3 Salinas kids found starving, abused, deputies say 
 
 (03-21) 19:30 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- Three Salinas children are in protective custody after authorities discovered that their mothers had starved and neglected them and chained up the oldest child to prevent her from getting food, Monterey County sheriff's officials said Friday. 
 
 The women, who are domestic partners, were arrested Saturday. Eraca Dawn Craig, 31, and Christian Jessica Deanda, 44, remain in Monterey County Jail. They were arraigned this week on numerous child abuse charges. 
 
 The 8-year-old girl and two boys, ages 5 and 3, were discovered March 14 when sheriff's deputies were conducting a welfare check at their Salinas home, said sheriff's Commander John Thornburg. The officers noticed signs of abuse, including there being little food at the home, which was "cluttered and dirty," authorities said. The three children were taken into protective custody that day. 
 
 Police determined the 8-year-old girl had been chained to a wall at times. Thornburg said she was hospitalized for four days but has been released. The boys did not need hospitalization, he said, but all three children showed signs of neglect as well as physical and emotional abuse. ||||| SALINAS, Calif. (AP) — Three starving children — including one who was chained to the floor to prevent her from getting food — were found last month in the squalid home of a Northern California couple, authorities said. 
 
 All three — two boys and a girl — were taken into protective custody, and one was hospitalized, Monterey County Sheriff Scott Miller said Friday. 
 
 Authorities discovered them in the Salinas, Calif., home on March 14 after two of the young people missed appointments, according to several published reports. 
 
 "It was a particularly heinous case," Miller told the Monterey Herald. The children had "hardly eaten for months." 
 
 The boys are 3 and 5 years old, and the girl is 8, authorities said, and they all exhibited bruises and signs of other physical as well as emotional abuse. 
 
 The girl, who appeared to have suffered the most extreme abuse, was chained to the floor to prevent her from getting any food, they said. 
 
 "It seems that the little girl was the major target of this abuse," Miller continued, adding that she looked "like a concentration camp victim." 
 
 The girl was in the hospital for about five days, he said, and seemed "traumatized." 
 
 There was evidence that she was may have been put in the closet as well as that she was sometimes shackled at the ankle and at other times by a collar around her neck, Miller said. 
 
 Eraca Dwan Craig, 31, and Christian Jessica Deana, 44, were both arrested at the scene on suspicion of felony child cruelty, false imprisonment and other charges. 
 
 The women, who are domestic partners, do not appear to have criminal records in Monterey County. They were both arraigned in Monterey County Court on Tuesday and are scheduled for a preliminary hearing on March 28. 
 
 Authorities said the women seemed to be making preparations to leave before they were arrested. 
 
 Investigators found little food inside the home, which was cluttered and dirty, according to reports. 
 
 The girl and the older boy were adopted children, and the younger boy is the biological son of one of the women, Miller said. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Information from: The Monterey County Herald, http://www.montereyherald.com ||||| Salinas: One of two women arrested is former correctional officer 
 
 Click photo to enlarge « 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 » 
 
 One of two women accused of starving, chaining and abusing three children in Monterey County is a former correctional officer, while the other was a businesswoman and counselor at clinics in California and New Mexico, according to their online professional profiles and court filings. 
 
 Sheriff's deputies rescued three children from the couple's residence on Russell Road north of Salinas on March 14, citing horrific conditions and an "emaciated" 8-year-old girl who looked like "a concentration camp" victim, said Monterey County Sheriff Scott Miller. 
 
 Also taken from the home were two boys, ages 3 and 5. 
 
 Miller said Eraca Dawn Craig, 31, and Christian Jessica Deanda, 44, are accused of felony child cruelty, false imprisonment and other charges. 
 
 Deputies conducted a welfare check at the house after the children didn't show up for an unspecified appointment, detectives said. 
 
 They found the children, who were home-schooled, living in squalid conditions and "fairly dire straits," Miller said. 
 
 The girl was the most abused, deputies said, though all three had bruises and other marks and appeared to be malnourished. 
 
 Officers said they found signs the girl had been chained to the wall and said she may have been held in a closet. Investigators believe she was shackled at times at the ankle and at other times by a collar around her neck. 
 
 One deputy reported the girl was chained "to keep her from obtaining food." 
 
 Miller said it appeared she had "hardly eaten for months." 
 
 The girl and the 5-year-old boy were legally adopted children, he said, while the 3-year-old boy is the biological son of one of the women, who are domestic partners. 
 
 The rescued 8-year-old was immediately hospitalized for about five days, Miller said, and appeared to be "very traumatized." 
 
 The children were placed in foster homes. 
 
 "It seems that the little girl was the major target of this abuse," he said. "It was a particularly heinous case." 
 
 He said there were indications the women were preparing to leave the area soon. 
 
 Detectives said moving boxes were packed and the women told them they were planning to move to the Fresno area. 
 
 Miller said when children are rescued from terrifying conditions, they are not usually "jumping up and down in joy. They may have forgotten what joy is like." 
 
 Law enforcement officers' description of the grim scenario stands in contrast to the women's online business profiles. 
 
 Posting as Cristian Deanda-Craig on LinkedIn.Com, Deanda wrote about her cactus nursery in New Mexico: "I am currently in a place that makes me happy both personally and professionally. I left me (sic) job to be home with my kids. I loved gardening and soon found myself selling flowers to neighbors. So my partner and I started our business — the best decision ever! I enjoy watching my kids grow and my flowers!" 
 
 Under previous jobs, she lists work as an HIV prevention case manager at John XXIII AIDS Ministry in Salinas from 2001-04, and later as a psychosocial therapy manager at Valencia Counseling Services in Estancia, N.M. 
 
 Deanda was a program manager at a transitional housing facility for men in Gallup, N.M., according to the profile. 
 
 Public records show she lived in Castroville and Salinas as well as New Mexico. 
 
 Deanda and Craig were scheduled to be married March 29, according to an online gift registry. 
 
 Craig, whose profile is listed under Eraca Craig-Deanda, earned a degree in auto mechanics management from Hartnell College in 2013, according to the site. 
 
 Before that, she was a detention officer at the Navajo County, Ariz., sheriff's office in 2005-06 and a corrections officer at a New Mexico corrections facility from December 2006 to May 2010. 
 
 More recently, her occupation was listed as auto mechanic. 
 
 Records show she left New Mexico in May 2010, moving to the Russell Road address in Salinas. 
 
 Soon after moving back to Salinas, Craig filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy. 
 
 Almost immediately, she began defaulting on agreed-upon monthly payments, federal court records show. The case was ultimately thrown out for failure to pay two days before her arrest. 
 
 Craig earned about $36,000 a year as a New Mexico correctional officer, according to her filing, but was receiving unemployment assistance and food stamps in Salinas at the time of her bankruptcy petition. 
 
 The children were listed as her dependent sons and daughter in the filing, which was made when her youngest son was 6 months old. 
 
 Neither woman appears to have a criminal record in Monterey County. 
 
 Asked why his office delayed announcing the arrests, Miller said officials were investigating the case and wanted to wait until after the women were charged by the District Attorney's Office and arraigned in court. 
 
 They were arraigned in Monterey County Court on Tuesday and are being held at Monterey County Jail in lieu of $50,000 bail each, although Miller said late Friday officers were in court asking for the bail amounts to be raised. 
 
 Deanda and Craig are scheduled for a preliminary hearing on March 28. 
 
 Julia Reynolds can be reached at 648-1187 or jreynolds@montereyherald.com. 
 
 Donations 
 
 · Send donations to: Monterey County Association of Families Caring for Children, P.O. Box 2283, Salinas, CA 93902 
 
 · Clothing, toys and other new items can be dropped at the association office, Hartnell College, Bldg D, Room 120.
– It's "a particularly heinous case," says the sheriff in California's Monterey County. Police rescued three young children who showed signs of starvation and abuse from their home in Salinas, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. Their mothers, who lived together as domestic partners, are in custody. The oldest child, an 8-year-old girl, had been chained at times to keep her from getting food, and she looked like a "concentration camp victim," says Sheriff Scott Miller. The girl was hospitalized for four days and is now recuperating in a foster home. The other two children are boys ages 3 and 5, and they, too, were malnourished, bruised, and showed signs of emotional abuse, reports AP. But the girl apparently bore the brunt of the abuse, with investigators saying she was shackled at the ankle or by a collar at times, and may have been held in a closet. Eraca Craig, 31, and Christian Deanda, 44, are accused of felony child cruelty, false imprisonment, and other charges, reports the Monterey Herald. They home-schooled the kids and were scheduled to be married next week.