Although his parents were no longer together, Gregory Jr. made every effort to stay in contact with his father.
Each day, when he came home from school, he would speak to Gregory Sr. on the telephone. And despite the family troubles, he admitted that he loved his dad.
Together, Gregory Jr. and Samuel traveled more than 400 miles to see their father and meet his new family.
However, something went wrong. By the time that the visit was over, Samuel had returned home to Lisa – but Gregory Jr. was nowhere to be seen.
Finally, on November 28, 2014, Gregory Jr. contacted Lisa out of the blue.
Apparently, he had been able to get hold of a cellphone and send a message to his family – who had never stopped looking for the boy. So, armed with the address of where her son was located, Lisa got in touch with the police.
Luckily, though, Gregory Jr. would not be kept down. When police failed to find him on their first visit, the boy contacted his family again. Christmas has arrived.
This time, Lisa was able to tell them exactly where to look. So as her son texted updates, Lisa guided the authorities directly to his hiding place.
At last, then, officers discovered a grateful Gregory Jr. and took him away from his father’s house.
That same night, Lisa got in her car and drove all the way to Atlanta to collect her long-lost son. Hence, accompanied by her daughter Tracy Guervil, she had an emotional reunion with Gregory Jr., then 13.
During that first year, Gregory Jr. was even enrolled at middle school in Atlanta. But events at his father’s house soon took a turn for the worse.
In contrast to the comforts that his step-siblings enjoyed, Gregory Jr. was made to sleep on a makeshift bed in the garage with only a flimsy cover for warmth.
Instead of enjoying his childhood, then, Gregory Jr. was compelled to live as little more than the family’s domestic help.
“I felt like a maid,” he said. “I had to clean the house and yard, and if there was even a leaf out of place my step-mom would beat me with a stick.”
In an attempt to escape, Gregory Jr. confided in a counselor at school.
However, when authorities arrived at the family’s home, Davis seemingly hid the evidence of the abuse. And despite her prior conviction for child cruelty, by all accounts she was believed.
Strangely, too, although Davis’ neighbors sometimes saw Gregory Jr. working outside the house, they never cottoned on to what was allegedly happening behind closed doors.
“He kept that yard immaculate,” one of them told CBS Evening News in 2014. “There was no evidence of distress, it didn’t seem like he was reaching out, like, ‘Oh please help me.’”
Meanwhile, Gregory Jr.’s father and stepmother are, according to most recent reports, awaiting trial for their alleged role in the boy’s ordeal.
Yet, incredibly, he harbors no bad feelings towards the pair and insists that he doesn’t want either of them to end up in jail. Gregory Jr thanks the Atlanta police for finding him. Instead, the teenager is focused on living his own life and plans to help others by becoming a lawyer.