California police have arrested the aunt of the teen who escaped from a house where he was apparently being held prisoner, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Caren Ramirez was found in Berkeley and handed over to police in Tracy, where the boy was found shackled and beaten. Ramirez faces charges of kidnapping, child abuse, and torture, as does the couple whose house the boy escaped from—where Ramirez also stayed.
Ramirez is also being held on a warrant for her arrest stemming from child abuse charges last year. The couple also held, Michael Schumacher and Kelly Lau, apparently took in Ramirez and her nephew, but how the situation devolved into such a nightmare is unclear. Lau has four children of her own, all of whom are now in protective custody. “You know, she's gullible,” her mother said. (More California stories.)