Lawsuit filed in horrific Shelby County abuse case of adoptive son kept in basement
By Carol Robinson | crobinson@al.com
The 21-year-old brother of a young Shelby County boy reportedly kept alone in a concrete basement for an average of 23 hours a day has filed a lawsuit against the boys’ adoptive parents.
Richard and Cynthia Kelly, ages 60 and 50, pleaded guilty earlier this month to child abuse, a Class C felony. The couple was originally arrested in 2016 and held on $1 million each before eventually getting out of jail on bond in 2017. Prosecutors suggest the maximum sentence for the couple – 10 years with two years and a day to – serve. Attorneys for the husband and wife made application for probation.
Shelby County Circuit Judge William H. Bostick ordered a pre-sentence investigation and set sentencing for Feb. 24, 2020.
The lawsuit was filed Friday by lawyer Roger Appell on behalf of 21-year-old Eddie Carter, the biological brother of Ethan Kelly. The plight of the young teen came to light the weekend of Nov. 12, 2016 when the boy was taken to Children's of Alabama. Helena Police Chief Pete Folmar later testified the then-14-year-old boy weighed 47 pounds when he arrived at the hospital.
He was described by doctors as severely and chronically malnourished, dehydrated, suffering from acute respiratory distress, shock, hypothermia, hypothyroid and close to death. Pictures taken at the hospital of the boy showed pressure sores on his legs. He was also placed on a ventilator for about a week to help him breathe.
According to the arrest warrants for the parents, the couple was accused of denying food, nourishment and medical care to the boy, who was “subjected to forced isolation for extended period of time.” Authorities have said that “isolation” was disciplinary in nature. There were no signs, however, the boy was handcuffed, chained or restrained.
In a 2017 hearing in the case, it was revealed that they received $500 a month from the state through DHR to help take care of their son. Adopted children may receive an adoption subsidy if they meet the special needs criteria. This is paid by the federal Department of Health and Human Services and distributed to the family by Alabama DHR.
The young teen, after being released from the hospital, was placed in a therapeutic foster home, where other family says he has done well. A therapeutic foster home caters to the physical, emotional and social needs of children with emotional challenges.
The police in the earlier hearing testifed that Richard Kelly took his adopted son, referred to in court only as "EK," to Shelby Baptist Medical Center that November Sunday morning, saying he had been ill for about a week. Within hours of their arrival, the boy was airlifted to Children's of Alabama, where doctors told investigators "EK" would have likely been dead within three more hours.
The boy's body temperature upon arrival at Children's was 86 degrees.
Eddie Carter, spoke extensively with AL.com shortly after the couple’s arrest. He says he suffered the same neglect, abuse and despair at the hands of Richard and Cynthia Kelly. He said he was kept in the basement for weeks and months at a time.
"You’re down there and nobody knows you’re down there except the people in the house,'' Carter told AL.com. "It’s up to those people to make sure everything’s going to be all right and it’s not all right and you’re kinda lost. You sit in the corner and weigh out what means the most. It was horrible. Horrific.
"It gets to that point where you’re like an animal,'' Carter said. “You feel like an animal.”
“The conduct of Richard Kelly and Cynthia Kelly was intentional or reckless, was extreme and outrageous, was unacceptable in a civilized society, was the cause of Ethan’s emotional distress and physical injury and resulted in emotional distress so severe that no reasonable person should be expected to endure it,” according to the suit.
The lawsuit asks for an unspecified amount of compensatory damages and punitive damages of $5 million.