KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Crystal Anderson said she would often see her 17-year-old neighbor outside. But when she didn’t see the boy for four months, she knew something was wrong.
“I would hear fighting all the time over there,” Anderson said.
On Sunday night, Anderson said she heard screaming, cursing and strange noises coming from her next door neighbor’s apartment.
Curious about what was going on, Anderson became suspicious because she hadn’t seen her teen neighbor.
On Monday, she called the Missouri Department of Family Services, who removed the boy from the home — after officers found him handcuffed to a steel pole in his family’s basement.
“They said he was curled up in the fetal position,” Anderson said. “I just know they would keep him in the basement when they would go to bed just because he would get up and try stabbing them.”
But, it’s what has come to light by police that has even her baffled.
“I would never think they chained him — handcuffed him to the pole. It’s just crazy.”
Anderson said she and the boy’s older brother are friends. And two weeks ago, Anderson claimed she saw the teenage boy handcuffed to the basement’s upstairs door.
“He looked really sad,” she said. “He didn’t look healthy at all. He was not clean.”
Police took the 17-year-old’s stepmother, father and another man into custody. Anderson said she does not resent stepping in.
“I think everybody would’ve called. I’m glad I did because it could have been worse. The longer, who knows how long they would have kept him in here.”
