Salinas police found three starving children, including one chained to the floor, of a home last month, officials said Friday.

“It was a particularly heinous case,” Monterey County Sheriff Scott Miller told the Monterey Herald, adding that the children had “hardly eaten for months.”

The two boys and a girl were taken into protective custody, according to the Associated Press.

“It seems that the little girl was the major target of this abuse,” Miller told the Herald.


Two adults, identified as Eraca Dawn Craig, 31, and Christian Jessica Deana, 44, were arrested.

Police continued to investigate how long the children had been held in the home.