WARREN COUNTY, Mo. – Two parents in Missouri are facing child abuse charges after authorities say their 12-year-old son escaped from their abusive home and told police his father had been handcuffing him to his bed every night for two months.
The boy’s father, Christopher Crets, 40, and his stepmother Nicole Crets, 33, were arrested on May 2 after authorities found the boy walking down a highway with “severe bruising on his face, torso, legs and arms,” according to a police report obtained by KSDK.
Christopher Crets is the child’s biological father. Nicole Crets is his step-mother.
Both parents had been “whooping him with a leather belt,” the boy said, according to police. The parents told police they’ve been handcuffing the boy to the bed to prevent the him from “sneaking” food and candy because he has a medical condition.
“There is nothing a child could ever do to justify this,” Warren County Sheriff Kevin Harrison told KSDK. “It breaks my heart because this child is being handcuffed in his own home, and he’s being not just abused, but tortured by his parents.”
The boy said he was able to escape from the house because they forgot to handcuff him that day, according to police.
“He’s very fortunate, he’s walking in traffic, he’s just wanting somebody to stop and help them and a state trooper just happened to be the car coming down the highway,” Harrison said. “It just was an answered prayer for him.”
“It was definitely this boy’s time to be rescued. I mean, when you’re hitting a little guy, or hitting anybody in the face and on the head, I mean, it’s just a miracle that this boy wasn’t seriously injured…His eyes were swollen, his forehead was swollen, this boy was beaten and tortured at the hands of mom and dad so I’m very happy that he slipped out and I’m glad the trooper was there and that my detectives and deputies were able to be part of rescuing him from the situation.”
Detectives who searched the parents’ house before they were arrested found the handcuffs attached to the bed just like the boy had described, Harrison told KSDK.
The boy told police he once weighed 115 to 120 pounds. When authorities found him, he was 74 pounds. The boy was diagnosed with refeeding syndrome — a metabolic condition that can cause seizures, heart failure, fatigue and confusion due to starvation — after authorities took him to the hospital.
Harrison said the family’s home is in a rural area, so it’s possible neighbors didn’t see anything amiss. He’s not sure what the extended family may have known, but noted that the stay-at-home orders for most of the country are forcing people to isolate from each other.
At least two other young children lived at the residence. Harrison said they didn’t show any signs of abuse but they were removed from the home and placed in the care of others, NBC reported.
Both parents were charged with felony child abuse on May 3. Christopher Crets is also facing additional charges that include kidnapping and four counts of unlawful possession of a firearm.
The couple is now at the Warren County jail. Associate Circuit Judge Richard Scheibe ordered they be held without bail. Their next hearing is scheduled for May 27.
