Boy 'Locked In Closet For Years' Blames Mum

3:06pm UK, Tuesday September 29, 2009

A US mother has been arrested after her 14-year-old son said he was held prisoner for four and a half years - spending most of his time locked in a wardrobe.

McCall and Hamilton allegedly abused her son

A security guard called police in Oklahoma City after the malnourished teenager turned up with numerous marks and other signs of abuse.

"He was hungry. He was dirty. He had numerous scars on his body. It was very sad," Police Sergeant Gary Knight said.

The boy was taken to a hospital to be examined and then put in the custody of the Department of Human Services.

Police arrested the boy's mother, LaRhonda Marie McCall, 37, and a friend, 38-year-old Steve Vern Hamilton, over child abuse and neglect allegations.

Formal charges have not been filed but both were being held on a £250,000 bond, according to jail records.

A police report listed McCall as a pharmaceutical company employee and Hamilton as a cab driver.

The boy, wearing only a pair of oversized shorts held up by a belt, walked up to the security guard on Friday.

He asked where a police station was located so he could report being abused, according to a police report.

The boy claimed scars on his stomach were from where alcohol had been poured on him and set alight. Other scars were from being tied up, hit with an extension cord and choked, he added.

"He had scars covering most of his body. They were basically from head to foot," Sgt Knight said.

The teenager said he moved to the Oklahoma City area from New Jersey about four and a half years ago, after his mother was released from jail.

But, since arriving in Oklahoma state, he had never been to school and spent most of his time locked in a bedroom wardrobe, he said.

The boy told police the wardrobe's door was mostly blocked with a stepladder or a bed and that he managed to push it open enough to escape and leave the house.