CommunityEditor
09-29-2009, 08:03 PM
OKLAHOMA CITY — A 14-year-old boy had deep cuts around his wrists and was covered with burns, bruises and scars when he wandered into a National Guard armory last week and said he had escaped from a home where he was locked in a bedroom closet, officials said Tuesday.
Two security guards who work at the armory and saw the teen there on Friday said they lost sleep over the weekend thinking about the boy and the torture he described.
“He said he wanted help, and as soon as he showed us the bruises, we took him inside” and called police, said one of the guards, Paul Clark. “His wrists looked like he either had been handcuffed or had ropes or chains around them. It really kind of took me aback.”
Investigators continued to conduct interviews and examine evidence Tuesday as they prepare a criminal case against the teen’s mother, 37-year-old LaRhonda Marie McCall, Oklahoma City police Sgt. Gary Knight said.
McCall and a friend, 38-year-old Steve Vern Hamilton, were arrested Saturday on 20 complaints each of child abuse and child neglect. Both remained jailed Tuesday on $400,000 bond.
Neither has been formally charged, and jail officials were not sure if either has an attorney. No one answered the phone at McCall’s home Tuesday.
Police believe the boy’s mother frequently tied him up to prevent him from escaping and had a lock installed on a bedroom closet where he often was kept for days at a time.
Based on physical evidence and interviews conducted so far, investigators have no reason to doubt the teen, who claimed he spent most of the last 4½ years locked inside bedroom closets at various apartments where the family lived, Knight said.
“I personally have seen those photographs of the boy’s body, and he was subjected to a number of types of abuse,” Knight said. “He was frequently locked in the closet for hours if not days at a time. He wasn’t allowed to leave, never attended school, never received medical attention.”
McCall had seven other children, six of whom were minors and were taken into custody of the Department of Human Services, but none showed signs of abuse, Knight said.
Police started an investigation Friday after the boy, malnourished and covered with scars, showed up at the base, about a mile and a half from the town house where he lived, and asked where a police station was located so he could report being abused.
He told police the closet door was mostly blocked with a stepladder or a bed and that he managed to push the door open enough to escape and leave the house.
Leslie Sanders, another security guard at the armory, said the boy seemed believable and was concerned about the fate of his siblings.
“He was very straightforward with his answers,” she said. “He still had a good enough heart to ask about his brothers and sisters.”
Dr. Daniel Rybicki, clinical psychologist who specializes in domestic violence and child abuse and consults in criminal and civil cases, said it’s not uncommon for an abusive parent to single out one child as a target for violence.
“There may be temperament variables, where one child is difficult to deal with, but it may be that there are a number of factors with what that child means to the parent,” Rybicki said. “The child may look like someone who troubled the parent.
“It may be completely irrational and based on that parent’s own pathology.”
Article: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/09/ap_guard_teen_092909/
Two security guards who work at the armory and saw the teen there on Friday said they lost sleep over the weekend thinking about the boy and the torture he described.
“He said he wanted help, and as soon as he showed us the bruises, we took him inside” and called police, said one of the guards, Paul Clark. “His wrists looked like he either had been handcuffed or had ropes or chains around them. It really kind of took me aback.”
Investigators continued to conduct interviews and examine evidence Tuesday as they prepare a criminal case against the teen’s mother, 37-year-old LaRhonda Marie McCall, Oklahoma City police Sgt. Gary Knight said.
McCall and a friend, 38-year-old Steve Vern Hamilton, were arrested Saturday on 20 complaints each of child abuse and child neglect. Both remained jailed Tuesday on $400,000 bond.
Neither has been formally charged, and jail officials were not sure if either has an attorney. No one answered the phone at McCall’s home Tuesday.
Police believe the boy’s mother frequently tied him up to prevent him from escaping and had a lock installed on a bedroom closet where he often was kept for days at a time.
Based on physical evidence and interviews conducted so far, investigators have no reason to doubt the teen, who claimed he spent most of the last 4½ years locked inside bedroom closets at various apartments where the family lived, Knight said.
“I personally have seen those photographs of the boy’s body, and he was subjected to a number of types of abuse,” Knight said. “He was frequently locked in the closet for hours if not days at a time. He wasn’t allowed to leave, never attended school, never received medical attention.”
McCall had seven other children, six of whom were minors and were taken into custody of the Department of Human Services, but none showed signs of abuse, Knight said.
Police started an investigation Friday after the boy, malnourished and covered with scars, showed up at the base, about a mile and a half from the town house where he lived, and asked where a police station was located so he could report being abused.
He told police the closet door was mostly blocked with a stepladder or a bed and that he managed to push the door open enough to escape and leave the house.
Leslie Sanders, another security guard at the armory, said the boy seemed believable and was concerned about the fate of his siblings.
“He was very straightforward with his answers,” she said. “He still had a good enough heart to ask about his brothers and sisters.”
Dr. Daniel Rybicki, clinical psychologist who specializes in domestic violence and child abuse and consults in criminal and civil cases, said it’s not uncommon for an abusive parent to single out one child as a target for violence.
“There may be temperament variables, where one child is difficult to deal with, but it may be that there are a number of factors with what that child means to the parent,” Rybicki said. “The child may look like someone who troubled the parent.
“It may be completely irrational and based on that parent’s own pathology.”
Article: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/09/ap_guard_teen_092909/