Kelly Layne Lau (Myspace) & Michael Schumacher

Tracy, CA–Yes, Kelly and her husband MichaelMichael reviews were living the American dream. Kelly is a Girl Scout leader and a stay-at-home mom. Michael is employed as a contractor for a cable company. They have a home in the ‘burbs, 4 cute-as-a-button little kids, and a dog named Bubba. *Sigh* It all sounds so Leave it to Beaver-ish. Kelly had something June Cleaver never had though…a 17-year-old boy shackled and locked up in the garage. Woot! Every housewife’s dream, right?

Like a scene from a horror flick, a dirty and bruised teen boy, wearing nothing but a pair of baggy boxer shorts, burst through the door at the In-Shape City Sports Club Monday afternoon. He had a chain, approximately 3 feet long, clamped and locked onto his ankle. He cried out, ‘HideHide reviews me! Hide me, please!’ before curling into a fetal position on the floor underneath the counter. ‘He looked like he was covered in soot, not necessarily dirt, but a fine, dark soot,’ said Chuck Ellis, district manager for the gym. ‘He had cuts on his arm and his back and his head.’ His ankle was swollen and cut from the chain. He was emaciated…he looked like he couldn’t be much older than 11 or 12. He kept repeating, ‘They’re coming to get me. They’re coming to get me. Don’t let them get me.’ Shocked employees called 911 and wrapped the shaking boy in towels to keep him warm.

Chuck Ellis said the chain was about an inch thick and was padlocked around the boy’s left ankle. Lea Leonardo, assistant manager at the club said, ‘He didn’t know where he was, but he knew his name and his birthday.’ The boy told Leonardoleonardo that he was 16, apparently not realizing that he had turned 17 on Sept. 15, she said. A member of the club told employees the boy was seen jumping over the 8′ fence of a nearby house before he walked into the fitness center.

Officers arrived to interview the boy, who appeared to be dazed, confused, and very scared. He didn’t know where he was, he didn’t know exactly how long he had been held captive. He was able to give enough information to pinpoint the home from which he escaped and officers immediately sealed off the Schumacher residence. They questioned 30-year-old Kelly Layne Lau and her husband, 34-year-old Michael Schumacher. About 45 minutes later, they were both handcuffed and taken away. Their four children were taken into protective custody. A search of their home found evidence implicating them, but officials are being tight-lipped on the details. Authorities said they believe the boy had been chained to a car seat but picked up a dropped key, unlocked himself and fled when the car stopped. It is believed that he has spent the last year chained up in the garage, starved and abused. Sounds to me like they had themselves a fine little slave.

This is what authorities have been able to figure out so far…child welfare officials took the teen from his abusive father three or four years ago. He was then placed with his aunt, 43-year-old Caren Ramirez. After she was arrested for abusing the boy, he was placed in a foster home. He was reported missing from the foster home in late 2007 after he ran away in search of his family. How the boy ended up with Lau and Schumacher is anyone’s guess right now, but he had been held against his will for about a year. Though Ramirez has visited the home in the past, her relationship with the Schumacher’s is not clear.

A neighbor of Kelly and Michael, Rachel Portillo, said the boy ’seemed to arrive at the house like a friend.’ ‘They (Lau & Schumacher) said it was a friend’s son, they said he’d be going in about a month, then it was three months, then six months, then NovemberNovember reviews. I always wondered, why isn’t he going to school?’ Portillo said her 11-year-old granddaughter spent the night at the Schumacher house one night. The girl told her grandmother that the boy they knew as Kyle slept ‘on a piece of carpet in front of the door to the garage.’ Portillo adds, ‘He never went away, never went anywhere. He’d come out and cut the lawn, but they’d have the blinds open. I think he was being watched.’ He had been seen doing yard work, taking out the trash, and sitting with the family, but he wasn’t allowed to speak to the neighbors.

Kelly Layne Lau and Michael Schumacher now face charges of conspiracy, kidnapping, torture, child endangerment, false imprisonment, and corporal injury to a child. They are being held in San Joaquin County jail on $1.2 million bond. Kelly’s inmate information can be found here, Michael’s inmate information here. They face arraignment on Thursday afternoon. Neither one of them are talking yet. I, for one, am looking forward to hearing the entire story.

As I write this, it has been brought to my attention that Caren Ramirez was arrested late last night. So far, I have no further information regarding her arrest or charges.

Caren (that can’t be a woman) Ramirez

The boy is listed in serious condition at Sutter Tracy Community Hospital. Police will interview him further when he is a little healthier. When nurses asked him what he wanted to eat, his response was, ‘PizzaPizza reviews. I haven’t had pizza in a year.’ I wish him a speedy recovery and the best of luck…I’m sorry he had to be surrounded by shitbags for so long.

This case is still under investigation and I have a feeling that it will be awhile before the whole story comes out. I will keep you updated as more information arises.