Malnourished twin teenagers escaped from handcuffs at their Texas home when one of them found the key in his mother’s purse and hid it in his mouth until it was safe to flee, according to US court records.

The 15-year-old twins, a boy and a girl, said they were handcuffed in a laundry room, NBC reported.

The boy, who found the key to the restraints, said they waited to make their escape until their mother and her boyfriend were sleeping, according to court documents filed in Harris County.

Deputies with the Harris County Constable Precinct 5 office were called to a home in Cypress where the teens had fled to about 5.30am on Tuesday morning.

“The twin siblings were covered with bruises, were barefoot, and were partially clothed. The siblings stated that they were starving,” the court records said.

The documents allege the teens had faced months of abuse beginning in July at the hands of their mother and her boyfriend.

The constable’s office says the teens were subjected to abuse that included being forced to drink bleach or having oven cleaner sprayed in their mouths if “they talked too much,” having bleach poured on their skin, including on their genitals, which caused burning.

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The teens were also beaten with extension cords, curtain rods and metal poles, according to court records.

The records said that there is probable cause for the mother to be charged with aggravated assault and aggravated assault on a family member with a previous conviction.

The mother’s boyfriend, the court records said, could be charged with continuous violence against the family.

After authorities found the teens, it took the constable’s office hours to figure out which home they fled from because the siblings had only recently moved there, a spokesman with the constable’s office said this week.

When deputies finally went to their mother’s and her boyfriend’s home, they were gone.

An alert was then issued for five more of her children.

Louisiana State Police said the couple was detained during a traffic stop in the Baton Rouge area on Tuesday afternoon and arrested on fugitive charges out of Harris County.

A juvenile was in the car with the couple, state police said. Five other children who were dropped off at a relative’s house near Baton Rouge were later identified and accounted for, police added.

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