Shackled Teen's Aunt Arrested in His Alleged Kidnapping and Torture

Click here for articleThis is a shocking story. The neighbors didn't even know what was going on. -----Vickie

Shackled Teen's Aunt Arrested in His Alleged Kidnapping and Torture
BERKELEY, Calif. — Police have arrested the aunt of a 17-year-old boy who showed up at a gym shackled and terrified, claiming he had just fled his captors.

Caren Ramirez is the third suspect arrested in the alleged assault against the teen.

Ramirez, 43, was arrested Tuesday night after police received a tip she was in the San Francisco suburb of Berkeley, said Tracy police spokesman Matt Robinson. Tracy is about 60 miles east of San Francisco.

Police had been looking for Ramirez after they arrested Kelly Layne Lau, 30, and Michael Schumacher, 34, earlier Tuesday.

Lau and Schumacher were in jail in lieu of bail set at nearly $1.2 million each. They were booked for suspicion of torture, kidnapping and child abuse.

Prosecutors did not know if the couple had attorneys.

Lau and Schumacher's four young children, two of whom were home when police arrived, were taken into protective custody, authorities said.

The boy, who authorities said ran away from a Sacramento foster home last year, came into the In-Shape Sports Club in Tracy on Monday wearing only boxer briefs and covered in what appeared to be soot, gym manager Chuck Ellis said.

Gym manager Chuck Ellis said the teen was scared someone was going to come after him and asked to be hidden.

The boy said he had been held captive for nearly a year, said Ellis, adding that he looked as if he was only 10 to 12 years old.

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.

Investigators were trying to figure out the connection between the couple and Ramirez, who authorities believe occasionally visited their home.

Ramirez had become the teen's guardian after child-welfare officials took him from his abusive father three or four years ago, police have said. After Ramirez was arrested for allegedly abusing the boy, he was placed in another foster home, which he fled in late 2007, police said.

Since then, the boy's whereabouts hadn't been known until around 4 p.m. Monday, when he entered the fitness center.

Shackled Teen's Aunt Arrested in His Alleged Kidnapping and Torture