After hearing her screams coming from a storage shed in Southern California, authorities were able to find a malnourished woman covered in wounds being held hostage.
Elias Abdurahman, 61, and Sara Kebede Tadesse, 50, are now being accused of torturing and imprisoning the woman, who is the man's sister, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney's office.
The pair were arrested Sept. 22 in Lancaster, California, on suspicion of locking the 54-year-old woman up for more than a year.
On Tuesday, prosecutors charged the couple with false imprisonment, torture, dependent adult abuse, and assault with a deadly weapon. Authorities say they also beat the woman, who has not been identified, with a cane.
The woman was frail, emaciated, and covered in wounds when she was found by deputies, who were sent to the residence after screams were reported.
The exact amount of time the woman was locked up is still not entirely clear, the district attorney's spokesman, Ricardo Santiago, told Reuters. He also said it was "too early to tell" what the couple's alleged motive was.
An arraignment on the charges was delayed due to the difficulty in finding a translator who speaks the couple's Ethiopian dialect, Santiago said.
Both are now scheduled to enter a plea Oct. 20, and could each face life in prison if convicted.