TRACY, Calif. -- The aunt of a 17-year-old boy who ran into a fitness center Monday afternoon in shackles is being sought in connection with the case, a Tracy police spokesman said Tuesday.
Kelly Lau and Michael Schumacher
A Tracy couple already has been arrested in connection with the case. Kelly Layne Lau, 30, and her husband, Michael Luther Schumacher, 34, face one charge each of torture, kidnapping, false imprisonment, child endangerment, and corporal injury to a child, according to police spokesman Matt Robinson.
Lau is a Girl Scout troop leader in Tracy, according to Pam Saltenberger, CEO of the Girl Scouts Heart of Central California. It covers 18 counties in the state.
Saltenberger said the woman has been a Daisy troop leader since September 2008. The troop consists of kindergarten-age girls.
The girls met at a public building in Tracy, Saltenberger said. She said the Girl Scouts always perform background checks on volunteers, and that Lau's came back clear.
The police investigation began after the boy escaped from a home, Robinson said.
At a Tuesday news conference, Robinson showed a picture of a woman who police suspect is connected to the case.
Police said they are seeking Caren Ramirez, 43, who is the boy's aunt, on suspicion of participating in the alleged abuse, Robinson said. Ramirez also has an outstanding felony warrant for an earlier allegation of assault against the boy, he said.
Ramirez, who doesn't have a permanent residence, could be on her way to East Palo Alto, Robinson said. He also said she would face the same five charges as Lau and Schumacher.
The unidentified teen burst into an In-Shape City at about 4 p.m. Monday wearing only boxer briefs, gym employee Chuck Ellis said.
Ellis said the boy looked emaciated, bruised and scared and said, "Hide me. Please hide me."
Employees from the business alerted police, who arrived to question the boy, who did not know where he was at first, according to Robinson.
He eventually pinpointed a home and provided enough information for police to take the couple into custody, Robinson said.
Police said until the victim talks about his side of the case, they won’t know the full story about what happened.
The boy was taken to a local hospital where he is in serious but stable condition and being treated for superficial wounds, officials said.
Two young children believed to be the couple's children were taken into the custody of Child Protective Services, Robinson said.
Schumacher and Lau were set to appear in court Thursday, according to jail records. They were both being held at San Joaquin County Jail on bail of nearly $1.2 million each.
A search of the home turned up evidence implicating the couple, Robinson said.
Investigators still were trying to figure out the connection between the couple and Ramirez, who authorities believe visited the home occasionally, he said.
The couple's charges are related to the 17-year-old's case only, according to police.
The teen told gym employees that he was taken from a group home about a year ago, Ellis said. That group home is about 70 miles north of Tracy, in Sacramento.
You have to, to be able to drive a car? 
Just makes me sick, I saw a couple waiting for a bus a few months ago, she was obviously drunk and he was a loud mouth loser, neither one gave a crap about the crying baby in the stroller. Poor thing, with parents like that, who knows when the last time he/she ate or was changed. Took everything in me to not march over and go all ballistic on their ass. 
