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A New Jersey couple accused of abusing a teenager while keeping her chained and locked up inside a dog crate for several years will remain in jail.
Branndon Mosley, 41, and Brenda Spencer, 38, both of Gloucester Township, attended court hearings on Thursday, May 22, 2025. They will remain detained as they await their next court appearance which is scheduled for July 23, 2025.
Spencer and Mosley are both charged with kidnapping, aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of a child and other offenses.
Additionally, Mosley — who was a regional rail conductor with SEPTA — was also charged with sexual assault.
Resources for victims of sexual assault are available through the National Sexual Violence Resources Center and the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 800-656-4673.
An 18-year-old woman told police she escaped from the couple’s home, along the 300 block of Ridge Avenue in Blackwood in Gloucester Township, with help from a neighbor on May 8, 2025, after being held captive at the residence since 2018.
Officials said they met the victim at a Wawa located along the 800 block of Black Horse Pike, in Blackwood, NJ, shortly after she escaped the home.
“I wish I knew what was going on before. Otherwise, I would have reported it,” the neighbor who helped the woman escape said.
The woman told investigators that the abuse began in 2018 when she was in sixth grade and Spencer removed her from her school.
Following her removal from school, the victim told investigators she was “forced to live in a dog crate for approximately one year and was let out periodically,” according to the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office.
She was also forced to live in a padlocked bathroom while she was chained up, officials claim. Investigators who interviewed the victim said she still had scars on her wrists, according to the criminal complaint.
Other times, police claim, the victim was forced to live in a bare room where she had to use a bucket instead of a toilet.
This room was rigged with an alarm system that would alert Spencer and Mosley if she attempted to escape, investigators said.
During her captivity, the woman said she was beaten with a belt and was sexually abused by Mosley, according to officials.
According to court documents, on at least one occasion, the victim claimed Mosley withheld food from her while she was chained up with her hands behind her back, until after he sexually abused her.
In a search of the property where the woman claimed she was held captive, officials said, investigators “found that the victim was subjected to living in squalid conditions alongside numerous dogs, chinchillas, and other animals.”
‘Heinous, years-long torture’
“What this young woman survived was absolutely horrific,” said Grace MacAulay, Camden County Prosecutor, during a press conference on May 14, 2025.
A 13-year-old girl who was living at the home was also removed by law enforcement officials, police said.
That victim had also been removed from school at Spencer’s discretion and both she and the 18-year-old victim were allegedly being homeschooled, officials said.
Asked about how the teen managed to escape the home, MacAulay and other law enforcement officials said they couldn’t provide further information at this point in the investigation.
Still, MacAulay said the teen survived “heinous, yearslong torture,” that was able to be conducted under the guise of homeschooling.
According to MacAulay, in New Jersey, a child can be removed from schools if a parent or guardian tells school officials of their intent to homeschool and there’s no follow up checks or testing on the child after that.
Because of this, she said that while homeschooling can be the right choice for some families, in this case, MacAulay argued that it was used as a way to hide abuses allegedly being committed.
“Clearly there are flaws in the current educational system,” she said.
Gloucester Township Police Chief David Harkins said the victim didn’t immediately provide all of the details in this case after she initially met with police. She later contacted police the weekend after her escape when she was ready to discuss more information, officials said.
Camden County Prosecutor Grace MacAulay and other law enforcement officials provided new details after, police say, a teen escaped a Gloucester Township home where she was allegedly locked in a dog cage, chain up and sexually abused for at least seven years.
“I kind of already had a suspicion of what happened. Only because you never see them and they’re very quiet and it could have only been one thing. That’s kind of always been kind of weird to me,” one neighbor told NBC10.
Both Spencer and Mosley were apprehended at their home on May 11, 2025, and are in police custody at the Camden County Correctional Facility pending detention hearings.
Mosley worked for SEPTA as a regional rail conductor, officials said. He was among the employees who were honored by SEPTA in March.
Investigators are asking anyone who may have information on this case to contact Detective Timothy Jordan of the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office Special Victims Unit at (856) 365-3073 and Detective Daniel Ritz of the Gloucester Township Police Department at (856) 228-4500.
Tips may also be sent to CAMDEN.TIPS.
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