LaRhonda Marie McCall Arrested: Oklahoma Teen Claims He Was Held In Closet For Years By His Mother

OKLAHOMA CITY — A woman was arrested after her 14-year-son told authorities he escaped from a home where he'd been kept for 4 1/2 years, spending most of his time locked in a bedroom closet, police said Monday.

A security guard at a National Guard facility in Oklahoma City called police on Friday after the teen showed up malnourished and with numerous scars and other signs of abuse, police Sgt. Gary Knight said.

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

The boy was taken to a hospital to be examined and then turned over to the custody of the Department of Human Services, Knight said.

After police interviews, officers on Saturday arrested the boy's mother, 37-year-old LaRhonda Marie McCall, and a friend, 38-year-old Steve Vern Hamilton, on 20 complaints each of child abuse and child neglect. Formal charges have not been filed, and both were being held on $400,000 bond, according to jail records.

Jail officials were not sure wheter either had retained an attorney, and no one answered the phone at McCall's home. A police report listed McCall as a pharmaceutical company employee and Hamilton as a cab driver.

The teen, wearing only a pair of oversized shorts held up by a belt, walked up to a security guard at the Guard facility around 5 p.m. Friday and asked where a police station was located so he could report being abused, according to a police report.

He told police that scars on his stomach and torso were from where alcohol had been poured on him and set on fire. Other scars were from being tied up, hit with an extension cord and choked, the boy told police.

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

The teen told police he moved to the Oklahoma City area from New Jersey about 4 1/2 years ago after his mother was released from jail. Since arriving in Oklahoma, he said, he had never been to school and spent most of his time locked in a bedroom closet.

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.

Knight said six other children living at the home were taken into DHS custody, but none showed signs of abuse. McCall had lived at several different addresses in the Oklahoma City area, he said.

A DHS spokeswoman said she could not discuss specific cases but generally an investigation would be conducted before any of the children are returned to the home or placed with other family members.

"There may be family members, but we do a diligent search, and we're very careful about placing kids in a safe environment," DHS spokeswoman Beth Scott said.

Comments

[Nnakalitheza]

12:14 PM on 09/29/2009

Clearly, the woman is severely mentally ill.
Here's an interesting article about Black single mothers: http://progressivecorner.wordpress.com/2009/09/29/a-diabolical-myth-revisited/

[jessicadevyn]

05:31 PM on 09/29/2009

I don't know what the .... this has to do with locking a kid up in a closest. But ok.

[DebofMD]

03:41 PM on 09/30/2009

That article has nothing to do with this. There are mentally ill people of every color who do things like this to other human beings. Don't get me started....

[greenlass]

11:18 AM on 09/29/2009

The picture of the mother says it all: this is a person who has the look of someone who doesn't care whether she lives or dies, she is so hopeless looking. I hope her son has a chance to get beyond this somehow. He will need massive help. So incredibly sad.

[Marklar]

10:44 AM on 09/29/2009

I can't believe I live on the same planet as people like this.

[Erin7373]

11:37 AM on 09/29/2009

me neither..the other day i was trying to think of a way to board a mothership and find another planet..hmm

[Dupree]

09:47 AM on 09/29/2009

There need to be a class that teaches parenthood in schools. It is ironic how we put stipulations on people that drive and regulate that they have a license to drive...and yet every day....people who are not qualified to be parents...continue to give birth to children who will be scarred by their lack of parenting skills. We need to respect the enormity of the role of parenthood and recognize that it is the most influential position anyone could have undertake. We literally have children that are like clay in the palm of our hands and each day we are shaping and molding their lives...for success or failure. And they are our most important investment in life. The hand that rock the cradle literally is the hand that rules the world. We have children for such a short time and it is imperative that we impart to them love and care to face a world that is very harsh at times...and if we fail to give them that added extra confidence in who they are...we set them up for a compromised existence. They will either grow to become abusive themselves or end up on drugs ...but very few escape the blueprint that has been dealt to them by having parents ill equipped to help them grow. I honestly believe that there need to be a class that instructs on parenthood to prevent this kind of ignorance from gaining more root in our society.

[nightwind928]

10:00 AM on 09/29/2009

There are plenty of classes on parenthood available. This isn't something that can be taught or undone in a class or encounter group. This is SADISM and that's a mental flaw. Trying to teach a sadist to be a kind parent is like trying to teach a cat to whistle the Star Spangled Banner. Are you serious?... This kid had scars everywhere on his body. This wasn't some parent who lost control and went too far with a spanking. This was systematic torture.

[maab76]

10:53 AM on 09/29/2009

Example is still the best teacher. Our schools are full of mandated programs. Teachers teach by example as well as by dictate. If we are truly to reform schools, we must examine the number of hours per day children are in classrooms and how their activities are developmentally appropriate. Not all schools have social workers who help students cope with what is in their lives at this time, or of ways to deal with parents who appear to be "clueless." This is a mandate which should be of national implementation. With most families having both parents working, it is even more important. The professional preparation of both classroom teachers, administrators and social workers . It should be widely circulated to assure participation of both those we would not identify as needing it as well as those who obviously do. You would be amazed at how many kids would trade parents and parenting practices with another. There is no one answer to this problem.

[nightwind928]

11:50 AM on 09/29/2009

Schools?...Did this mother (I use the term loosely) look like the class valedictorian to you? Do you think she even has a high school diploma? How do you propose to teach not torturing your kids as part of the curriculum? Why would you even contemplate an idea so abstract? This isn't home ec or wood shop were talking about. This is the blatant torture of a child by a horrible mutant. What on earth do you think your going to teach to a monster in a school classroom? You obviously can't get your head around this...It's like teaching manners to a mad dog. I hate to inform you but some people are beyond redemption, they just need to be removed from society as quickly as possible, in whatever way the situation necessitates, and never let back in.

[Niasia]

09:45 AM on 09/29/2009

Don't worry both of them will get it in the penitentiary!

[burtmckinly]

09:18 AM on 09/29/2009

Someday, procreation will no longer be a freedom, but a responsibility that must be earned.

[MinisterMelinda]

11:46 AM on 09/29/2009

Co-sign!

[Design4you]

12:12 PM on 09/29/2009

I completely agree 100%!!!

[Nate16]

08:44 AM on 09/29/2009

Does OK have the death penalty?

[burtmckinly]

09:15 AM on 09/29/2009

If so, this would be a good time to use it.

[yellowdoggie]

09:54 AM on 09/29/2009

We certainly do. We don't use it as often as Texas uses theirs, but when we do, we use it well. None of our dead inmates have survived it.

[bokiluis]

08:35 AM on 09/29/2009

There are some very, very disturbed people walking this earth. From the creeps that posted that poll on Facebook to this.

[RachelMc]

08:12 AM on 09/29/2009

good at least he was brave enough to escape and tell someone.

[MadHeart]

08:03 AM on 09/29/2009

Child abuse has no political bias. It does take parents, however, who love and care for the little human beings they bring into the world. Face it, some just aren't up to the task, and I'm wondering why this woman was jailed, and why her children were returned to her? If she treated this boy so horrifically, she's probably been abusive to the other 6 as well in some form or fashion.

[CR46]

10:33 AM on 09/29/2009

Not always Madheart, as a medically fragile foster care mom, I have seen many cases where one child and one child only is the target of the abusive parent...read the book "A Child Called It". In fact sometimes the "target" becomes the target for the rest of the family. I will never be able to understand what some people will do to children, but nothing surprises me anymore, some people are just sick.

[Gilda]

07:53 AM on 09/29/2009

What part did alcohol abuse by the adults play in this? I wonder how many of these children had different fathers? Why do people like this woman even have children ?
Yesterday, I read in my local paper, where the boyfriend of a woman with a 18 month old child, was given a 8 year sentence for killing her child by throwing him against the wall causing head trauma and subsequent death. 8 years! WTF!
I grew up, physically, mentally, sexually abused, and I know that the persons who do these kind of things, never change! Once an abuser (just like a woman-beater) always an abuser! Lock them up and
throw away the keys.
Baby-killers and killers of innocent children, and sexual predators of children,deserve the death penalty. What good are they to society? The effects of abuse on a child will leave scars for the rest their lives. There is no justice for that.

[RockiesRiter]

12:12 PM on 09/29/2009

I've always thought the penal system should find an island somewhere and just dump them all on it and let them torture each other.

[MeloMelo66]

12:21 PM on 09/29/2009

that's what happened in australia...

[Gilda]

09:23 AM on 10/04/2009

An island would be too good for them. The mountains of Afghanistan a better pick. Or a barge, with no supplies, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

[Flavor]

06:53 AM on 09/29/2009

I am so glad this baby had enough strength to escape and enough sense to know where he needed to go to get help, this is a disgrace to the human race. I pray that they put this baby in a loving home because thru all that torture he endured he need to see someone love on him and to know there are some good people out there who won't harm him. She has got to go back to jail this was a criminal act.

[truthartbeauty]

06:44 AM on 09/29/2009

who knew. who would have guessed this picture of the perfect mother would do such a thing.

[celloswiss]

09:28 AM on 09/29/2009

I don't see a "perfect mother" when I look at that woman's picture. I see a disturbed and resigned individual. Whatever the reason or cause for her actions, they are inexcusable and deserve severe punishment.

[yellowdoggie]

09:55 AM on 09/29/2009

You need to adjust your sarcasm detector, cello.

[MinisterMelinda]

11:56 AM on 09/29/2009

truthartbeauty - is being facetious cello. geez!

[Jane Devin]

05:15 AM on 09/29/2009

Until we take the rights of children seriously in this country -- until they have at least as many rights to protection as their parents do -- horrific child abuse cases will continue unabated.

Although it's a popular phrase, "the best interests of the child" are often usurped by the legal rights of parents. Felons get their children back, even when they are known to be violent. Other parents can choose to live with convicted pedophiles, chronic alcoholics, known abusers, and brand new lovers they know nearly nothing about. Their children are the ones who suffer. Anthony Buhr, Riley Sawyer, Oscar Jiminez....all of these were preventable deaths.

http://janedevin.com/2009/02/12/the-empty-outrage-of-child-abuse/

[Flavor]

07:02 AM on 09/29/2009

How true, and let me add this to what you stated, and when we the people start getting involved and stop turning our head and saying what a shame. I don't know much about this whole case but I have to wonder what family members of hers her boyfriend knew this and decided to be quiet and mind their own buisness. This baby has been tortured since he was about 9years old he is a survivor, I thank god he still could think and he probably had a plan I'm gonna get out of this hell hole one day and he did. I don't think I would be to fast to put this child in the hands of any of his mother's family members he need to be in a safe environment he's already gone thru a lot he does not need to be tortured again and made to feel it's his fault. Just my view.

[RockiesRiter]

12:19 PM on 09/29/2009

You are so right. Amazingly, our country enacted laws to protect animals before we enacted laws to protect children. In fact, the first child protective laws were actually based on the animal protection laws. What does that say about how we view our children, that they are only one rung up the ladder from house pets? Until the day comes that our society ceases to regard children as chattel that can be treated as less human than an adult, there will be those that will exercise their "parental authority" in such a way. Lord I pray that day comes soon, and that the brave young man (and his siblings) will find a safe place to grow up.

[JerseyGirl4Obama]

02:00 AM on 09/29/2009

This child was 10 years old the last time he went to school or saw the outside world. How can a person do this to a child. I will never understand. I hope he gets plenty of tender loving care to bring him through this. The other children will need lots of help too.