NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas – A long-time foster and adoptive mom in New Braunfels, Susan Helton, has been sentenced to 40 years in prison for abusing and neglecting two of her seven adopted children. CPS removed all of her children from the home in 2018.
Case documents and the Comal County District Attorney’s Office said Helton denied the 13- and 14-year-old children enough food and put them in makeshift cages created out of baby gates.
A Facebook post from the Comal County District Attorney’s Office said the 14-year-old girl slept in that cage for up to a year and a half, sometimes spending weeks straight inside.
“Two of her children victims provided heartbreaking accounts of being starved and physically abused with a belt by (Susan) Helton if they were caught ‘stealing’ food from the kitchen,” part of the post said. “They also spoke of being confined to small triangular cages during the day and one having to sleep in the cages at night to ensure that child didn’t get up and ‘steal food.’”
In 2018, when CPS removed all children from the house, case documents show the 14-year-old girl weighed only 40 pounds and the 13-year-old boy weighed 50 pounds.
Those documents said a specialist from Dell Children’s Hospital who saw the children said it was one of the worst child malnutrition cases she’d ever seen.
KSAT stopped by the home Tuesday, still in Susan Helton’s name.
Her mother, Ellen Helton, still lives there and came to the door, inviting the KSAT crew inside. This is the first interview with a family member and the first time to see inside the house where the children lived.
“Hi, I’m Courtney Friedman with KSAT 12 News. Are you Susan Helton’s mom?”
“Yes. You’re from the news?”
“Yes ma’am.”
“Come in.”
Ellen Helton had lived in the home during the years Susan Helton is accused of the abuse but has not been charged with anything in relation to the case.
Ellen Helton defended her daughter and said the children were not malnourished and were fed and cared for properly.
The video attached to this article shows full pieces of the conversation, which includes:
“As you can see, the babies were well taken care of. She started adopting them when they were babies,” Ellen Helton said.
When asked about the makeshift cages, she pointed and said, “Started off right there, that whole corner was just one cage right there in the hallway. (Redacted victim’s name) would go by and we wouldn’t let him go by the kitchen to go to the bathroom because they’d always get food, so we made them come this way.”
Courtney Friedman: “But were they being given enough food?”
Ellen Helton: “Oh my goodness, yes.”
CF: “But there was the 14-year-old, (redacted victim’s name) only weighed 40 pounds. So you thought that was normal?”
EH: “She was always, her dad was like 5′4” and they were always thin.”
CF: “You don’t think that’s far too thin and unhealthy?”
EH: “No, because we fed her more than any of the others.”
CF: “Because it looks like the DA (district attorney) said even in the testimony in the trial...”
EH: “I know what the DA said. They said a lot of things they wouldn’t let Susan correct.
CF: “So you guys don’t think you did anything wrong?”
EH: “I don’t think we did. We loved them, we took care of them, as you can see, look at all the toys. From baby on up. I taught them their ABCs, their 123s, while Susan did schoolwork with them and homework with them and everything.”
After about 12 minutes of conversation, Ellen Helton did not want to talk further, and the KSAT crew ended the interview.
KSAT spoke with a family friend of Ellen Helton who is an attorney and made them aware the interview would be aired Tuesday evening. They declined to comment.
KSAT has also set up a conversation with the Comal County District Attorney’s Office to talk about the case.
Watch the interview with Ellen Helton below: