On Monday afternoon, an emaciated, battered 17-year-old boy wearing only a pair of boxer shorts and a chain shackled to his ankle burst with his last bit of strength in a gym in Tracy, California. The boy sported visible cuts and burns, and was covered in soot, dried blood, feces and urine. He urged the people in the gym to hide him from the captors he had just managed to escape. The police were called and, upon questioning the boy, managed to identify two of his captors.

Later on that Monday, the police tracked down Kelly Law Schumacher, aged 30, and Michael Schumacher, aged 34, back to their house in Tracy, California, the same house where it seems that they have been keeping the boy, torturing and abusing him, for almost an entire year. The couple was arrested and taken into custody, and their home was searched. The midnight search brought forward further evidence that incriminated the two. It seems that the boy had escaped from a foster home in 2007, and was picked up by his captors, without the intention of being let go.

Except for the arrested couple, police are also looking for a third suspect, namely Caren Ramirez. The woman is being searched for in connection with the abuse sustained by the 17-year-old boy held against his will in the Schumacher home for over a year. She has already been charged with child abuse last year, but was given five years on probation, probation which was later on revoked by the court. Social services took the four children of the Schumacher couple, all under 10 years of age, into custody. Neighbors stated that they had indeed seen the boy this past year, but only doing chores around the house. Both them and the gym employees estimated that the boy was around 11 or 12 years old.