On Tuesday (Oct. 18) morning, 16-year-old twins were frantically running through their Texas neighborhood in search of help. Reports say the two had been going from door to door for around half an hour. The siblings were barefoot and the boy was shirtless when a neighbor came to their rescue.

“They were so skinny and so frail. They just looked like they had been through a lot. They told me that their mom kept them locked in the laundry room, naked, zip-tied from the ankles and handcuffed from the wrists,” the woman said, according to local Houston news station KHOU11. The unnamed good samaritan fed the twins and gave them warm clothing before contacting authorities.

After talking with the children, the woman gathered that the pair would get “a sandwich, only if they were quiet the whole day. If they made any type of noise, they wouldn’t be fed.” She added, “How a mother could do this to her kids — I feel like my tears are out of frustration, anger and sadness.” The twins told officials their mother and her boyfriend wouldn’t allow them to use the toilet. The kids were allegedly forced to consume their own waste while confined to the home’s laundry room.

The twins were described as so malnourished that their bones were visible. An examination revealed that the boy previously fractured bone that had healed. Cuts and bruises also covered their bodies. Zaikiya Duncan, 40, and Jova Terrell, 27, were identified as the children’s captors. When police arrived at the couple’s home to investigate the matter, they discovered the two, along with their five other children, were not present. This prompted authorities to issue an Amber Alert.

Later that day, Duncan and Terrell were found and arrested in Baton Rouge, LA. They were transported back to Houston today (Oct. 20). Authorities believe the other siblings were also abused, but not as severely as the twins. The seven children are now in Child Protective Service custody.