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Cops: Indiana woman caged, beaten and assaulted by couple. http://t.co/K0w0NAp6Hr pic.twitter.com/Vzaym4eWvZ — KHOU 11 News Houston (@KHOU) September 9, 2014

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Two people were arrested after an Indiana mother, who had been missing for two months, was found safe.

Ronald Higgs went to visit his ex-wife, Kendra Tooley, and her husband, Ricky House Jr., at a trailer in Stewartsville last week.

“She slid over on the couch beside me and said, ‘I’ve got a girl back here in a cage.’ I said, ‘You got a girl back here in a cage? What are you talking about?” Higgs remembered.

The girl in the cage was Joelle Lockwood, a mother of two who was reported missing on July 9.

Joelle was locked in a cage that was only two and a half feet tall and hidden from plain view.

“No food, no water, nowhere to use the bathroom,” Higgs said.

When he first saw Joelle, Higgs said she was only wearing a t-shirt and a dog collar with a rope tied to it, being treated like a slave.

“This just isn’t adding up. When she cooked all of our meals, she said, ‘Can I have something to eat?’ They said, ‘If there’s something left, you can have something to eat,” he said.

Higgs returned to the trailer on Friday, which is when Joelle made her plea for freedom.

“She says, ‘Please don’t leave here without me.’ I said, ‘What’s the matter?’ She says, ‘I’ve been here for over 60 days and they put me in that cage,” he said.

Higgs knew Joelle’s shot at freedom was in his hands.

“I didn’t really know what I could do because I’m nowhere near the man I used to be, but I’m not leaving this house without her. I don’t care what I have to do. She’s coming home,” he said.

Higgs said he initially tried to buy Joelle’s freedom, but couldn’t make a deal.

He realized force was the only way to get her to safety.

“The whole time during it all, they was talking about a baby. She’s not leaving here until she has the baby. I’m not selling her, you’re not doing nothing. She told me Ricky was raping her making her have oral sex. Kendra can’t have more children and Ricky doesn’t have any children of his own. I hate to say this to the public or even her even hearing it, but I think they were just going to have a baby and we would never see her again,” he said.

Higgs said he tried to take Joelle out of the trailer but was stopped by Ricky and a shotgun.

“He stuck that shotgun right here under my chin with his finger on the trigger. He said, ‘I’m going to kill you.’ And you’ll probably bleep this out, but I said, ‘If you’re going to f-king kill me, you better do it now or I’m going to take this f-ing away from you and beat you to death with it,” he said.

“Joelle was sitting in the floor crying, naked with Kendra beating on her. Just beat her down to the ground, took her clothes off of her,” he said.

Higgs says after a fight, House retreated to another room in the trailer.

At that point, he says he convinced Kendra that if she let Joelle leave, he would not go to the police.

“I actually think they believed I wasn’t going to do anything about it,” he said.

Higgs says he left with Joelle and took her to his home in Evansville for a shower before reuniting her with her family.

“I’m 61-years-old and I don’t even cry at funerals, but I busted out crying like a baby,” he said.

As for Ricky House Jr. and Kendra Tooley, Higgs has a recommendation for a fitting punishment.

“I told the police last night, I hope you all have some real small cells. That’s where they need to spend the rest of their lives, in a real small cell,” he said.

House and Tooley have been charged with rape and criminal confinement.