Tracy couple held for allegedly imprisoning teenage boy
Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
(12-02) 15:16 PST TRACY --
A Tracy husband and wife were jailed today on suspicion of kidnapping, torture, false imprisonment and child abuse after an emaciated 17-year-old boy with a padlock on his ankle ran into a fitness center for help, authorities said.
Michael Luther Schumacher, 34, and Kelly Layne Lau, 30, were each being held in lieu of $1.1 million bail at San Joaquin County Jail, a day after the boy escaped from their home on Tennis Lane and ran around the corner into the In-Shape Sports Club on South Tracy Boulevard, police said.
A third suspect, 43-year-old Caren Ramirez, is being sought in connection with the alleged abuse as well as a felony warrant for an earlier incident in which she allegedly beat the boy, police said. Ramirez may have left San Joaquin County and be staying with a brother in East Palo Alto, police said.
There was no legal relationship between the married couple and the boy, who ran away last year from a foster home in Sacramento, police said. Ramirez's relationship with the boy and the circumstances of the youth's alleged kidnapping were not immediately known.
The boy, whose name was not released, came into the gym about 3:30 p.m. Monday wearing only men's boxer shorts and a three-foot chain padlocked to his ankle, authorities said. He was dirty and emaciated, and the chain had cut into his ankle, which was swollen, investigators said.
"He came in through the front door, and 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."
The boy began begging assistant manager Lea Leonardo, "Hide me, hide me, please," before hunkering into a crouch underneath the counter, Ellis said.
Leonardo thought at first that it was a prank, but the boy's terror was apparent, Ellis said. "He was shaking so bad," he said.
Employees called 911 and wrapped him in towels and gave him bottled water.
He repeated, "They're coming to get me," Ellis said. They tried to reassure him that he was safe and that nobody would get him.
"The victim said he was held against his will," police spokesman Matt Robinson said at a news conference today. "When you have a 17-year-old boy showing up with a bloody ankle from having a chain wrapped around it, it was one of those things where officers put one and one together."
The boy had apparently been staying in the garage of the couple's home, police Capt. John Espinoza said. Police were trying to determine how long he had been there. "We don't absolutely know yet," Espinoza said.
The boy was taken to a local hospital; his condition was not released.
Authorities said the couple have four children, who have been placed with social service workers.
On her MySpace page, Lau said her children were ages 1 to 9. She described herself as a stay-at-home mother, a Daisy Girl Scouts leader and diehard Oakland Raiders fan who is "happily married to a man who I love to death."
Schumacher, she wrote, "is my best friend and a wonderful father to our four kids and I wouldn't trade him for anything in this world."
Lau attended high schools in Truckee and Chino Hills (San Bernardino County), according to her MySpace page. Among her favorite television shows were "Six Feet Under," Family Plots," "Nip/Tuck," and "Dexter."
"Anything that's gruesome. I'm weird, I guess," she wrote.
The couple moved about three years ago into their home on the 600 block of Tennis Lane in central Tracy, said a neighbor, Rachel Portillo, 47. The tract has street names such as Wimbledon Lane, Doubles Court and Match Point Place.
Portillo said she first noticed the teenage boy there about a year and a half after the family moved in. "He came out, he did chores and would throw the garbage out," she said. Portillo added that she hadn't seen him recently.
Portillo's daughter, Marina Alvarez, 28, said she was shocked to learn that the skinny, small boy she saw taking groceries inside the home was 17.
"I thought he was 13," Alvarez said. "The way he interacted with the other children made it seem like he was very young."
Schumacher worked as a contractor for a cable company, Portillo said. He was quiet and had a calm disposition, she said.
Lau was more outspoken and was often outside talking on the phone and paying attention to the comings and goings in the neighborhood, Portillo said. Lau would sometimes make comments to Portillo such as, "I saw your husband leave," she said.
"She was a busybody, but I think the little guy was doing a lot of her work," Portillo said, referring to the 17-year-old boy.
Lau would invite Portillo's family over for barbecues, but she distanced herself because the couple tended to curse and "talk like adults in front of children," Portillo said. "Just cussing and just talking adult stuff, things that kids shouldn't even hear."
Alvarez agreed, saying Lau was "really aggressive" in the way she addressed others, "really loud, quick to snap on people, including her kids."
Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
(12-02) 15:16 PST TRACY --
A Tracy husband and wife were jailed today on suspicion of kidnapping, torture, false imprisonment and child abuse after an emaciated 17-year-old boy with a padlock on his ankle ran into a fitness center for help, authorities said.
Michael Luther Schumacher, 34, and Kelly Layne Lau, 30, were each being held in lieu of $1.1 million bail at San Joaquin County Jail, a day after the boy escaped from their home on Tennis Lane and ran around the corner into the In-Shape Sports Club on South Tracy Boulevard, police said.
A third suspect, 43-year-old Caren Ramirez, is being sought in connection with the alleged abuse as well as a felony warrant for an earlier incident in which she allegedly beat the boy, police said. Ramirez may have left San Joaquin County and be staying with a brother in East Palo Alto, police said.
There was no legal relationship between the married couple and the boy, who ran away last year from a foster home in Sacramento, police said. Ramirez's relationship with the boy and the circumstances of the youth's alleged kidnapping were not immediately known.
The boy, whose name was not released, came into the gym about 3:30 p.m. Monday wearing only men's boxer shorts and a three-foot chain padlocked to his ankle, authorities said. He was dirty and emaciated, and the chain had cut into his ankle, which was swollen, investigators said.
"He came in through the front door, and 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."
The boy began begging assistant manager Lea Leonardo, "Hide me, hide me, please," before hunkering into a crouch underneath the counter, Ellis said.
Leonardo thought at first that it was a prank, but the boy's terror was apparent, Ellis said. "He was shaking so bad," he said.
Employees called 911 and wrapped him in towels and gave him bottled water.
He repeated, "They're coming to get me," Ellis said. They tried to reassure him that he was safe and that nobody would get him.
"The victim said he was held against his will," police spokesman Matt Robinson said at a news conference today. "When you have a 17-year-old boy showing up with a bloody ankle from having a chain wrapped around it, it was one of those things where officers put one and one together."
The boy had apparently been staying in the garage of the couple's home, police Capt. John Espinoza said. Police were trying to determine how long he had been there. "We don't absolutely know yet," Espinoza said.
The boy was taken to a local hospital; his condition was not released.
Authorities said the couple have four children, who have been placed with social service workers.
On her MySpace page, Lau said her children were ages 1 to 9. She described herself as a stay-at-home mother, a Daisy Girl Scouts leader and diehard Oakland Raiders fan who is "happily married to a man who I love to death."
Schumacher, she wrote, "is my best friend and a wonderful father to our four kids and I wouldn't trade him for anything in this world."
Lau attended high schools in Truckee and Chino Hills (San Bernardino County), according to her MySpace page. Among her favorite television shows were "Six Feet Under," Family Plots," "Nip/Tuck," and "Dexter."
"Anything that's gruesome. I'm weird, I guess," she wrote.
The couple moved about three years ago into their home on the 600 block of Tennis Lane in central Tracy, said a neighbor, Rachel Portillo, 47. The tract has street names such as Wimbledon Lane, Doubles Court and Match Point Place.
Portillo said she first noticed the teenage boy there about a year and a half after the family moved in. "He came out, he did chores and would throw the garbage out," she said. Portillo added that she hadn't seen him recently.
Portillo's daughter, Marina Alvarez, 28, said she was shocked to learn that the skinny, small boy she saw taking groceries inside the home was 17.
"I thought he was 13," Alvarez said. "The way he interacted with the other children made it seem like he was very young."
Schumacher worked as a contractor for a cable company, Portillo said. He was quiet and had a calm disposition, she said.
Lau was more outspoken and was often outside talking on the phone and paying attention to the comings and goings in the neighborhood, Portillo said. Lau would sometimes make comments to Portillo such as, "I saw your husband leave," she said.
"She was a busybody, but I think the little guy was doing a lot of her work," Portillo said, referring to the 17-year-old boy.
Lau would invite Portillo's family over for barbecues, but she distanced herself because the couple tended to curse and "talk like adults in front of children," Portillo said. "Just cussing and just talking adult stuff, things that kids shouldn't even hear."
Alvarez agreed, saying Lau was "really aggressive" in the way she addressed others, "really loud, quick to snap on people, including her kids."
