Prosecutor: Trio used bat, knife, belt on shackled teen

Ok I admit it. When I first read this story a couple of days ago, I thought it would turn out to be some kind of a hoax. When I saw the news report on CNN last night, I finally believed this could happen. How it happened and what is wrong with the people who treated this kid like this is still beyond me.

Prosecutor: Trio used bat, knife, belt on shackled teen
Story Highlights
Three alleged abusers tortured teen with a bat, knife and belt, court documents say

Police: Teen escaped year of captivity Monday and walked into a fitness center

Bruised and battered, he wore only boxer shorts and bloody ankle shackle, police say

The 17-year-old had been in a group home but had run away

SAN FRANCISCO, California (CNN) -- The three alleged abusers of a 17-year-old teen, who escaped captivity with a shackle on his ankle, tortured him with a bat, knife and belt, court documents released Thursday contend.


Police say a bruised, emaciated teen boy wandered to this gym after being held in a home in Tracy, California.

A 14-page criminal complaint adds more chilling details to the bizarre tale that shocked the central California city of Tracy.

The teen escaped a year of captivity Monday and walked into a fitness center in Tracy, bruised and battered, wearing only boxer shorts and with his bloody ankle shackled, police said.

Police arrested Caren Ramirez, 43; Kelly Layne Lau, 30; and her husband, Michael Luther Schumacher, 34, in the case. Lau and Ramirez did not enter pleas as they made their first court appearances Thursday. Bail was set at $ 2.2 million each, a court official said.

Ramirez is scheduled to appear in court at a later date, the official said.

The judge also issued a gag order for people connected to the case, Tracy police said.

Authorities this week have been trying to piece together how the teen ended up shackled in the home of Lau and Schumacher in Tracy, about 70 miles east of San Francisco
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