House of Horrors: Utah Parents Arrested for Locking 13-Year-Old Son in Padlocked Cell — and Confess They’ll 'Do It Again' if He Comes Home
Utah parents arrested for locking their 13-year-old son in a makeshift cell told police they would do it again.
Aug. 29 2024, Published 7:00 p.m. ET
Two parents charged with aggravated child abuse confessed they would do it again if their 13-year-old son was returned home
Travis Stacey Peterson and Melissa Ann Gray were arrested after police officers discovered their son padlocked in what was described as a makeshift cell in their home, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
Gray, 41, was additionally charged with misdemeanor of child abuse with an injury.
Travis Stacey Peterson and Melissa Ann Gray of Kearns, Utah, were arrested for aggravated child abuse.
Unified Police officers responded to a report of child locked in a makeshift cell at a Kearns, Utah, home. When they arrived, the found the victim padlocked in an alcove underneath the home's stairs.
Police said the child was locked in the alcove for at least 24-hours before they arrived. The child told officers he was locked in the makeshift cell after Gray, his step-mother, spanked him for screaming in the house.
The arrest report stated the victim "reported being hungry, lonely and having to sleep curled up in the makeshift cells."
Prior to the victim being moved to the padlocked area underneath the stairs, he was said to be locked in a similar makeshift cell under a loft bed. The victim told police they were locked under the bed for months, only to be released long enough to use the restroom.
The police affidavit stated: "[The victim] talked about a time when [they were] desperate to get out of the cell to use the restroom. [The victim] was able to break out of the cell and use the bathroom because no one was responding to [their] pleas to get out."
Police found a 13-year-old boy padlocked inside a makeshift cell at their home.
According to the arrest report, Gray and Peterson, 49, told police they found nothing wrong with locking the child under the bed or stairs.
The 41-year-old claimed she wanted the victim "to know what it was like in a city and the real world", while Peterson allegedly said the victim would be put back in the makeshift cell if they returned home.
Unified Police Sgt. Aymee Race said: "Keeping [kids] behind makeshift cells is not the way children should be raised."
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Investigators additionally discovered the victim was fed only twice a day and was let out of the makeshift cell three times a day to use the restroom. The victim's 22-year-old brother was also reportedly kept locked-up in a similar fashion when he was a child – and was forced to "defecate in his dresser drawer".
Race said: "These cases always hit home. These are young children who are being raised by people that should be taking care of them, providing them food, water, shelter, care, love, and not in these conditions."
Gray reportedly told police the victim was locked in the cell so he would know what 'the real world' was like.
During the investigation, Peterson admitted to working in the health care industry and was worried he would lose his job over the incident because "the nation and world is cracking down on this sort of thing".
The victim was placed in the care of relatives while the Utah Division of Child and Family Services and Unified Police investigate the crimes.
Peterson and Gray were being held in the Salt Lake City County Jail without bail.
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