Michigan Teen Found Locked In Basement, Boy Isolated For So Long He ‘Created A Family Of Stuffed Animals’

A Michigan teenage boy was found locked in the basement of his home by his adoptive parents, Livingston County police maintain. The 16-year-old boy was reportedly so isolated due to being forced to live in the “uninhabitable basement” that he created a “family” from discarded stuffed animals stored near him.

Eric Corcoran and Angela Corcoran, the Michigan teen boy’s adoptive parents, have also been accused of feeding the young man “different food” than the meals served to their biological children. The Deerfield Township couple has been charged with second degree child abuse, according to a report in the Detroit Free Press.

The Michigan parents, both 43, allegedly began abusing their adopted son when he was 12. The boy said that he was only permitted to “sit in corner of one room of the main home” when he was not locked in the basement. Angie Corcoran has also been accused of slapping her adopted son’s legs while he was sleeping and hitting him with a a hanger until it broke.

Eric Corcoran reportedly admitted to child protective services workers he keeps the door to the basement which separates the space form the main portion of the home locked and his adoptive son cannot “access” the home. He also contends that the boy “lashes out” at people and “steals” items from inside the home. Corcoran claims that his adopted son uses a “camper toilet” when no one is home to let him into the family bathroom.

The Michigan teenager’s room in the basement of “sparse” according to children’s services workers. The room consists solely of a twin bed without sheets, blankets, or a pillow. The young man’s living area did not reportedly contain any personal or comfort items one would typically find in a teenager’s room.

The adopted son’s meals were allegedly left for him on the basement steps. The young man also told children’s services staffers that his sister threatened him with a gun and his brother punched him. A case worker stated that Angie Corcoran “was not loving” toward her adopted son and said she expressed a desire to “dissolve” the adoption.

Children’s services workers also revealed that the Michigan teen said his mother “tried to give him” to another woman, but that woman was too poor and could not take him. “”I just want a loving family who will hug and kiss me,” the teen who had been locked in a basement said, according to court documents.

Court documents in the case also indicate that children’s services workers investigated child abuse allegations at the home three times since early 2010. The teen has now been placed in foster care.