Detective: Girls knew of brother only through his screams
DALLAS, Ga. (AP) - A Georgia teen was so malnourished he still had his baby teeth at age 18 and was so isolated that his sisters who lived in the same home had no contact with him aside from hearing his screams, detectives testified Thursday.
"He screams for food and screams to go to the bathroom. That's all they know of their brother," said Detective Kyle Shelton with the Paulding County Sheriff's Office.
Eighteen-year-old Mitch Comer's stepfather, Paul Comer, and mother, Sheila Comer, told investigators they confined the teen to the room for punishment.
"They both conceded that that was his life," Detective Kevin Morgan said.
Paul and Sheila Comer were arrested last month and face charges of cruelty to children and false imprisonment after the teen raised the suspicion of a security guard at a Los Angeles bus station. He had $200 and a list of homeless shelters he said was given to him by his stepfather on his 18th birthday, though Paul Comer has said the teen wanted to be an actor. Mitch Comer said he suffered years of abuse after being taken out of school in eighth grade.
The Comers appeared in Paulding County Magistrate Court on Thursday for a probable cause hearing dressed in orange and white striped jail suits with their ankles and wrists chained.
Mitch Comer told investigators he was confined to a bathroom for a year and wasn't fed often, occasionally getting soup or cereal but little of substance, Morgan said. The Comers' two daughters, who are 11 and 13, told investigators they "thought he had brown hair" but never saw him, Shelton testified.
The boy, just 5-foot-1 and weighing 87 pounds when he was found in a downtown Los Angeles bus station, was so slight that he looked far younger than 18 and still had his baby teeth, which doctors said was a result of malnourishment, Morgan said.
"I thought he was a 12-year-old boy," Morgan said of the teen. The teen's skin was translucent and he told investigators he hadn't seen the sun in two years, Morgan said.
Authorities say the Comers sometimes made Mitch Comer kneel on the floor with his forehead against a wall, his hands behind his head and his feet lifted off the ground. Mitch Comer told investigators he sometimes had to remain in that position for six to eight hours, while Paul Comer said it was only 40 minutes at a time.
Paul Comer told investigators he brought Mitch Comer food at 7 a.m., noon and 7 p.m. each day and fed him whatever the family was eating. Paul Comer said he sometimes encouraged his stepson to go outside, but that the teen declined.
Mitch Comer told investigators that he was first locked in a bathroom that measures about 6 feet by 8 feet for about a year and that the bathroom door had a deadbolt on it so he couldn't get out. Then he was moved to the adjoining bedroom. He couldn't get out of the door because there was a refrigerator pushed in front of it, he told investigators. Shelton said he asked the teen why he never tried to escape through the window, and the teen responded, "I'm afraid of bugs."
The entire house was dirty and smelled bad, the detectives said, but the bathroom where Mitch Comer stayed was sparkling clean. The teen said he used to clean it because he had nothing else to do, Shelton said.
"He screams for food and screams to go to the bathroom. That's all they know of their brother," said Detective Kyle Shelton with the Paulding County Sheriff's Office.
Eighteen-year-old Mitch Comer's stepfather, Paul Comer, and mother, Sheila Comer, told investigators they confined the teen to the room for punishment.
"They both conceded that that was his life," Detective Kevin Morgan said.
Paul and Sheila Comer were arrested last month and face charges of cruelty to children and false imprisonment after the teen raised the suspicion of a security guard at a Los Angeles bus station. He had $200 and a list of homeless shelters he said was given to him by his stepfather on his 18th birthday, though Paul Comer has said the teen wanted to be an actor. Mitch Comer said he suffered years of abuse after being taken out of school in eighth grade.
The Comers appeared in Paulding County Magistrate Court on Thursday for a probable cause hearing dressed in orange and white striped jail suits with their ankles and wrists chained.
Mitch Comer told investigators he was confined to a bathroom for a year and wasn't fed often, occasionally getting soup or cereal but little of substance, Morgan said. The Comers' two daughters, who are 11 and 13, told investigators they "thought he had brown hair" but never saw him, Shelton testified.
The boy, just 5-foot-1 and weighing 87 pounds when he was found in a downtown Los Angeles bus station, was so slight that he looked far younger than 18 and still had his baby teeth, which doctors said was a result of malnourishment, Morgan said.
"I thought he was a 12-year-old boy," Morgan said of the teen. The teen's skin was translucent and he told investigators he hadn't seen the sun in two years, Morgan said.
Authorities say the Comers sometimes made Mitch Comer kneel on the floor with his forehead against a wall, his hands behind his head and his feet lifted off the ground. Mitch Comer told investigators he sometimes had to remain in that position for six to eight hours, while Paul Comer said it was only 40 minutes at a time.
Paul Comer told investigators he brought Mitch Comer food at 7 a.m., noon and 7 p.m. each day and fed him whatever the family was eating. Paul Comer said he sometimes encouraged his stepson to go outside, but that the teen declined.
Mitch Comer told investigators that he was first locked in a bathroom that measures about 6 feet by 8 feet for about a year and that the bathroom door had a deadbolt on it so he couldn't get out. Then he was moved to the adjoining bedroom. He couldn't get out of the door because there was a refrigerator pushed in front of it, he told investigators. Shelton said he asked the teen why he never tried to escape through the window, and the teen responded, "I'm afraid of bugs."
The entire house was dirty and smelled bad, the detectives said, but the bathroom where Mitch Comer stayed was sparkling clean. The teen said he used to clean it because he had nothing else to do, Shelton said.
I hope these two subhuman slime are put in prisons where other prisoners can deal with them. Â Many prisoners have been abused themselves, and they will deal out the appropriate punishment to these two subhuman bags of garbage.
Signs of an abuser: limit access to the outside world, fear of law enforcement, harsh punishments to defenseless victims in their power. This guy is an excellent example of an abuser. I pray that Mitch recovers completely with medical care and nurturing caregivers. He will need emotional therapy.
From his sparkling clean bathroom, I'm going to grab hope. It sounds like he at least has some measure of pride and logic going for him if he maintained that clean space for so long without help. Most people would have given into dispair, he sounds like he tried to make the best of his situation to the end. I hope that young man does well!
It is difficult to comprehend the cruelty inflicted upon this child. Somewhere along the line both the mother and stepfather ceased to act humane or with any natural instincts that most parents have to love and protect their children. I really don't care what they give as their reasons for the choices they made, only that they are both held accountable for their actions. Even if they are given solitary confinement in prison they will still have more provided for them than Mitch had in their care; food, a bed and the right to NOT sit in a horribly uncomfortable position for either 40 minutes or up to 8 hours, depending on which story you believe. (I believe Mitch) I hope Mitch will be taken in and cared for by folks that will love and nurture him.
Monsters.
Words cannot describe how horrible this story is. The so-called parents (I cannot find a word suitable enough to describe them) should receive the punishment their son endured. I hope the teen gets all the help he needs and goes on to lead a fulfilling life.
These people need to be locked up for the rest of their lives. If you don't want to raise children don't have any!
I wonder where the boy's real father was all this time?
The punishment should be the same as the crime!!
Prison is a funny place. There's almost always an inmate who helps to process paperwork, and they talk about what they see. If these two aren't placed in solitary confinement (that would be funny, right?) then they won't make it out of prison. Nobody likes a psycho who abuses a child, let alone their own. My hopes for this are that they are both placed in 23-hour-a-day solitary for a life sentence. I'm usually all for rehabilitation of prisoners as opposed to long term imprisonment, but these two don't deserve to see the light of day.
these Fing pukes make my blood boil, even better is they will get out of prison at some point,makes me sick
These pieces of trash need to suffer for a long _ss time~ I don't know why the younger girls didn't say anything though to a teacher perhaps, or neighbor? Â This is very sad~ at least he is free from these horrible pieces of S--T!
@ Aras The article says the sisters are 11 & 13. The "funny" thing about abused children is they love their parents unconditionally and they don't know any different. As far as they know, this is "normal" and happens in every household until they grow old enough to learn otherwise. (I speak from personal experience here). At 11 & 13, they are just beginning to learn there is a difference. I am sure they were told their whole lives to keep their mouths shut "because you wouldn't want strangers to take you away, would you? Bad things will happen to you and you'll never see Mommy again." A parent has a tremendous power in a young childs life and mind
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These 2 "adults" need to be euthanized.
 @Content_People The sisters didn't go to school. They were home schooled by Sheila, in addition to moving 15 times in 5 states over 13 years.
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/04/paul-sheila-comer-couple-_n_1938827.html
May Paul only be know through his screams in prison.
When u think it can't get worse and u think you have seen most everything sick people like this pop up. I hate people they are just monsters in our world. We should just take em out back and do the right thing with a bit of lead.
 @SkingCoWa And then you use something as hateful and hurtful as a confederate flag to represent you...
It is not hateful it is a part of history and I am not shamed of my white Anglo-Saxon background. I am not going to feel guilty of something that happend before I was born.
OMG!!!!
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I mean O M G !!!!!
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No I mean OH MY GAWD!!!!
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There are no other words than these. Repeat after me ... OHHHH MYYYYY GODDDD!
j_su_Â f - C_r_s-t......some people should not be allowed to breed.......
Let this poor boy's healing begin. Â Oh, and hang these bastards.
I seriously can't think of words bad enough to call these...things who think they're human.
@DMT, it is hard to know what to call them. To call them animals, would be an insult to animals.  Unfortunately, only humans do this to their young, as we have read/seen in the news time, and time, again..
 @momtodogs Heck, to call them excrement would be an insult to excrement.
yet these two scum bags will want mercy from the courts. LOOSERS
Hand me a rope, I got a tree.
@alildifferent I have plenty of rope-
This is such a horrible story!! First of all all they both look like whack jobs. How did no one notice this boy that just dropped off the face of the earth one day.  They took him out of school since the 8th grade, how did the school system not get suspicious? This is just sad on so many levels. Hopefully Mitch can recover physically and mentally! As for those two POS i hope they never see their two girls again,  can only imagine what they were teaching them!!! Also hope they never see the light of day again. To keep someone prisoner in there own home is horrible but to literally starve the child is even worse! I hope they get what is coming to them and it cannot be cruel enough.
 @cajunurse According to law enforcement, the people moved their kids 15 times in 5 states over 13 years and severed all ties to friends and family. The sisters didn't go to school either.
 @theinnerlight97 that is so horrible!!!! I hope they get everything coming to them x10!!! What a couple of sick POS! Makes you wonder is going through the minds of the people!
@cajunurse It is much easier to pull a child out of school and not have anyone check on the child than you may think. At the end of the year all a parent has to do is pull a child out of that school and say the child is going to live elsewhere and they need the school records. I know someone who did this to her daughter at the end of 6th grade, for 5 years she didn't go to school- it took us 6 months of INTENSE learning to get her caught up.Â
@MomOf2 never thought about it being that easy to take child out of school. Wow that is horrible. And sad that someone you knew did that to their daughter! Such an injustice to her I am happy to hear that she did get caught in her school work.
As usual @cajunurse I find myself in total agreement with you.
OMG, hopefully this guy will be able to frgive the m onsters for what they did to him for years and years, and can go on in life with out the family that deserted him in his own home. the girls should be ashamed of themselves, they know that there was something wrong. How tragic
@ elliottbay Nuh-uh! Don't blame the girls! If this has been going on for four to six years, those girls had no idea that this wasn't "normal". Five and seven year olds still believe everything their parents tell them and love Mommy and Daddy unconditionally. They are every bit as much victims in this as their brother. The difference is they were probably fed. If they can't even remember what he looks like, they were VERY young when he was locked away. They had absolutely NO power to affect this in any way.
 @elliottbay there are some that just do NOT deserve forgiveness at all... I think 'these' are that some!
 @elliottbay The girls are children raised by parents who probably taught them that this is normal. This is not their fault. They have never been taught any different.
 @alaska_dreamin This is extremely true. I grew up being abused daily and it wasn't until I was about 5 that I realized that being abused wasn't the norm.  If i hadn't gone to school I would have never known differently.
These "parents" are sick! I hope the boy will be able to recover emotionally from the trauma and abuse he suffered at their hands, but I have doubts about whether his body will be able to recover from the malnourishment he suffered. As for what I wish for the parents, I don't think it is appropriate to state on this forum and I am pretty sure KOMO would delete it.
@alaska_dreamin With the right care his body will recover. I have a cousin who was very very malnourished as a child by his mother, he was removed form her care when he was 16, by the time he was 18 he was in much much better condition and now at 25 is "fine".Â
 @MomOf2  @alaska_dreamin Mentally and emotionally, it will be a long tough road. I hope he get's the very best care. As for the adults, I just cant imagine how anyone could be so sick and twisted... what in God's name is wrong with these people? Some serious questions to be asked here. One thing it reminds me of is to be aware of what I see all around me... you never know what could be going on right next door.
 @MomOf2 My niece was terribly malnourished when she was younger and even though she has been removed from the situation for the past three years, and been under the treatment of a dietitian she has not completely recovered. She has gained weight and looks like any other child now, but because she didn't get proper nutrition while her bones were growing and developing she now has bone density issues and has suffered 2 breaks that the doctors say she wouldn't have if she hadn't been malnourished.Â
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I am truly glad your cousin recovered from his malnourishment, and it does give me hope that this poor kid can recover too, but given my experience I have reason for my doubts.
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Either way the "parents" need to dropped into a dark hole and malnourished themselves, for a very long time.Â
I really, really hope that, if these charges are proven true, these two are sentanced to very long sentances in a very dark place. What a wretched pair of human excrement; just living, breathing proof that the ability to spawn doesn't always make one a parent.
 @svensson I can't imagine that they won't be proven true especially when you take into account that his sisters thought he had brown hair, but never saw him.
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Well, obviously they have the son's testimony and the physical evidence from the home. Children's hair color often changes as they grow older, so that could be a non-starter. With an accusation this heinious, most prosecutors would have to have a pretty solid case to go forward with charges of false imprisonment.
Bang,bang.Thats all got to say about that.
I don't understand how this can go on without anyone knowing.  Didn't the girls have friends over or the people for that matter? Didn't the parents have parents that came to the house?  I just try to think about if I gave birth to a child and my parents came over to visit and never saw that child or never saw me out with the child wouldn't they wonder?  Also wouldn't the school alert someone if a child was suspiciously taken out of school in 8th grade?  I don't know how people can morally do this in the first place but to be able to hide this sort of abuse is also very scary.
@keri555  Not everyone is social, the parents may have gone out when they wanted to socialise, the girls might have never been allowed to have people over or they never wanted people to come over. As a teen i didn't want people coming over when I lived at my moms- I had my reasons. Who knows where the grandparents are, if they are even still alive.Â
 @keri555 not everyone's parents are alive and around like yours
These people can try to justify this anyway they please but the bottom line is they need to pay some major consequences for what they did to this young man. For the two other children to say they never seen him would
make me believe this went on for years not just periodically. Their parental rights should be removed for the other children and to call this abuse doesn't even adress the issue as far as I'm concerned. Hope the young man can recover from all of this and as for the "parents" I hope they don't see any freedom from prison for a very long time.