A California man and his girlfriend were each sentenced to 25 years in prison over the alleged torture of the man’s niece, who escaped the couple last year by fleeing to a neighbor’s home, prosecutors said.
The girl, then 7, arrived at the neighbor’s home while “covered with bruises, scars, burn marks and a black eye” in July 2025, according to the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office.
The child reportedly asked to live with the neighbors and told them she was “being beaten and abused” by her biological uncle, Devin Hughes, 39, and his girlfriend, Kayla Reynolds, 32.
In March, Hughes and Reynolds pleaded guilty to 15 felony charges, including assault likely to cause great bodily injury, child abuse, corporal injury, mayhem and torture, the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office said in a Friday, September 11, news release.
Hughes and Reynolds are accused of starving the girl, cutting her hair with a pocketknife, using vape pens to burn her, forcing her to drink dirty water from the toilet, making her sleep on the floor and keeping her chained to a treadmill with a cable lock at a mobile home in a rural area of Boulevard.
After the neighbors alerted authorities to the alleged abuse, San Diego County sheriff’s deputies discovered the girl with multiple injuries and noticed she was malnourished, according to prosecutors.
“She disclosed that her uncle had tied her hands behind her back with a zip tie, then tripped her, causing a large black eye,” prosecutors said.
The alleged abuse detailed by the girl also included how “she was forced to hold her urine to the point of wetting herself and then would be forced to clean it up using her tongue,” according to the district attorney’s office.
Hughes and Reynolds also allegedly forced drug use on the child.
At their home, where three other children lived, police discovered “horrendous living conditions” and evidence that substantiated the abuse the girl endured, including cable locks, zip ties and vape pens, prosecutors said.
In a statement, San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan said “the level of abuse inflicted on this 7-year-old child is abhorrent and heartbreaking.”
“Our prosecution team, the dedicated deputies and detectives at the Sheriff’s Office, along with the medical staff at Rady Children’s Hospital who nursed the victim back to health all stepped in to restore her health and safety,” Stephan added. “She finally has a chance to blossom without
the oppressive abuse of her wicked family members.”
After the girl escaped Hughes and Reynolds, she gained five pounds while being treated at the children’s hospital, according to prosecutors.
Now, she is living with a different family member.
The district attorney’s office said the girl “is now thriving in her new environment.”
Information on Hughes’ and Reynold’s legal representation wasn’t immediately available.
If you or someone you know is experiencing child abuse, call or text Child Help Hotline at 1-800-422-4453.
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