70-year-old woman accused of trading foster child for a monkey, police say

A prolific foster mother in Missouri is being investigated for allegedly trading a foster child in exchange for a monkey, according to police who are looking into claims of abuse against numerous children.

Seventy-year-old Brenda Deutsch reportedly worked as a foster mother for decades and took care of over 200 children according to sources that spoke to KMOV-TV. Deutsch is accused of abusing a child for years, said Lincoln County prosecutors.

'We didn’t have any police reports. We didn’t have any requests for prosecution. We didn’t have anything.'

The alleged abuse occurred between Sept. 2022 and Jan. 2025, according to court documents. Prosecutors said Deutsch hit the child in the face, causing injury and bleeding, as well as other acts of physical, mental, and emotional abuse.

Investigators said they were anonymously tipped off about the alleged abuse.

The victim was reported to be missing from school in Missouri and had been taken to Texas. Investigators said that one witness told them Deutsch left the child in Texas because they didn't get along, while another witness said she traded the child for a monkey.

Lincoln County Prosecutor Mike Wood said that the adults in the Texas home were disabled, and it appeared that the child was taking care of them. He described the home as being in "deplorable" condition because of burst pipes.

Deutsch is accused of having her children evaluated for psychological issues and sending them to residential treatment facilities as a form of punishment, according to Wood.

Wood said that the home had been reported to a state child abuse tip line more than 200 times, but no police report had ever been made.

“Disappointed to learn that this particular home, despite the notoriety that it had gained, was not in our system. We didn’t have any police reports. We didn’t have any requests for prosecution. We didn’t have anything."

The Lincoln County Sheriff said that the woman had called police several times and that they were reviewing their old files.

Wood said that the investigation was expected to take a long time as the abuse is reported to have been committed over a decade. Other alleged victims and witnesses have contacted police.

Deutsch was arrested and charged with felony counts of neglect, child abuse, and child endangerment. She is being held on a cash-only bond of $250,000.

The woman's booking photo and images from the investigation can be viewed in the news video report from KMOV-TV on YouTube.

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