‘Girl in the Closet’ was living with girl she sexually assaulted, police say
The woman known as ”The Girl in the Closet,” who was charged with sexual assault of a child, was living with the underage girl she had sexual contact with, according to police.
Lauren Kavanaugh, 25, was arrested Dec. 17 when a 14-year-old girl said she had been sexually assaulted by Kavanaugh, the Lewisville police department said.
Kavanaugh is known for being found tortured and starving in the closet of her family’s Hutchins, Texas, home in 2001.
The 14-year-old messaged Kavanaugh over Facebook messenger in October 2017, according to Kavanaugh’s arrest affidavit. The girl found Kavanaugh through the woman’s Facebook fan page, “The Lauren Kavanaugh” story.
The two began talking off and on until Kavanaugh moved in with the girl’s family at a Budget Suites of America motel in Lewisville in October 2018.
On Dec. 14, the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force told Lewisville police about a sexually explicit Facebook conversation between Kavanaugh and the 14-year-old girl. Facebook.com had tipped off ICAC.
In the messages, Kavanaugh said she was going to perform sexual acts on the girl, police said in the affidavit.
Police brought the girl and her mother in for questioning and the girl told police she had performed sexual acts on Kavanaugh.
After the interview, officers spoke with Kavanaugh, who admitted she had performed sexual acts on the girl and said she “was sorry and learned her lesson.”
Kavanaugh was placed under arrest.
Kavanaugh made national headlines when she was found in 2001. She had been starved and abused from the time she was 2 years old, and her parents kept her inside a 4-by-8-foot closet, according to The Dallas Morning News.
