Woman handcuffed for months by ‘friends’ who ‘didn’t like her,’ TX officials say
Five people in Texas were arrested after officials say they kept a woman handcuffed inside a home and in a backyard for months.
Around 9 a.m. Oct. 30 Austin police responded to a welfare check and found a woman handcuffed to a piece of equipment outside, according to a news release from the city of Austin.
Authorities had to cut through heavy metal links to get her out safely, officials said.
The woman, who had “physical distress and had visible injuries consistent with prolonged restraint,” told police she had been restrained for months at the residence.
Details of the torture the woman experienced was outlined in court documents, according to WKRC.
The woman told police “she was friends with one of the women who lived in the house,” the Austin American-Statesman reported. However, she said “one day they decided they didn’t like her anymore and no longer allowed her to leave,” an affidavit said, according to the outlet.
The woman had been “handcuffed inside and outside the house for months,” according to KVUE.
She told officers she would be punished if she tried to leave, the Austin American-Statesman reported. She was found with “open wounds and lacerations, swollen wrists, missing flesh from her hands and feet, extensive scarring all over her body from BB gun shots and a battered face, police said,” the outlet reported.
Michelle Garcia, 51, Crystal Garcia, 21, Mache Carney, 32, Juan Pablo Castro, 30 and Maynard Lefevers, 21, are each charged with aggravated kidnapping, aggravated assault, injury to elderly or disabled and unlawful restraint, according to officials.
Castro told investigators he bought the handcuffs and they were used to keep the woman from leaving the yard at night to steal, KVUE reported. He said he shot her with the BB gun “when she did not want to go into handcuffs,” according to KXAN.
As part of a routine, the woman was fed one plate of food per day at dinner and slept outside handcuffed, court records said, according to the Austin American-Statesman.
All five people were given a $150,000 bond.
This story was originally published November 6, 2025 at 3:24 PM with the headline "Woman handcuffed for months by ‘friends’ who ‘didn’t like her,’ TX officials say."
