Authorities say 11 children have been rescued from a makeshift compound in New Mexico.
Authorities in New Mexico have announced the rescue of 11 children from a compound that has been described as limited in food and "filthy."
According to a Facebook post by the Taos County Sheriff's Office, the children were discovered on August 3 when a law enforcement team descended on the property, in part, to look for a missing 3-year old child and his alleged abductor.
Adding to the urgency of the search amid an ongoing, months-long investigation was the child's possible medical condition and a message believed to have come from inside the compound that said, "we are starving and need food and water."
The TSCO says that once the team entered the compound, they encountered two men--one believed to be the alleged abductor--and several weapons including an AR15 rifle.
Sheriff Jerry Hogrefe was also quoted in the Facebook post as saying: "The only food we saw were a few potatoes and a box of rice in the filthy trailer. But what was most surprising, and heartbreaking was when the team located a total of five adults and 11 children that looked like third world country refugees not only with no food or fresh water, but with no shoes, personal hygiene and basically dirty rags for clothing."
In addition to the two men who were arrested--one for alleged child abduction and the other for harboring a fugitive--there were three women who are likely the mothers of the children. They were questioned and released, pending further investigation.
The kids, meanwhile, were taken into protective custody and turned over to the state.
The 3-year-old boy authorities had set out to find was not among them, though he is believed to have been at the compound at some point, reports the Taos News.
"The suspects appeared to have been living at the compound for a few months, [Hogrefe] said, but he didn't know how or why they ended up in Northern New Mexico," the outlet added.
