Family of Woman Locked in Cell-Like Room Will Be Questioned

The father and stepmother of a mentally ill woman found locked in a cell-like room in the Phillips Ranch area of Pomona lived in the rented house with her and will be questioned as to why she was being kept a virtual prisoner, police said.

No charges have been filed against the couple or their two grown children, who also lived at the house, police said. A spokesman for the Pomona Police Department said investigators expect to interview all four, whom he refused to identify by name, as to why the frail-looking woman was locked away.

The couple’s son-in-law, Edwin Clemens Coenan, 41, was arrested Friday for allegedly imprisoning his wife, Marianne Coenan, 31, at the four-bedroom, one-story home.

Edwin Coenan, who told police he is a truck driver and lives in Hendersonville, Tenn., is now free on $5,000 bail. He has refused to talk to police until he has an attorney present, Lt. Larry Todd said.

“We don’t know what to assume happened yet, until we talk to everyone. But there are several theories,” Todd said, including the possibility that the family “wanted to resolve the woman’s problems on their own.”

A tip from a doctor who had examined the woman at the house led police to the discovery late Friday. The woman is now undergoing psychiatric evaluation at a Los Angeles County Mental Health Department facility in the Pomona area.

When found, she was incoherent and unable to talk to authorities, police said. She had bruises on her legs and scratches on her neck and hands. A preliminary examination indicated Sunday that she is not ailing physically, although was very thin and frail when officers found her, police said.

Upon their arrival Friday at the home, located at 3 Rolling Hills Drive, officers and mental health workers said they found that the door to one of the four bedrooms had been bolted shut. According to their account, steel bars had covered a 5-inch-square peephole which had been cut in the door. The only window in the bedroom had been covered with plywood; carpeting had been removed to expose a concrete floor. The room’s light switch had been rewired so it could be operated only from outside in the hallway. The furniture in the room included a mattress, blanket and dishpan.

But when police returned to the house Saturday with a search warrant, they found that someone had tidied up the room, Todd said. A new door had been installed, plywood had been taken off the window, and carpeting had been placed in the room. However, investigators said they found the old door and plywood in the garage and confiscated them for evidence. “We don’t know who made the changes, whether it was the people living there or the landlord,” Todd said.