Parents charged with locking up daughters for up to two years

The two younger sisters, ages 12 and 13, apparently escaped Tuesday to neighbours after being threatened with a knife by their stepfather, the Arizona Daily Star reported.

A couple in Tucson, Arizona, face serious charges that they locked up their three daughters for up to two years, a newspaper reported Wednesday.

The two younger sisters, ages 12 and 13, apparently escaped Tuesday to neighbours after being threatened with a knife by their stepfather, the Arizona Daily Star reported.

The neighbours alerted police. The third girl, 17, was later found by police locked in her room.

The girls were malnourished and "extremely dirty," police said. The girls said they had not been allowed to bathe for at least half a year, and that their mother and stepfather only gave them one meal a day.

Police arrested the mother, 34, and stepfather, 34, who face charges of kidnapping and emotional and physical child abuse. The stepfather faces additional charges of sexual abuse, according to police spokesman Chris Widmer.