Adopted teen rescued last year weighed just 47lbs, 'was kept in isolation 23 hours a day and had just a textbook and box spring in his basement dungeon'

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The adopted parents of a 14-year-old boy, who weighed just 47 pounds when he was hospitalized three months ago, was kept locked in a concrete basement for 23 hours a day with barely enough food to survive, according to police.

Cynthia and Richard Kelly were arrested and charged with aggravated child abuse after they brought their sick and starving adopted son - referred to only as E.K. in police reports - into a medical center when he was just hours away from death. 

The teenager was less than half the weight of a healthy 14-year-old boy, and was suffering from malnutrition, dehydration, acute respiratory distress, shock, hypothermia and hypothyroidism, Alabama.com reports.

Carter and his brother's adoptive parents Richard and Cynthia Kelly, of Helena, have been charged with aggravated child abuse

The couple received $500 a month from the state to help care for their son, under a program to supported adopted parents of children with special needs. 

Helena Police Chief Pete Folmar testified to the squalid conditions the boy was kept in in court on Wednesday.

The boy was locked in the concrete basement with no access to a bathroom, and little more than a box-spring mattress, blanket and pillow, an algebra text book, a draw with a few clothes clothes - and some diapers. 

There were also surveillance cameras trained on the box springs. While the camera no longer worked, the foster parents made E.K. think they were still on and that they were watching him at all times, Folmar testified.

The police chief said that E.K. would be fed just once a day, and that the meals were always different from what the family were enjoying upstairs.

E.K.'s brother Eddie Carter, 18, who revealed that he too was kept in the basement before he was removed from their home and adopted by another family, described how he had been fed nothing but bread and water.

'They would say, 'Jesus survived off bread and water, so you can too,''' he said. 'It was like a torture method. They were upstairs eating pizza and Chinese, and I'd be eating bread and water.'

Authorities said the boy spent much of the past two years locked in the basement of his Alabama home (above, file photo)

Cynthia and Richard Kelly adopted the brothers through a Christian agency around seven years ago.

The couple are currently being held in jail on $1 million bail. A plea to reduce their bail on Wednesday was rejected. If found guilty, they could face up to 20 years in jail.  

Cynthia, who home schooled the children, claimed they had forced E.K. to live in such shocking conditions because he had behavioral issues and claimed he had threatened to harm the family. 

They also didn't want to let E.K. as she was worried he would 'break things' in their home.

When asked if she had sought help for her foster son, Cynthia claimed that no-one believed them.

'I'll be honest with you,' she told the police chief, 'We just got tired of it.' 

Speaking out: Eddie Carter, 18, has revealed in a recent interview that he had been locked up in a basement and deprived of food while in the care of his adoptive parents

The Kellys also claim the reason they failed to provide a carpet or even a mattress to their adopted son was because he was 'destructive' and would destroy them. 

The family also lived with their 19-year-old daughter Tamara Kelly and her boyfriend. Friends noted that while the couple had lots of pictures of Tamara dotted round their home, there were none of E.K. 

Another recalled a time when the Kellys had thrown a party to celebrate their daughter's cheer competition, and ordered lots of pizza for their guests. When they noticed a couple of slices were missing, they grilled E.K. who denied taking them.

But the friend noticed the boy, who was discovered suffering from severe and chronic nutritional, had stuffed a couple of the slices in his pockets. 

The Kellys argued that E.K. had been allowed to be an extra in a movie shot in Birmingham in 2013, while their lawyers argued that someone locked up in isolation for 23 hours a day would have behavioral problems that would ring alarm bells.

But police argued that the movie and cheer party took place before E.K. was locked away for two years.

The case came to light on November 12 when Richard Kelly took the teen to Shelby Baptist Medical Center saying he had been ill for a week. He weighed just 47lbs.

Within hours, the boy was airlifted to Children's of Alabama where he had to be placed on a respirator for a week.

The 14-year-old has since been released from hospital and placed in a therapeutic foster home for children with emotional challenges.

Carter tried to visit E.K. in hospital but was told his brother wasn't yet ready for visitors. But he pledged to wait for him.

'We'll be all right, and I don't have to worry about anybody ever hurting my brother again,'' Carter said.

Carter said he was 11 years old and his brother was about seven when the Kellys adopted them through a Christian agency after spending years bouncing from one foster home to the next.

The two brothers entered Alabama's foster care after their mother was stripped of her parental rights for some unspecified reason. Having been deprived of parental guidance, Carter emerged as his brother's protector and caretaker, changing his diapers, making sure he was well-fed and healthy.

'When he was sleeping, I'd check his chest to make sure he was breathing,'' Carter told Al.com. 'My little brother was like my golden egg. I just had to keep him safe. It was my main goal not to be separated ever.'

When Richard and Cynthia Kelly agreed to adopt both siblings, Carter said he thought it was their 'big break' - a chance to have a normal family life like other children.

But Carter said within months, their adoptive parents began locking him up in the basement for long periods of time without access to the most basic necessities as punishment for minor infractions.

'It gets to that point where you're like an animal, well, you kind of feel like an animal,' Carter said.

He recalled that the longest stretch was a couple of months trapped in the pitch-black cellar with no light, no bathroom and only little to eat.

Whenever he needed to relieve himself, Carter said he would do so in the corner. After a while, the entire basement reeked of urine.

Carter developed a nervous habit of chewing his lips until they bled. To punish him, he said, Richard and Cynthia would pour salt into the open wounds.

The couple (pictured several years ago) received $500 a month from the state to help care for their son, under a program to supported adopted parents of children with special needs

The 18-year-old described how he would hear his adoptive parents laughing and going about their day upstairs while he was locked in the basement.

'You're down there and nobody knows you're down there except the people in the house,' he said.

When Eddie began acting out at home, the Kellys had him removed 18 months after his adoption. The teen says he was upset to part with his younger brother but was not overly worried for his well-being because he had never seen their parents mistreat the younger boy.

After going from one treatment program to another all over Alabama, in 2013 Carter was adopted by Arizona rapper Nick Carter, known by his stage name, Murs.

At one point, Murs and Eddie drove down to Alabama to check up on his younger brother, but Eddie never got out of the car and only caught a glimpse of his sibling lurking in the doorway. He noted the boy appeared 'really skinny,' but he thought nothing of it at the time.

It was not until he learned of the 14-year-old's rescue and the Kellys' arrest on abuse charges last month that the awful truth was revealed to Carter.

'The things that happened to me when I was there, you just say a prayer and keep your head up high and hope that same thing doesn't happen to someone you really love and care about that you know is still there,' he said.

'To see it did happen is very disheartening. Your brother is all you have. I blame myself.'

Police in Helena launched an investigation into the alleged abuse after the Kellys took the ailing, malnourished teenager to the hospital. 

'It's the worst case of neglect that I have ever seen,' Folmar said at the time.