Bond Denied in Comer Case

The parents of the Dallas teen who last month had been found malnourished in a Los Angeles bus station were denied bond, according to published reports.

Paul and Sheila Comer now await an Oct. 25 hearing after being denied bond during a hearing in a Paulding County courtroom Thursday. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that detectives testified that 18-year-old Mitch Comer went without contact with the outside world for years. After Paul Comer, the teen’s stepfather, allegedly put him on a bus in Mississippi after giving him cash and a list of homeless shelters, the boy was found Sept. 11 by officers who mistook him for a 12- or 13-year-old due to his size—he weighed 87 pounds and stood just over 5 feet tall.

The young Comer had allegedly been left off the lease for the family’s two-story home, and scissors were used to cut him out of family photos, according to testimony cited in the AJC report.

According to a Fox 5 Atlanta report on the hearing, Sgt. Kevin Morgan of the Paulding County Sheriff's Office testified that the 18-year-old Comer’s life in the family’s Paulding home had him locked in his room, where he had to urinate on a mattress because he wasn’t allowed to go to the bathroom.

The Fox station also reported that attorneys for Paul and Sheila Comer contended that the teen exaggerated his living conditions and that his door had no locks on it, adding that he could have left at any time.

The Comers—48-year-old Paul and 39-year-old Sheila— each face six charges of cruelty to children and one charge of false imprisonment.

Paulding County Sheriff’s officials earlier this week reported that investigators continue to conduct forensic interviews with Mitch Comer’s two sisters who lived in the house with him. Authorities have also traveled to Kentucky to meet with Paul Comer’s family.

As of the PCSO report, Mitch Comer was living with a local family and had gained 10 pounds since he was found Sept. 11.

You can keep up with all the news in Dallas and Hiram by subscribing to our free daily newsletter, liking us on Facebook and following us on Twitter. We also have apps for your Android or iPhone that can bring you news, our business listings, weather forecasts and more.