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Tracy teen found with chain padlocked to foot says he escaped torture
Some reports say boy in critical condition
By Mike Martinez
San Joaquin Herald
Posted: 12/01/2008 09:28:16 PM PST

Kelly Layne-Lau, accused of holding a teenager captive for the past... (Suspect Kelly Layne-Lau)«123»TRACY — Police have arrested a Tracy couple in connection with a case involving a teen boy who — wearing only a pair of baggy boxers and carrying a heavy chain padlocked to his ankle — stumbled into a local gym Monday, asking employees to hide him.

Kelly Lau-Schumacher, 30, and Michael Schumacher, 34, face charges of torture, kidnapping, false imprisonment, child endangerment and corporal injury to a child, according to police spokesman Matt Robinson. They are each being held on $1.185 million bail.

Another woman, Caren Ramirez, is apparently the boy's aunt and is being sought by police for possibly having a role in the boy's kidnapping.

The teen, whose name hasn't been released, was reported missing from a Sacramento foster home in 2007. He was apparently picked up by the Tracy couple, witnesses said.

When he wandered into the In-Shape City Sports Club, 101 S. Tracy Blvd., around 3:30 p.m. Monday, he was wearing only flesh-colored boxers. He had visible cuts and burns on his back and was described as being emaciated and covered in soot, dried blood, feces and urine, police said. He was taken to Sutter Tracy Community Hospital and was expected to be transferred to Children's Hospital Oakland, authorities said. According to some news reports, he was in critical condition.

He immediately began begging Assistant Manager Lea Leonardo to hide him and said people were going to catch him. She sensed the urgency

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and immediately dialed 911 as the boy curled into a fetal position on the floor underneath the counter.

"I thought it was a prank costume," Leonardo said. "He was so dirty and had the chain around his foot. His feet were swollen, he was terrified and cold. He kept saying, 'They're going to come find me.' He kept saying that over and over."

Employees wrapped the boy in towels as they led him to the manager's office, where they gave him some food and a bottle of water, which he guzzled.

Chuck Ellis, club manager, said the chain was about an inch thick and was padlocked around the boy's left ankle. It appeared to have been cut.

"He was saying he was in a foster home and ran away because he wanted to be with his family," Ellis said. "He was apparently picked up by these people, who had him over a year."

"He didn't know where he was, but he knew his name and his birthday," Leonardo said. He is believed to be 16 or 17 years old.

A member of the club told employees the boy was seen jumping over the fence of a house on Tennis Lane into the parking lot before he walked inside the nearby fitness center.

Police sealed off a residence in the 600 block of Tennis Lane, where they detained a woman. They then questioned a man who arrived at about 6 p.m. Both were led away in handcuffs about 45 minutes later.

"Our first priority was the well-being of the boy," Tracy police Capt. John Espinoza said. "The circumstances described to us by the juvenile are unbelievable. We're looking over the entire crime scene, looking for evidence that supports the boy's story and gets us a successful prosecution. We're also concerned about the welfare of the other children in the home. We've never seen a case like this before in Tracy."

A neighbor, who asked not to be identified, said he thought the boy was a member of the family and would see him playing with the other children who live in the house. He said they had limited contact with the couple — which he said kept to themselves and would only say "hello" and "goodbye."

He said they had lived in the rented house for about a year.

"They appeared to be a normal family," the neighbor said. "We don't even know their last name. (The boy) wouldn't be allowed to talk to us when we'd see him outside or ask him questions."

A representative from San Joaquin County's Child Protective Services arrived to take the remaining children, of which there are four or more, into protective custody.

Last week, Tracy was named the second-safest city in Northern California and the 46th-safest city in the nation, according to a report compiled by reference book publisher CQ Press.

Wire services and staff writer Jeanine Benca contributed to this report. Reach Mike Martinez at 209-832-3947 or mike.martinez@bayareanewsgroup.com.

I can't take it...I could only get through half of the story and it upset me too much.

Insanity.

.... I wish I could talk about it.

some very good friends of mine live not too far from there. this is so sad, i saw the story on the news today. evil people who did this to him!

babynoz said:

what about them?

Tracy, Calif. police have arrested Michael Schumacher, his wife, Kelly Lau Schumacher, and Caren Ramirez in the case of a 17-year-old bloodied with bruises, clad only in flesh-colored boxer shorts and shackled at the ankle when he arrived at a local gym.

Aunt Arrested in Case of Shackled Teen
Emaciated 17-Year-Old Foster Child Wandered Into Fitness Center, Bloodied and Shackled
Dec 2, 2008

California police have arrested a third suspect in the case of the 17-year-old boy who fled from a couple's home Monday, bloodied with bruises, clad only in boxer shorts and shackled at the ankle.

Last night Caren Ramirez was arrested in Berkeley, Calif., after Tracy police received a tip she may be at an acquaintance's residence.

Police were able to contact Caren Ramirez and put her in custody," Tracy police spokesman Matt Robinson said today.

Robinson said 43-year-old Ramirez, who is the boy's aunt and has a felony record, had been on the lam since being charged with abusing the same teen in an unrelated incident.

"At one point [Ramirez] was his guardian after the juvenile was taken away from his parents," Robinson said. "She eventually was arrested for assaulting the juvenile herself. She had an outstanding warrant because of that arrest and so for the past year and a half she has essentially been on the run trying to flee that arrest warrant."

"She will eventually be brought back to Tracy for questioning and eventually arraignment," Robinson said.

Ramirez's arrest follows the apprehension of 30-year-old Kelly Lau Schumacher and her 34-year-old husband, Michael Schumacher, who were arrested and charged with suspicion of torture, kidnapping and child abuse.

The Schumachers, who lived only blocks from the fitness center where the boy was found, each have their bail set at nearly $1.2 million.

Robinson said police are still trying to determine the connection between the Schumachers and Ramirez.



Home where the Schumachers lived.


The Back Story

The peculiar tale began unfolding Monday when a teenage boy arrived at the In-Shape City Sports Club around 4 p.m. begging an employee to hide him, according to Robinson.

"The staff noticed blood and bruising on his body, and he looked emaciated and had a chain locked to his ankle," Robinson said. "The boy was confused and didn't know where he was or how long he had been held against his will."

Chuck Ellis, the district manager for In-Shape Health Clubs, was one of the first people to come to the teen's aid. Some witnesses said the boy had jumped over a fence to get to the fitness center, according to local reports.

It was rather shocking. I mean you couldn't believe when we saw him, he was very thin, very small in stature for when we found out what his age was, it was very surprising," Ellis said. "We thought he was 10 or 13 years old."

Ellis said the teen pleaded with staff to hide him, worried that his captors would come after him.

"You could tell that he was injured. He had cuts on his arms, on his back. [He was] totally terrified. The look in his eyes was just unbelievable. I've never seen [anything like that,]" Ellis said. "He was covered in dirt, kind of like a soot that was all over him."

"I was just horrified how he looked with the cuts and everything but then to see a chain wrapped around his ankle," Ellis said. "It was unbelievable."

Foster Teen Abuse

Ellis said the teenager told him that he was picked up after running away from the foster home to look for his family and that he was held for almost a year.

Police said the boy's left ankle was padlocked with a chain and his leg appeared to be cut. He didn't know where he was but knew his name and birthday.


They took the boy to Sutter Tracy Community Hospital, where he was treated for cuts and "other injuries," some of which may have been from sexual abuse, according to police.

"We want to make sure he gets the proper medical attention necessary," said Robinson.

Hospital spokeswoman Karen Mudd would not provide any other details to ABCNews.com and said the boy was being held in "protective services."

After interviewing the boy, police determined he had been kept at a house "down the street" and knocked on the door of the Schumachers, interviewing the couple and arresting them. By midnight, police had obtained a search warrant for the house and pressed charges.

Police continue to interview Kelly Lau-Schumacher, while her husband is in custody at the San Joaquin County jail. The couple will appear in court Dec. 4.

Meanwhile, four children — ages, 1, 3, 11 and 9 — were also taken from the house, according to police.


Police said the boy had previously been reported missing from a group foster home in Sacramento since 2007, but they had no idea how long he had been there or where his family was.

An unidentified neighbor told the Tri-Valley Herald that he had seen the boy playing with other children and thought he was a family member. The neighbor said he had limited contact with the couple, who had lived in the house for about a year.

"They appeared to be a normal family," the neighbor said. "We don't even know their last name. [The boy] wouldn't be allowed to talk to us when we'd see him outside or ask him questions."

Just this week Tracy, a city of about 80,000 one hour north of San Francisco, was named by CQ Press as the second-safest city in Northern California and the 46th-safest city in the nation.

Robinson said he had never seen a case like this in Tracy. "It's really abnormal here," he said.

If I read all that, I'm not going to be able to get any sleep tonight.

What's WRONG with people?

13 Counts of Child Abuse
Written by Jennifer Wadsworth
Tracy couple hears charges against them in Stockton court today in case of tortured teen.
December 5, 2008
Link


A Tracy couple accused of imprisoning and torturing a teen boy appeared in court today to hear a judge read the lengthened list of charges against them: 13 counts of child abuse, including some for using knives, belts and a baseball bat to hurt the 17-year-old.

Kelly Layne Lau, 30, and her husband, Michael Luther Schumacher, 34, stared blankly across the courtroom, their profiles facing the crush of reporters and curiosity seekers who crowded the room to see them in person.

The third suspect, the boy’s guardian 43-year-old Caren Ramirez, will hear the same charges read against her during a separate arraignment at 1:30 p.m. Monday in Stockton.


Michael Schumacher confers with his attorney during arraignment in Stockton court today.

Glenn Moore/Tracy PressJudge Franklin M. Stephenson appointed public defenders Keith Arthur to represent Lau and John Casevane to defend Schumacher.

He also placed a gag order on the case, barring any information outside of public record from being disclosed by those officially involved in the case.

Spelled out, the three face the same felony charges of kidnapping, inflicting corporal injury to a child, false imprisonment by violence, child abuse and endangerment, cruel and inhumane punishment and aggravated mayhem.

Four of the child endangerment charges against Schumacher and Lau involve the way they may have treated their four young children, ages 1 to 9, who were take away by social service workers Monday shortly after the arrest.

The charges are listed in a 14-page complaint filed before noon today. Each could face life in prison if convicted. They were charged with holding the boy captive for 15 to 18 months, instead of one year as previously believed.

Police arrested the couple Monday night and Ramirez on Tuesday after an emaciated and bloodied teen vaulted the brick wall behind the family’s Tennis Lane home with a chain around his ankle and frantically sought help at a nearby fitness center.

The couple was held at San Joaquin County Jail in French Camp in administrative segregation, to keep them away from the rest of the inmates.

Judge Stephenson placed a restraining order on the couple to keep them at least 100 feet away from their children and in no way to contact them, even through a third party.

Bail amounts for the three suspects were upped from nearly $1.2 million to $2.2 million each.

Charges of torture and aggravated mayhem — violent crimes that include disfiguring and malicious assault — carry with them a maximum sentence of life in prison, San Joaquin District Attorney Angela Hayes said to a throng of reporters outside the Stockton Superior Court today.

Investigators believe the suspects’ intent in allegedly assaulting the teen was “more for sadistic pleasure” than anything else, Hayes said.

Near the end of the arraignment, Lau’s mother, Stephana Brown, 59, who flew up from Southern California to try to get custody of her grandchildren, walked into the crowded courtroom and tried to peer around TV cameras to catch a glimpse of her daughter.

The last time the two saw each other was last year, when Brown visited her daughter’s Tracy home for Christmas.