A boy was chained to the porch with a dead chicken in Union County, North Carolina. The boy was routinely handcuffed and shackled to a block of steel on the porch and was burned with electrical wires by his adoptive parents, according to court records. The unidentified child also had his finger broken with pliers to “teach him a lesson,” the adoptive parents said before pleading guilty to multiple counts of child abuse.

The boy’s adoptive mother, Wanda Sue Larson, was an emergency room nurse. She and her longtime boyfriend, Dorian Harper, were the legal guardians of the child abuse victim. When Union County law enforcement officers arrived at the home in November 2013, they found the boy chained to the front porch of the house with a dead chicken hanging around his neck.

According to police reports, the home was infested with roaches and “covered with urine and animal feces.” The North Carolina police also found four other children, ages 7 to 14, inside the home. All of the children were reportedly adopted by the couple over the course of many years. The children were immediately removed from the home and placed in the care of the state.

All of the adopted children were reportedly victims of abuse, but the boy chained to the porch with the dead chicken is believed to have received the brunt of the abuse by the couple.

“I was scared to death. I thought I wouldn’t survive,” the now 13-year-old child abuse victim told the Associated Press.

Wanda Sue Larson and Dorian Harper were sentenced to prison three months ago. The boy found shackled to the porch is now opening up about the long-term child abuse he endured.

“I want her to be in jail longer,” the boy added.

“It’s ridiculous,” the boy’s birth mother said about the prison term levied against Wanda Larson.

To protect the identity of the boy, the mother’s identity is not being released. Larson, 58, was sentenced to just 17 months in prison on four counts of child abuse.

Dorian Harper, 58, was sentenced to up to 10-and-a-half years in prison after pleading guilty March 17 to “maiming, intentional child abuse inflicting serious injury and assault with a deadly weapon.”

Larson was given credit for time served after the child abuse arrest and was released from jail on April 9. The adoptive mother reportedly resides in the same county as her victim. During her sentencing hearing, Larson reportedly expressed remorse for failing to protect the adopted children and blamed the bulk of the torture on Harper.

The child abuse victim said his adoptive mother not only knew about the abuse heaped upon him and four others, but “encouraged” it. The boy added that he is worried that he will run into Larson because they live in the same area.

“That’s why I want to tell my story,” he said.

The young teen reportedly lives with his birth mother in an apartment in Charlotte. The child abuse victim looks younger than 13 due to his height and other physical factors, according journalist reports from the home visit interview.

North Carolina court documents reportedly reveal that the boy was placed in foster care more than 10 years ago when “problems arose” at his aunt’s home. The boy was living with the aunt while his mother prepared to move to the area from another state. The child went from the aunt’s home to Larson’s care.

The birth mother said that when she “found out” her son was in foster care, she attempted to get him back. However, the mother said Larson told her the child had “developed a bond” with her family and the biological mother did not continue to fight to get her son back.

Several times per year, the birth mother saw her son at a neutral setting and told reporters that the child did not mention being abused. The boy said that Larson would tell him that his mother was sick and that he could not visit her.

“She’d say, ‘Your mom is in the hospital. She’s there because of your behavior. You’re killing her,'” the boy added.

The boy said he was handcuffed and shackled to a steel anvil in a locked room, where he slept on the floor. The boy said that he would often be starved and have to eat except scraps. Sometimes the other children in the home would sneak him food, and he would hide the wrappers in the wall so they would not get caught. The boy said he also was not allowed to use the bathroom on many nights.

The child abuse victim said he was often shackled when outdoors, and the chains were only removed when he was doing chores. He said that once Dorian Harper cut his arm and poured salt in the wound — a scar on the left arm is reportedly still visible.

When the adoptive parents came into his room the boy said he would pray, “I hope I don’t get hurt.” He said dreaming of escaping and being reunited with his mother helped give him the strength to face each new day.

Just a few days before the boy was rescued, Harper reportedly blamed the child for the death of a chicken and forced him to wear the dead animal around his neck — even at night. The Union County police were responding to a complaint about a loose animal and just happened upon the boy shackled to the porch with a dead chicken by accident.

The child abuse victim is undergoing therapy twice a week and is now enrolled in a summer camp and school. He said he has nightmares that Wanda Larson comes to get him and he can’t find his mother.

What do you think about the sentences given to the confessed child abusers who chained the boy to the porch with a dead chicken around his neck?

[Image via: Screengrab/Twitter]