Jayme Kushman Chained Children to the Bed and Confined Them in Cages, Prosecutors Say

Warning: The following contains graphic descriptions of abuse and neglect. Reader discretion is advised.

The news shocked New Mexico: an 11-year boy, shackled to a bed and lying in his own vomit. Other children coerced into being jailers.

Despite initially receiving reports of abuse in 2020, it took until summer 2022 before six children were rescued from a filthy house in Curry County. Police charged residents Jayme Kushman and Jaime Sena with 21 counts each of child abuse in August of that year.

In describing the crimes seen in a digital episode of Crime in Progress, “it’s just a different level of evil,” Ninth Judicial District Chief Deputy Attorney Brian Stover tells A&E Crime + Investigation.

The violence exemplifies ongoing problems with child abuse and care in the state, advocates said.

New Mexico Child First Network Executive Director Maralyn Beck characterized the case as heart-rending but “unsurprising” she tells A&E Crime + Investigation. “I think our problems are so systemic, we’re just used to it.”.

Officials had suspected Kushman and Sena of abuse for some time after receiving tips of kids being kept in dog cages at a home in Texico, a rural town of less than 1,000 people on the Texas border. But every time New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department staff or local police got inside the house, “the place would be cleaned up; they wouldn’t find anything,” Stover says.

Authorities tried bringing the children in for interviews. They were escorted by Kushman and Sena “and had been given brand-new clothes and [told], ‘We’re going to go to McDonald’s afterwards,’” Stover recalls. “They didn’t tell us anything.”

In July 2022, a proactive CYFD agent joined forces with a New Mexico state trooper “who was really on the ball,” Stover says.

The two arrived together at Kushman and Sena’s house and gained access relatively quickly. “It prevented Sena and Kushman from cleaning up everything. They were able to get in and see enough to get a search warrant,” Stover recounts.

Stover, who prosecuted the crime, advised investigators, “There’s got to be cameras somewhere where they’re watching people. And if there’s a camera, get the SD card.”

They followed his advice and retrieved an SD card. “They looked, and lo and behold, there’s a camera,” he says.

Stover spent three weeks watching three days of footage of an 11-year-old boy chained to a bed with only a 10-minute break to use the washroom over 14 consecutive hours.

The child, who has learning disabilities, “was not brought food, he’s not brought water, he’s chained by the ankles to this bed,” the prosecutor recalls. “At one point, he vomits and he’s got no choice, he just has to lay in it.”

In the morning, Kushman “grabs [the victim] by the back of the head, shoves his face in the vomit, rubs his face in it and leaves him there,” Stover notes.

At one point, the boy managed to unlock himself. He escaped, was caught and beaten, then chained up again by other children, Stover said.

Three minors in the house were related to Kushman, two were Sena’s children and another was a 16-year who had moved in.

In addition to the 11-year-old, the youngest boy in the house was also physically abused, Stover says. He notes that none of the children were properly fed and often lacked necessities like running water.

“The thing that stood out was the normalcy of it. These poor kids were to the point of not even understanding this isn’t normal,” Stover continues. “You’re not supposed to be locked up to your bed; you’re supposed to be loved and fed every day. And you’re supposed to be able to be clean and get water whenever you want it.”

Kushman, 40, pleaded guilty to child abuse in July 2023 and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Sena, 32, pleaded no contest and received six years.

The two women, who were in a relationship, “never showed any remorse,” Stover says.

Kushman’s former girlfriend, Lora Melancon, 45, who had lived at the Curry County house previously, was also arrested for child abuse. She pleaded guilty and was sentenced to six years in August 2023.

Asked about a motive, “it was about absolute control,” Stover says of Kushman. “She ran that house and her word was law.”

The arrests raised questions about the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department and local authorities’ handling of the situation.

CYFD officials tell A&E Crime + Investigation they acted promptly to protect the children. After hearing about alleged abuse at Kushman's home in July 2022, “we immediately investigated,” found “six children living there were in danger” and “took custody of them,” Communications Director Jake Thompson says.

Previously, CYFD responded to a January 2020 report of inadequate shelter for children in the Kushman home. Staff investigated and determined intervention was needed to protect the children, Thompson says. The agency implemented an in-home services plan, requiring the parents to improve the living conditions and other upgrades. After finding the parents were meeting plan requirements, CYFD closed the case in July 2020.

The agency received no other calls or alerts about the family until 2022, “which resulted in the immediate removal of the children,” Thompson says.

In April 2025, New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez opened an investigation into the death of a 16-year-old boy in foster care and other children under CYFD supervision.

But problems have existed for years, Child First Network’s Beck tells A&E. She cited the challenges of caring for kids in a sprawling state with a high percentage of children living in poverty and “extraordinary urban-rural divides.”

“New Mexico is a place for egregious cases,” Beck says. She listed poor fiscal management at CYFD, a high turnover rate and lack of a qualified workforce as contributing factors. Stover characterizes CYFD as a “top-heavy” organization that has “lost touch” with its mission.

In 2018, attorneys filed what became known as the Kevin S. lawsuit against CYFD on behalf of 4,700 foster children. It contended the state’s child welfare system was among the “worst in the nation.”

A settlement was reached in 2020 requiring the state to provide trauma care, safe accommodation, physical and mental health services and other benchmarks.

But a report based on 2024 data shows that care for children under CYFD care is “worse than it’s ever been,” Bette Fleishman, executive director of Albuquerque’s Pegasus Legal Services for Children, tells A&E Crime + Investigation.

Children were sleeping at CYFD offices, being placed out of state and dying in agency custody, Fleishman, a co-counsel on the lawsuit, alleges. “Last year, there were some [caseworkers] who had up to 50 cases because they’re so short-staffed. We’re frustrated.”

The CYFD secretary retired in September 2025 and was replaced by an acting chief. “Beginning in September, CYFD’s leaders accelerated work department-wide to improve every crucial aspect of our child welfare agency,” agency officials said in a statement in response to the 2024 report.

Changes include increasing hiring, recruiting more licensed foster and resource homes, expediting placements and connecting children with medical resources and counselors.

“The department always puts the safety and well-being of children first,” the statement continued. “CYFD is fully committed to fulfilling its obligations under the Kevin S. Settlement Agreement and to creating a more effective child welfare system.”

Once Kushman’s case broke, several people came forward with stories about cruelty by her and the others, Stover recalls.

He urges the public not to hesitate contacting authorities about potential child abuse. “When you suspect something, have the courage to say something about it,” Stover says. “Children are vulnerable and calling the CYFD just means that somebody’s going to come out and look. Don’t let your politeness allow some kid to be continued to be abused.”