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 AN OLNEY WOMAN described by a neighbor as "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" has been charged with holding a woman with special needs captive in her basement. Police arrested Regina Bennett, 46, of Linton Street near 2nd, shortly after midnight Saturday following a verbal dispute with a neighbor. Authorities said that after taking Bennett into custody, neighbors informed them there was a small child living in the house, although police did not see signs of a child. Police said officers and a supervisor conducted a walk-through of the home and discovered a 36-year-old woman in the basement bound to a bed in "unsuitable conditions." She was cut free and taken to Albert Einstein Medical Center, where she was evaluated. 
 
 Authorities said the victim was extremely thin, with sores on her body. She appears to be mentally disabled with a limited vocabulary. 
 
 Investigators have been unable to determine Bennett's relationship to the victim, according to Officer Tanya Little, a police spokeswoman. 
 
 "I haven't seen anything that stated what their relationship was or whether she was the caretaker," Little said. 
 
 Bennett is facing a dozen charges, including aggravated assault, kidnapping for ransom and neglect of care. 
 
 Yolanda Cropper, who lives across the street from Bennett, said her neighbor showed two very different sides. 
 
 "When you see her, she's like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. If she's not drinking, she's quiet, very withdrawn," Cropper said. She added that Bennett had expressed prejudice against those who are not African-American like she is. 
 
 Despite only living on the block a few months, Bennett had numerous run-ins with neighbors, according to Cropper. She said that three weeks ago, Bennett cursed out a neighbor after the woman said hello to her. During this weekend's altercation with the neighbor, Bennett was visibly intoxicated, Cropper said. 
 
 "[Those] people don't bother nobody," she said of the other neighbor in the dispute. 
 
 Cropper said Bennett, known on the block as "Queen," has a grandson who visits on the weekends and plays outside. She said she had never seen the unidentified woman discovered in the basement. 
 
 "She was small . . . she did not look like a 36-year-old woman," Cropper said of the woman. 
 
 A woman identified as Phyllis, who claimed to be Bennett's cousin, told reporters Saturday that Bennett cared for the woman who police discovered in the house. 
 
 "When she was in her care, she took care of her like she was her own flesh-and-blood child. Her room was neat and clean; she went to her programs and fed her. That's all I know," she told 6ABC. 
 
 The case is similar to a case last September in which police said a disabled man was held captive for months in Southwest Philadelphia for his Social Security checks. Dwayne Young is awaiting trial in that case. It also sparks memories of the Tacony dungeon case, in which Linda Ann Weston, her daughter Jean McIntosh and three others were charged with an elaborate scheme to imprison four people in a boiler room for their Social Security benefits. 
 
 No attorney for Bennett could be located. 
 
 On Twitter: @ChroniclesofSol ||||| Philadelphia Police are trying to figure out how a 36-year-old woman with special needs was chained up to a bed in the basement of a house on the 200 block of Linton Street in the city's Olney section. 
 
 Philadelphia Police are trying to figure out how a 36-year-old woman with special needs was chained up to a bed in the basement of a house on the 200 block of Linton Street in the city's Olney section. 
 
 Philadelphia Police are trying to figure out how a 36-year-old woman with special needs was chained up to a bed in the basement of a house on the 200 block of Linton Street in the city's Olney section. 
 
 Philadelphia Police are trying to figure out how a 36-year-old woman with special needs was chained up to a bed in the basement of a house on the 200 block of Linton Street in the city's Olney section. 
 
 Special Needs Woman Found Chained Up In Olney Basement 
 
 Special Needs Woman Found Chained Up In Olney Basement 
 
 Police say a woman is facing charges following the discovery of a woman found tied to a bed in the basement of a north Philadelphia home. 
 
 Police say a woman is facing charges following the discovery of a woman found tied to a bed in the basement of a north Philadelphia home. 
 
 Police say a woman is facing charges following the discovery of a woman found tied to a bed in the basement of a north Philadelphia home. 
 
 Police say a woman is facing charges following the discovery of a woman found tied to a bed in the basement of a north Philadelphia home. 
 
 Woman Charged In Case Of Special-Needs Cousin Chained To Bed 
 
 A disabled woman found tied to her bed leads to her cousin being placed under arrest, accused of keeping her in deplorable conditions, police say. 
 
 It was at 11:54 p.m. Friday when 35th District officers responded to a home on the 200 block of Linton Street in reference to what police called "an ongoing neighborhood dispute." 
 
 Regina Bennett, 46, was arrested for threats and assault against a neighbor, police said. 
 
 As officers were leaving the location, they learned a young child was living where Bennett resides, although they said there weren't any visible signs of a child living there. 
 
 Officers and a supervisor conducted a walk-through of the residence, and that's when police say they discovered the 36-year-old woman bound to a bed in "unsuitable conditions." 
 
 Police said she was extremely thin, had sores on her body and has a limited vocabulary. 
 
 The woman's chains and zip-ties were cut off by officers, and medics transported the woman to Albert Einstein Medical Center, where she was admitted and continues to be evaluated. 
 
 FOX 29 broke the news to family members that showed up for a cookout Saturday. They say Bennett is the victim's cousin and caretaker. 
 
 Neighbors say regardless of the investigation's outcome, they want the suspect far from their block. 
 
 Bennett has been charged with terroristic threats, simple assault, public drunkenness, aggravated assault, unlawful restraint, false imprisonment and related offenses, police said Sunday. ||||| TROY - Two Schenectady men were arraigned on murder charges Saturday following the brutal slayings of two women and two children. 
 
 Justin C. Mann and James W. White were each charged with first-degree murder and four counts of second-degree murder, according to police. 
 
 The victims were slain at about 9 p.m. on Dec. 21, according to details revealed at Saturday's court proceedings. The four victims were found in the basement of 158 Second Ave. on Tuesday by the apartment's property manager, who had been contacted by the mother of one of the victims who told him that she had not heard from her daughter since before Christmas. 
 
 Mann, 24, of 627 Hamilton St. and White, 38, of 850 Albany St. pleaded not guilty in Troy City Court as several family members of the victims looked on. Rensselaer County District Attorney Joel Abelove was also present. 
 
 Mann appeared to break down as he was led out of court. The suspects were sent to the Rensselaer County Jail pending their next court appearance on Thursday, Jan. 4. 
 
 
 
 Mann has an attorney from the conflict-defender's office, although it was not immediately clear why he could not be represented by the public defender's office. 
 
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 Shanta Myers, 36, Brandi Mells, 22, and two of Myers' three children — Shanise Myers, 5, and Jeremiah "JJ" Myers, 11 — were found tied up and slashed to death in their apartment. 
 
 "I don't need to tell you how good it feels to have these two defendants in custody," Troy Police Chief John Tedesco said at the news conference, reflecting a sense of relief many in the community, especially family members, expressed. 
 
 Tedesco said the two were apprehended without incident at 627 Hamilton St. in Schenectady, where Mann lives. 
 
 According to law enforcement sources, the two men were taken into custody in Schenectady late Friday as detectives worked to secure search warrants in connection with the investigation. 
 
 Police from Troy and Schenectady as well as other agencies began focusing on the pair, in part, after reviewing footage from security cameras in Troy, the sources said. It's unclear if the suspects used public transportation. Capital District Transportation Authority buses are equipped with high-resolution video cameras. 
 
 According to details of the investigation shared with the Times Union, police officers discovered all four victims had their hands and ankles bound and appeared to have had their throats cut. The two children were found together in a kneeling position with their heads and chests on a bed. The body of one of the women was on a mattress on the floor, and the fourth victim was nearby, also face down but covered with a sheet. 
 
 Police recovered a knife with blood on both the handle and the blade located on a ledge near a closet close to the victims. They also found a second knife on a bed near the victims, who were all in close proximity. 
 
 Still, outside law enforcement, many questions remain unanswered. During the 15- minute news conference, authorities did not provide the details of what led them to Mann and White, saying only technology played a big part. They would not say how the men knew each other or the relationship between them and the four victims, other than to say one of the defendants knew one of the victims. 
 
 They also did not say whether they had determined a motive for the slayings. "The investigation is still ongoing and that's one of the things that we're looking for," Tedesco said. 
 
 Police did say they do not expect any further arrests to be made. 
 
 Authorities said both men have records and Mann is on parole. A Justin Mann was paroled on a robbery conviction in June from a Queens prison, according to the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. 
 
 Tedesco thanked many of the agencies involved as well as the public for giving them tips. 
 
 Relief, to a degree 
 
 More than two dozen people were in court Saturday, some wearing Troy Boys & Girls club sweatshirts. One woman broke down as Mann, the first defendant, was led in to the courtroom. As they left, a man was visibly upset as friends helped him out. Neither man said anything as charges were read. 
 
 Family members of the homicide victims had urged people to come forward with information on who may have taken the lives of the two women and two children. 
 
 Keith McCutchen, Mells' uncle, said "it was a relief" to his family to know that arrests had been made after the slaying of his niece, whom he called "Sweetie Bird" since Mells was a toddler growing up in New Jersey. 
 
 "She was such an easygoing, loving person," he said. "I can imagine the look in her eyes when this was happening, like 'Why would anyone do this to me?'" 
 
 Murder charges First-degree murder carries a penalty of life in prison without parole upon conviction. Second-degree murder carries a penalty of a maximum of 25 to life in prison. 
 
 As of Saturday afternoon, a GoFundMe campaign had raised more than $31,000 for the Myers family. The money will be used to provide mental health services for the family and to set up a scholarship and provide resources for Isaiah Smith, Myers' 15-year-old son and the sole survivor in the family, according to the campaign. 
 
 Sharonda Bennett, Mells' cousin, had plans to move from New Jersey to Troy with her husband and children to be closer to Mells and her new family. Mells and Myers got engaged earlier this year and Myers' kids got along with Bennett's children, she said Friday. 
 
 "I'm extremely happy and relieved (about the arrests)," Bennett said in a phone interview on Saturday. She was worried about the safety of other family members and relatives, including Isaiah Smith. On Thursday, Smith said he was scared to go to the corner store. "I'm not sure if they're coming for me next," he said. 
 
 Relatives and families of the victims are "traumatized," Bennett said Saturday. 
 
 "(Brandi's) smile, her laugh and her heart will not be forgotten," she said. "She will be so missed." 
 
 Tedesco said the arrests were the result of work by several law enforcement agencies, including Troy and Schenectady police, State Police Major Crimes, Forensics and Technology units, the Albany branch of the FBI, the Rensselaer County Sheriff's department and the Capital Region Crime Analysis Center. 
 
 "The savagery and barbarism of what happened to these people has been well-reported on by now," District Attorney Abelove said at the news conference. "Our hearts go out to the victims and their families. They've suffered an unspeakable loss, they're trying to gets their heads around; as is most of the public."
– It's the kind of story where you don't want the word "again" to come into play. But Philadelphia is once again in the news with the revelation that a woman with special needs was being held captive in a basement there. The Philadelphia Daily News reports that the discovery came in a roundabout way: Regina Bennett, 46, was arrested in the wee hours of Saturday morning after getting into an altercation with her neighbor; police were told there was a young child in her home, but when they searched it, they instead found a 36-year-old woman chained and zip-tied to a bed in "unsuitable conditions," reports MyFoxPhilly. Bennett's relationship to the victim remains murky: While some outlets describe the women as cousins, others say Bennett was the woman's caretaker. WPVI reports that it spoke with the victim's sister, Alissia Robinson, who puts her mental ability at that of a 10-year-old and says police told her the 36-year-old was found naked. Robinson says her sister began living with Bennett in 2007, and that she hadn't seen her for a year following a fight with Bennett. Bennett is staring down a dozen charges, including aggravated assault, kidnapping for ransom, and neglect of care.