Wisconsin mother faces charges after 13-year-old runaway found in handcuffs

MILWAUKEE -- (WITI) -- A 13-year-old girl ran away from home on a cold winter night with no coat and no shoes. Her neighbors didn't answer their doors, but others were there to help.

Police got a call from two people who found the 13-year-old girl in handcuffs. When they saw her, they offered to help. She told them her mother was trying to kill her.

According to police, the mother grew angry when the girl wouldn't get off the phone. Prosecutors said she threatened her daughter, "forcibly slamming her head onto the floor," and the girl "felt she was suffocating," as her mother grabbed her neck with both hands. Police said her mom grabbed a pair of handcuffs and "affixed them to her wrists," before the girl was able to escape moments later. She knocked on several doors before encountering the two people who helped lead her to safety.

The strangers told the girl to "hide behind their car" because they could see her mom looking for her. They then drove to a gas station and called 911.

FOX6 News isn't identifying the suspect in order to protect the identity of the child. The defendant is out on bond, and faces four felony charges -- physical abuse of a child (intentional causation of bodily harm), one count of neglecting a child (consequence is bodily harm), strangulation and suffocation and false imprisonment.

She was ordered by the court to have no contact with her daughter.