Rescued Detroit Boy Attempted Suicide

A home-schooled Detroit boy found in his family’s basement after an 11-day search testified to years of abuse and his multiple attempts to run away. The 13-year-old said he tried to run away in 2012, after which beatings with a PVC pipe began. Eventually, he was hit all over—including on his head and the front side of his body. “It was a terrible place to be, the way I would be whupped and treated,” said the boy, known as Charlie. “Basically I had gotten so upset and depressed and sad about being there, to the point where I had tried to commit suicide.” He moved in with his father and stepmother in 2011, and lived with them for about two years.