Home bound

Even dead people need a home. 

It took a human skeleton dug up in western Gujarat state, India in 2019 until this month to be moved to the Archeological Experiential Museum in Vadnagar. 

Archeologist Abhijit Ambekar discovered the skeleton buried sitting cross-legged. The undisturbed soil around the skeleton preserved it well but its excavation exposed it to the elements so it needed a new home. 

The authorities’ initial confusion as to who should keep it, as well as bureaucratic red tape, prevented the 1,000-year-old skeleton from being properly housed. 

Ambekar had covered it with a  tarp and left it in a makeshift tent close to the excavation site while it waited for a home, BBC reports. 

Meanwhile, an 18-year-old woman living with her mother and her partner in Gloucester Township, New Jersey, USA, had a home but she didn’t want to stay in it. 

She didn’t want to be there anymore because they were abusing her. 

On 8 May, the teenager escaped from the house and went to a neighbor for help. The neighbor brought her to the local police. 

The teen told investigators the abuse began in 2018 when she was in sixth grade and her  mom, Brenda Spencer, 38, removed her from the school, NBC Philadelphia reports. 

She said they forced her to live in a dog crate for one year, letting her out only periodically. She was then locked in a  bathroom where she was chained, and then in a bare room where she had to use a bucket instead of a toilet, NBC Philadelphia quoted the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office.

The room was rigged with an alarm system that would alert Spencer and her partner, Branndon Mosley, 41, if she attempted to escape, investigators said. 

During her captivity, the teen said she was beaten with a belt and was sexually abused by Mosley. 

On 11 May, police arrested the mother and Mosley. Both were charged with kidnapping, aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of a child, and other offenses. Mosley was also charged with sexual assault.

Mosley and Spencer are detained, with their next court appearance scheduled on 23 July.