unannounced visit to the residence.

Inside the home, investigators discovered enclosures constructed from baby gates that prosecutors described as cages. According to court testimony, the two teens were confined inside the structures for extended periods, sometimes for two to three weeks at a time, as punishment for allegedly “stealing” food.

Prosecutors said the teens gained only six pounds combined over a five-year period while living with Helton. Medical evaluations later determined the children were suffering from severe malnutrition.

Court records and testimony showed Helton had adopted eight children and homeschooled them. Authorities said she failed to follow through on medical referrals for the victims despite concerns about their health.

According to the district attorney’s office, the teens told investigators they were routinely beaten with a belt if they were caught taking food from the kitchen. They were also forced to perform excessive exercise as punishment.

Helton admitted to keeping the teens in the enclosures, telling investigators they were “sugar-seeking” and stealing food, authorities said.

“The other children corroborated these accounts,” the district attorney’s office said in a statement, noting that evidence developed during the investigation showed Helton targeted the two victims.

The children were kept in cages

During the trial, the two survivors, now young adults, testified about the years of abuse they endured.

“This case serves as a stark reminder that when the community entrusts someone with the care and protection of children, that trust must never be abused,” the district attorney’s office said in a statement. Prosecutors also praised the victims’ courage, saying their testimony was instrumental in securing the conviction.

Helton remains in custody and will serve her sentences in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

Authorities did not release additional details about the other children who lived in the home.