LONDON, ONT

The adult son of one of the people charged with keeping a boy locked in an Ontario bedroom for up to two years was reeling Saturday from the shocking allegations.

The young man, who doesn't live in London, Ont., and is apparently estranged from the couple, said he learned about the story when a family friend and former roommate sent him a message on Skype.

"I thought they died," he said of the man and woman charged. "I don't know what's worse ─ them dying or this."

Friday, police and child-welfare officials revealed that a 10-year-old boy was rescued from the home where he was found in squalid conditions reeking of human waste in a bedroom in which they say he'd been locked for 18 to 24 months.

Child-welfare officials took the boy into foster care, along with a nine-year-old girl who lived in the house. Her movements weren't restricted, police said.

The girl is the grown-up son's sister and the boy's cousin.

Authorities say the boy had never been to school, was fed fast food twice daily and was found in pale condition with long hair below his shoulders. His clothes and bedding were soaked with urine.

The couple, charged with confinement and failing to provide the necessaries of life, remained in police custody Saturday. Police haven't identified them, to protect the identity of the boy for whom they were believed acting as guardians for his parents.

Friday, police said they hadn't reached the boy's parents, who live out of the country, and they didn’t know why the boy would be kept shut away.

The adult son said Saturday his mind is now on one thing ─ his sister.

"I just want to talk with my sister," he said. "I don't even know how she will turn out. I want to do everything I can do to change this."

The last time he saw his sister, he said, was last Thanksgiving.

jennifer.bieman@sunmedia.ca