Left inset: Ryker Lee (Pima County Sheriff’s Department). Center inset: Danielle Lee-Sharp (KPNX). Right inset: Michael Menzie (KPNX). Background: The Arizona property where Danielle Lee-Sharp and Michael Menzie lived with Ryker Lee (KPNX/YouTube).
A 15-year-old Arizona boy reported missing was allegedly confined for hours each night inside a cramped RV room by his mother and stepfather. Investigators say the teenager was also forced to urinate in plastic bottles and sit in total darkness.
Ryker Lee was reported as a runaway Tuesday. That same day, deputies from the Pima County Sheriff’s Department visited the home of his mother, Danielle Lee-Sharp, 39, and her husband, Michael Menzie, 43. There, they found conditions they described as “not suitable” for children, according to an interim complaint obtained by Law&Crime.
Three children, including Ryker, lived at the property with Lee-Sharp and Menzie. The other children are 6 and 10 years old, the complaint states.
Lee-Sharp and Menzie each face three counts of child abuse.
Deputies went to the residence after Ryker was reported missing. According to the complaint, Lee-Sharp and Menzie told them that the teenager slept outside the main house in an RV.
The couple allegedly gave deputies permission to search the vehicle.
Inside, investigators reportedly found a wooden door dividing the RV in two. The door had no doorknob, and screws on one side allegedly prevented it from being opened from the opposite side, according to the complaint.
“Ryker Lee had been confined inside a small, padlocked room within a recreational vehicle that lacked running water, restroom facilities, and air conditioning,” the Pima County Sheriff’s Department said in a press release obtained by Law&Crime.
The section where Ryker slept measured approximately 6 feet by 5 feet and contained two windows, the complaint says.
Lee-Sharp allegedly told investigators that the RV’s swamp cooler had broken. “No fan or swamp cooler or running water was located inside the room,” the complaint states. “There is no access to a restroom and multiple plastic bottles were located with possible urine inside which Danielle did confirm that [Ryker] does urinate in them. Spiders and spider webs were also observed near the box-spring where [Ryker] sleeps.”
Menzie allegedly told police that he and Lee-Sharp routinely locked Ryker inside the RV every night for “multiple hours.”
According to the complaint, Lee-Sharp said the key to the makeshift room was kept inside the house on her dresser. Police also reported that the RV had no electricity.
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Lee-Sharp allegedly said Menzie did not sleep in the RV, although he would sometimes fall asleep while Ryker remained in the other section of the vehicle.
Ryker has Type 1 diabetes, and the complaint alleges that leaving him unsupervised for hours in those conditions was likely to place his health in danger.
Inside the main house, deputies allegedly detected a strong smell of cat urine. The complaint describes flooring stained with cat urine and vomit, along with garbage and miscellaneous items scattered across the floors and obstructing movement through the home.
The children’s bedroom reportedly had clothing, garbage and other belongings blocking its entrance. “The children had plastic mattresses with no bedding,” the complaint says. “Their closest bathroom had no sink and the toilet was turning black and brown from not being cleaned.”
Police allegedly found cat feces stains throughout the master-bedroom floor. A mattress had been placed directly on the bathroom floor, apparently with children’s bedding on it. Investigators said it was stained yellow after being positioned beside a cat litter box.
The complaint also says police found a rifle “laid out in the closet” that was “not properly secured and was accessible with ease.”
Garbage and full trash bags reportedly covered the kitchen. Deputies also found a hole in the middle of the floor caused by a leaking pipe, and the flooring was beginning to collapse, according to the complaint.
The refrigerator, meanwhile, allegedly contained food that was no longer edible and was beginning to mold. Ants and spiders were seen throughout the residence, according to the complaint.
The two younger children living at the residence were taken into Department of Child Services custody. Police have said that the family has a history with child welfare authorities going back several years.
Ryker was last seen on Sept. 22 near State Route 86 and State Route 286 in Three Points, also known as Robles Junction, around 10 a.m., according to the Pima County Sheriff’s Department.
Police said he left home on foot.
“You know, we get runaways all the time, and you don’t see this kind of response from us typically,” Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos told local ABC affiliate KGUN. “But when there’s a concern of life or death, his medical condition, then we’re going to step up our game.”
The post Mom and stepdad kept boy confined inside ‘small, padlocked room’ in RV without water, restroom and air conditioning — and now the kid is missing, cops say first appeared on Law & Crime.