A foster mother in Missouri is facing charges after authorities say she may have traded a teenage girl she was caring for a monkey.
Brenda Ruth Deutsch, 70, was charged with two counts of abuse or neglect of a child and one count of endangering the welfare of a child.
According to a probable cause statement obtained by KSDK , police began investigating Deutsch last November after getting a tip from the Missouri Department of Social Services Children’s Division that a child was being mentally and physically abused in Deutsch’s home.
Then, in February, the girl’s school reported numerous absences. A school resource officer charged with investigating the disappearance of the child, who is described in local reports as a teenager, learned she was in Texas, KTVI reported , and the SRO was able to contact the child through law enforcement in Texas…