Couple charged with kidnapping, torture of 13-year-old relative

A Seattle-area couple is in custody for
allegedly holding captive and torturing the
man's 13-year-old brother for three months
- including driving a nail through the boy's
hand and keeping him in a cellar for days
without food, the prosecutor said
Wednesday.
Brandon Gunn, 27, and his wife Viviana, 34,
are in the Kitsap County Jail outside Seattle
on $500,000 bail each, charged with
kidnapping, unlawful imprisonment and four
counts of assault, county prosecutor Cami
Lewis said.
Brandon's brother is from Atlanta and went
in May to stay with his brother for the
summer, Kitsap County Deputy Sheriff Scott
Wilson said.
"We've been crying for days," the teen's
aunt, Marsha Thomas-Jones, told CNN Atlanta
affiliate WSB . "My sister is devastated."
The alleged torture began as early as May 1
and lasted until the teenager escaped from
his brother's cellar two weeks ago, according
to the prosecutor's complaint, filed Tuesday.
Thomas-Jones said the family suspected
something was wrong months ago when
communication ceased, and it tried
unsuccessfully to get law enforcement
involved early, WSB reported.
The attorney for Brandon Gunn, Michele
Taylor, was given the case only Wednesday
and has not received any discovery
documents, said her paralegal, Samantha
Badkin. She said they don't expect to speak
to their client until at least next Tuesday.
A voicemail message for Viviana Gunn's
attorney, Jeniece Lacross, was not returned
late Wednesday.
According to the probable cause certificate
filed Monday by the Kitsap County Sheriff's
Office, the boy was sent to the Gunns' garage
where he was duct-taped to a chair with tape
over his eyes and mouth, then beaten in the
head, torso and legs with a baseball bat and
metal bars, losing consciousness at times.

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