Linda Ann Weston's brutality knew no bounds.
Over three decades, she starved a man to death, terrorized her siblings, beat her children, and stole money from the disabled, police and her own family say.
The details of her reign of terror are still emerging, but this much is clear: The children, men, and women under her control were victims of catastrophic failings of multiple agencies designed to protect the most vulnerable.
From police departments to child protective services, the parole board to the Social Security Administration, Weston eluded - and sometimes exploited - each one.
"How did she manage to get away with it?" said Robert Sanabria, whose brother Edwin was one of Weston's captives. "How did they let her roam free?"
Everyone is trying to answer those questions.
City detectives, the FBI, and law enforcement in six states are still trying to sort through the twisted life of Weston, 51. She was arrested Oct. 15 after four mentally disabled adults, including Sanabria, were found locked in the cellar of a Tacony apartment house.
With three others, she was charged with multiple counts of kidnapping, conspiracy, false imprisonment, and assault.
From 1987 to 1993, Weston was supposed to be under court-ordered supervision and receiving psychiatric treatment as part of her parole for a 1984 murder conviction.
But she hid from parole officers.
"This woman was in absconder status for five years," said Leo Dunn, a spokesman for the state Board of Probation and Parole. "Looks horrible."
Weston is accused of stealing the Social Security checks of the four people locked in the Tacony cellar. Constantly on the move, she traveled with an entourage that included her boyfriend, Gregory Thomas; her daughter, Jean McIntosh; and a self-proclaimed minister, Eddie Wright. All have been charged.
Authorities have taken eight children into protective custody, some of whom were being cared for by Weston. The four adults from the basement have been placed in the city's care.
Weston's lawyer, Michael J. Graves Jr., did not respond to requests for comment.
Weston was convicted in 1984 of third-degree murder for starving her sister's boyfriend, Bernardo Ramos.
And yet, when she was arrested Oct. 15, she maintained responsibility for several children who were not hers, including her niece, Beatrice Weston, 19, who suffered abuse so severe police were surprised she survived.
