HUTCHINS, Texas — Investigators say Lauren Kavanaugh spent years locked inside a closet in a Hutchins mobile home, isolated from the rest of the household and deprived of food, care and human contact.
According to medical experts and testimony in the case, the 8-year-old survived in part by mentally detaching from her surroundings — a coping mechanism often seen in victims of prolonged trauma.
Lauren was rescued on June 11, 2001, when police entered the small trailer and found what officers initially believed was a much younger child sitting at a kitchen table…