A 9-year-old girl was beaten, starved, and tortured by her father, Julio Valladares, and his partner Linda Richmond. The girl was homeschooled.

Beginning in December 2013, Valladares and Richmond forced the girl to take repeated cold showers, beat her with a belt, starved her, made her sit on a chair for hours causing bedsores, made her lie in a soiled bed for extended periods, and forced her “to sit at a table and write ‘corrections’ for hours while claiming to be homeschooling her.” These punishments were reportedly for bedwetting. Richmond also had a son on whose behalf no charges were filed.

The abuse came to light in October 2014 when the girl went to the hospital and social services called the police. Valladares and Richmond were arrested the following day. Valladares pleaded guilty to abuse and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Richmond was tried and convicted of abuse with the jury recommending a 90-year sentence.

Date: October 17, 2014
Location: Berea, Kentucky

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A 13-year-old girl was starved and imprisoned by her stepfather, Timothy Ciboro, and his son, Esten Ciboro. The girl and her siblings, a 10-year-old boy and a 9-year-old girl, were homeschooled.

The girl and her siblings were placed with the Ciboros by child services after their mother moved away. Social workers examined the girl in 2014 after neighbors reported seeing her eating out of the trash, but she was not found to be malnourished. Sometime before May 2015, as punishment for bedwetting, the girl was chained by the ankle to a support beam in the Ciboros’ basement, where she was fed rotten food and forced to use a bucket for a toilet. Timothy Ciboro, a former firefighter, was reportedly religious and the family had strict rules against eating fast food.

The abuse came to light when the girl used a spare key she had hidden to escape while the Ciboros were out of the house. A neighbor spotted her as she was running away and called the police. The Ciboros were arrested shortly thereafter and charged with child endangerment, torture, and kidnapping.

Date: May 19, 2016
Location: Toledo, Ohio

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At least 11 children (9 girls and 2 boys, born between 1997 and 2008) were physically and sexually abused by their adoptive/foster parents, Daniel Wayne Spurgeon and Jenise Rae Spurgeon. The children were homeschooled (though at least some had attended school as late as 2008). The Spurgeons’ three biological children (two boys and a girl, born between 2001 and 2006) were not reported to be abused.

Daniel worked from home as a programmer and the family were active in their church and community. The Spurgeons became foster parents in 2004 in Alabama. They adopted five girls (born in 2000, 2000, 2002, 2003, and 2005) and were fostering-to-adopt five more children (girls born 2003, 2005, and 2006; boys born 2007 and 2008). All ten of these children reported being abused by their parents. An additional girl, born 1997, who no longer lived with the Spurgeons, also reported being abused from 2009 to 2013.

The adopted and foster children reported that they were treated differently from the Spurgeons’ biological children. The house had two refrigerators; one contained varied meals for the biological children, while the other contained bread, rice, and beans for the adopted/foster children. The children were punished by being forced to swim laps, do pushups with a parent’s foot on their back, take cold showers, and sleep outside. They were smacked with spatulas and thrown against the wall. They went years without receiving medical care. At least five girls also reported being sexually abused by Daniel Spurgeon.

The Spurgeons left their Alabama home in August 2015 to move to Florida, although they weren’t licensed as a foster family in Florida until June 2016. The abuse came to light when police found three of the girls highly intoxicated in the parking lot of a restaurant. The girls reported that the alcohol was given to them by their father as part of the sexual assaults. The Spurgeons were arrested and both were charged with aggravated child abuse; Daniel was additionally charged with sexual assault.

Date: July 18, 2016
Location: Cape Coral, Florida; Florence, Alabama

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Dominique Moceanu, born 1981, was financially, emotionally, and physically abused by her parents, Romanian immigrants Dimitru and Camelia Moceanu, while being homeschooled for part of her high school years. Dominique’s sister Christina (b. 1989), was also emotionally abused. Another sister, Jennifer (b. 1987), was given up for adoption at birth.

Dominique, a professional gymnast, attended public schools in various states as a child and was a straight-A student. She was enrolled at Northland Christian School in Houston in November 1995 when she ceased attending to prepare for the summer Olympics of 1996 (where she would go on to win a gold medal). While being homeschooled, she had “several hours of academic instruction [each day], conducted by her mother with the help of a home-schooling TV channel.” During this time, her father slapped her across the face as punishment for eating food unsanctioned by her gymnastics coaches, Bela and Marta Karolyi. After the Olympics, she embarked on a 7-month tour around the US. It is unclear when she returned to school. On October 17, 1998, Dominique ran away from home due to continued abuse. Shortly thereafter she filed a lawsuit against her parents for stealing her earnings and was granted legal emancipation from them by the courts. In December 1998 she was granted a temporary restraining order against her parents who were stalking and harassing her; Dimitru was apparently plotting to have two of Dominique’s friends murdered. She went back to Northland Christian School in spring 1999.

Date: 1996-1998
Location: Houston, Texas

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Gypsy Rose Blancharde, born in 1991, was starved and medically abused by her mother, Clauddine ‘Dee Dee’ Blanchard (aka Clauddinnea Blancharde), who is believed to have had Munchausen by proxy syndrome. Gypsy was homeschooled.

Blanchard kept Gypsy’s head shaved to make her appear sick. She forced Gypsy to take seizure medications which made her teeth fall out. She kept her confined to a wheelchair and allowed her to eat only through a feeding tube for several years. Blanchard subjected Gypsy to several unnecessary surgeries, such as having her eye muscles operated on, tubes inserted in her ears, and her salivary glands removed. Blanchard lied about Gypsy’s age, saying she was four years younger than she was. In February 2011, when Gypsy was 19, she tried to escape with a man she had met at a science fiction convention. Blanchard responded by destroying the family computer and supervising Gypsy’s later internet use.

The abuse came to light in 2015 when Gypsy and her online boyfriend, Nick Godejohn, murdered Blanchard. After Gypsy’s arrest it became evident that she was not sick and she gained 14 pounds in prison. In a plea deal, Gypsy pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and is serving 10 years in prison.

Date: June 14, 2015
Location: Slidell, Louisiana; Springfield, Missouri

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A boy (b. 2002) was imprisoned, starved, and medically neglected by his adoptive parents, Richard and Cynthia Kelly. His older sister (b. 1997), who was also adopted, was not reported to be abused. The children were homeschooled.

The boy, who was reported to have special needs, was kept locked in the basement by the Kellys for two years (from age 12 to 14), where he was denied food, water, and medical care. Authorities described the isolation as “disciplinary in nature.”

The abuse came to light when the Kellys brought the boy to the hospital. He weighed 55 lbs. and was described as “severely and chronically malnourished, dehydrated, suffering from acute respiratory distress, shock, hypothermia, hypothyroid and close to death.” The Kellys were charged with aggravated child abuse.

Date: November 13, 2016
Location: Helena, Alabama

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A boy (b. 2002) was imprisoned, starved, and physically and sexually abused by his father, an officer in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and his stepmother. The boy’s two siblings were not reported to be abused. The boy was homeschooled.

The boy last attended school in June 2012; his parents began homeschooling him in September 2012, reportedly due to behavior problems. The abuse took place over six months. The Mountie kept the boy chained in the basement, deprived him of food and water, beat him with a stick, and burned him with a barbecue lighter. Some of the punishments were reportedly because the boy did not do his homework. In videos the Mountie made of the abuse, the emaciated boy is tied up while his father taunts him and insists that he “renounce Satan.”

The abuse came to light in February 2013 when the boy escaped and went to a neighbor for help. The Mountie was convicted of assault, sexual assault, and unlawful confinement, among other charges. His wife was convicted of assault and neglect.

Date: February 2013
Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

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Five children, ages 14, 8, 6, 5, and 4, were starved and neglected by their parents, Donell Barron and Rikki Hart. The children were homeschooled.

According to their website, both Barron and Hart have college degrees and they run investment and healthy eating businesses; Hart works as a birth doula. Based on Barron’s statements to police, he and Hart are most likely members of the sovereign citizen movement, whose adherents reject the US government’s jurisdiction. The family had been evicted twice between 2011 and 2016 from homes in Port St. Lucie, Florida for failure to pay rent. It is unknown whether the children attended school during this time. Since their last eviction in February 2016 the family had been living in motels; however, in October 2016, their money ran out and they began living in their car in a Wal-Mart parking lot. The children were fed only bread and salad once a day while the parents appeared well-fed. The children used a bucket for a bathroom and bathed at a local park. They had not seen a doctor in years. When they were rescued, the 14-year-old boy weighed only 50 lbs. (5 lbs. more than the 8-year-old) and his bones were visibly protruding under his skin. He also had untreated high blood pressure.

The abuse came to light when the children were found by a patrolling officer. Barron and Hart were charged with child neglect.

Date: December 17, 2016
Location: Greenacres, Florida

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Three children (JTW, a 6-year-old boy; SRB, a 5-year-old girl; and HRW, a 4-year-old girl) were imprisoned, starved, and beaten by their adoptive parents, Joshua Ross Weyant and Brandi Jene Weyant. The children were homeschooled. Five other children who lived in the home, including a 17-year-old girl, were not reported to be abused.

JTW and HRW are the biological children of Jess David, who lost custody of them due to her heroin addiction. They went to live with Joshua Weyant because he was dating their mother at the time of their birth. SRB was reportedly not the biological child of either Weyant. Joshua Weyant served one month in prison in 2015 for the rape of a child (an incident which occurred in 2013) and returned to live with the children in March 2016. No one outside the home saw the children after summer 2016. According to the school superintendent, “the Weyants were sent a kindergarten registration packet, but because none of the children were of the legal school age of 8-years-old, they did not have to report the lack of response.” Though Joshua claimed to have completed homeschool paperwork, the school district had no record of this. The children had not been seen by a doctor since May 2014.

Beginning in September 2016, when Brandi Weyant fell ill, the children were kept locked in an unheated bedroom while the Weyants slept in a heated room; when they were rescued, the children had hypothermia. The children were found with “dirt, animal hair, urine, and feces in their clothing” and severe cases of lice. JTW had an eye wound caused by Joshua Weyant throwing him across the room. SRB reported that Brandi Weyant had punched her in the face as punishment for drinking tea. Both JTW and SRB were dangerously underweight and doctors reported that they would have died of starvation within a week if they were not rescued. All three children suffered from refeeding syndrome. HRW was also starved and beaten but her abuse was less severe than that of her siblings; Joshua Weyant reportedly favored her over the other two and investigators found a locked room in their house with numerous photos of her but no photos of other family members. Brandi Weyant told police she had asked her husband to “get rid of the children.”

The abuse came to light when police and social services visited the house in response to a tip. The children were hospitalized and the Weyants were charged with assault, false imprisonment, and child endangerment.

Date: December 16, 2016
Location: Halifax Township, Pennsylvania

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Natalie Jasmine Finn, age 16, was imprisoned, tortured, and starved to death by her parents, Nicole Marie Finn and Joseph Michael Finn II. Natalie’s 15-year-old brother and 14-year-old sister were also starved, imprisoned, and tortured. An older brother, Alexander Kendal Finn (age 23), and another 15-year-old sibling were not reported to be abused. Natalie was homeschooled.

The Finns divorced in 2011 and were living separately but had joint custody of the children. At least one of the minor children was adopted and Natalie and her sister and brother were reported to have disabilities. Natalie attended an alternative school, Walnut Creek Campus, in the 2014-2015 school year, but was subsequently homeschooled. Natalie often wore the same clothes to school and asked other students for food or money. Once she told a friend she did not have shoes and her feet were blistered. In May 2016, the mother of one of Natalie’s school friends reported to child protective services that Natalie asked her for extra food for herself and her siblings; police went to the home but no one answered the door. Other neighbors reported that they rarely saw the children, and that Natalie had asked them for money, food, and clothes on multiple occasions. According to court documents, Natalie and her siblings were locked in the house and subjected to “unreasonable force, torture or cruelty”.

The abuse came to light when emergency services were dispatched to Natalie’s home after she had a heart attack from starvation. She later died at the hospital. Nicole Finn was charged with first-degree murder; both Finns were also charged with kidnapping, child endangerment, and neglect.

Date: October 24, 2016
Location: West Des Moines, Iowa

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Malayia Knapp (b. 1998) and her sister (b. 2001) were beaten, starved, and imprisoned by their adoptive parents, Mindy Dawn Knapp and Anthony “Andy” Knapp. Their 7 other siblings were not reported to be abused, although at least one other sibling had tried to run away. All the children were homeschooled.

Malayia was the “oldest of six half-siblings of two parents with drug abuse problems and was placed in foster care at age 7” in 2006. She and two of her siblings, ages 6 and 2 at the time, were adopted by the Knapps, who later adopted the other three children. The Knapps also had three biological children. The biological children were treated differently from the adopted children; they were allowed to attend “The Network Connection, a private Christian organization in Des Moines that helps supplement education provided by home-schooling parents.” Malayia and the other adopted children did not receive similar educational supplements. The Knapps began to abuse Malayia in 2008, shortly after the adoption was finalized, and she and her siblings were abused more harshly as time went on. The Knapps changed their names and their social security numbers so family members could not find them. The children were beaten with belts, forced to exercise (often outside without coats or shoes) as punishment, and were often kept tied up. In 2011, the minister at the Knapps’ church, Heritage Assembly of God in Des Moines, noticed that the children were being mistreated and tried to investigate. The Knapps left the church shortly thereafter. In 2014, after Malayia’s sister tried to run away, the Knapps began to lock Malayia and her sister “inside a small basement room with no windows, no bed and a steel door locked from the outside.” In 2015, Malayia was kept locked in the room for seven days with no food. Also that year, the Knapps allowed Malayia to get a job working at McDonald’s so she could save up for when they kicked her out at age 18. The Knapps “grew upset because Malayia talked to people at work,” however, and forced Malayia to quit her job, stole her debit card and phone, and stole the $1400 Malayia had saved.

The abuse came to light in late 2015 when Mindy Knapp forced Malayia’s brother (b. 1999) to punish Malayia and her sister. The punishments included being doused with water and forced to exercise outside without a coat or shoes. As she was exercising outside, Malayia realized she could run away to seek help. She rode her bike to a local store, asked the clerk to borrow a phone, and called the police. Mindy Knapp was charged with two counts of assault; she pleaded guilty and was given a year’s probation. The Knapps were allowed to keep custody of Malayia’s siblings.

Date: December 1, 2015
Location: Urbandale, Iowa

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Adam Wesley Jordan (b. 1980), who went by Wesley, was tortured and imprisoned for 18 months by his stepfather, Steve Maynard, and his mother Bonnie Maynard. Wesley’s two sisters (S., b. 1984; and M., b. 1990) were not reported to be abused. The children were homeschooled.

Wesley’s parents divorced in 1990 and he moved with his mother and sisters to live with Steve Maynard, an EMT and candidate for US Congress, that same year. In 1993, social workers investigated the home in response to a complaint that Wesley was being forced to work in the hot sun without water. Shortly after this investigation, in March 1994, the Maynards withdrew the children from school to homeschool them. Around this time Steve Maynard started to beat Wesley regularly. In July 1994, Steve Maynard chained Wesley to the wall of a bathroom. “Wesley’s nose and finger were broken. His foot got so cold one night that the big toenail fell off.” Though his mother and stepfather were both EMTs, they did not treat him. Wesley was starved, and when he snuck food the Maynards forced him to drink bleach and ammonia to vomit it up. The Maynards also sexually assaulted him with pliers. Though Wesley attempted escape several times, Maynard always caught him.

The abuse came to light in November 1995, when Wesley managed to escape and went to his friends’ house for help. Steve Maynard entered an Alford plea to assault and unlawful imprisonment and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Bonnie Maynard entered an Alford plea to unlawful imprisonment and was sentenced to 2 years in prison.

Date: November 11, 1995
Location: Inez, Kentucky

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David Alfonso ‘Davie’ Martinez, age 8, died of malnutrition and medical neglect. A criminal investigation is ongoing. Davie was homeschooled.

Davie lived with his mother, Rachell Martinez, and his stepfather Steven Zahara. Davie had four siblings. He died from complications of an infection caused by malnutrition and neglect.

Date: September 7, 2014
Location: Lowell, Massachusetts

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A 5-year-old girl was imprisoned, starved, and physically abused by her parents, Ryan Rechtzigel and Angela Stewart. The girl was homeschooled. The girl’s siblings, ages 2 and 7 months, were not reported to be abused.

The girl had been removed from her parents’ home when she was 6 months old due to their methamphetamine use. She was returned to their custody in April 2016. In October 2016, Stewart withdrew her from school stating that she would homeschool her. The girl was kept in an unheated boarded-up room and deprived of food. Her parents beat her, smeared her with feces, and forced her to do squats with a heavy bin on her head. When she was rescued, she had a broken elbow and “cuts, scrapes, burn marks and missing hair.”

The abuse came to light in November 2016 when Rechtzigel’s parole officer could not find him to question him about a parole violation. The police had also received a tip from a family friend concerned that the girl had not attended her parents’ wedding, so authorities went to the home and found the girl locked up. Rechtzigel and Stewart were charged with a combined 12 felonies including child neglect, false imprisonment, and attempted manslaughter.

Date: November 18, 2016
Location: Ostrander, Minnesota

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Eleven children (b. 2002-2016) were starved and neglected by their parents, Alejandro Aleman and Kristen Meyer-Aleman. The children were homeschooled.

Child services had been aware of the family since 2013. During visits, only the oldest child, a 14-year-old boy, could speak comprehensibly; the other children spoke in grunts and gestures. Neighbors reported seeing the children scavenging in trash cans. When they were rescued, several of the children had scabies and their home was covered with feces. A dog was also found caged and covered in feces.

The abuse came to light in April 2016 when the Alemans’ then-youngest child Tayla (b. 2015) stopped breathing and Meyer-Aleman called paramedics. Tayla died on the way to the hospital due to malnutrition; authorities believe her parents deliberately starved her to death. When she died, Tayla weighed 7 lbs. and had sores, a black eye, influenza, pneumonia, and E. coli. The Alemans were charged with murder and child abuse.

Date: April 1, 2016
Location: Loxahatchee, Florida

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Sabrina Ray, age 16, is believed to have died due to abuse by her adoptive parents, Marc and Misty Ray. Sabrina and her four siblings were homeschooled.

The Rays ran a state-licensed daycare which had been under investigation for inadequate nutrition and corporal punishment since 2013. According to Sabrina’s foster brother Marco Mendez, Sabrina “endured intense physical abuse” and starvation by her parents; she was so hungry she sometimes ate food from the garbage. Her siblings were also reportedly starved.

The abuse came to light when Sabrina’s body was discovered in the Rays’ basement. An investigation is ongoing.

Date: May 12, 2017
Location: Perry, Iowa

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Shaelynn A. Lehano-Stone, age 9, was starved to death by her parents, Kevin Lehano and Tiffany Stone (pictured center and right), and her grandmother Henrietta Stone (pictured left). Shaelynn was homeschooled.

Shaelynn and her brother were removed from their parents’ custody in 2007 after Lehano assaulted Tiffany Stone. Later, Henrietta Stone became Shaelynn’s legal guardian, although her parents lived in the same apartment complex and were allowed to have daily contact with her. Shaelynn attended Hilo Union Elementary School until November 2015, when her family pulled her from school to homeschool her. She was forbidden from leaving her home, starved, and deprived of water and medical attention for about eight months until her death.

The abuse came to light when authorities were called and found her emaciated and close to death. She died a few hours later in the hospital. Lehano and the Stones were charged with second-degree murder.

Date: June 28, 2016
Location: Hilo, Hawaii

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A.C., a 10-year-old girl, was starved and tortured with the knowledge of her caregiver, Hyacinth Poouahi (pictured left). A.C. was homeschooled.

A.C., then age 9, was dropped off at Poouahi’s home in November 2004 by her biological mother, Crystal McGrath, who was a friend of Poouahi. Three education professionals at A.C.’s school, Keonepoko Elementary School, all reported suspicions of abuse to the school principal Kathleen Romero, who did not report the abuse to the authorities. After winter break, A.C. did not return to school as Poouahi claimed to be homeschooling her for medical reasons. Instead, Poouahi, her husband Jaime Soares, her 13-year-old son Hans Poouahi Jr. (pictured right), and possibly other people in the home, subjected A.C. to torture. She was starved and deprived of water, “forced to eat cockroaches and Froot Loops mixed with chili peppers,” bound until she developed bedsores, burned with a cigarette lighter, stabbed in the ankle with a steak knife, had her hand broken and her lip and head cut open.

The abuse came to light when Poouahi called paramedics to report A.C.’s injuries. A.C. spent six weeks in a coma and, 5 years later, was “severely speech- and hearing-impaired, blind in one eye, walks with a limp and has facial disfigurement.” Hans Poouahi Jr. “was convicted as a juvenile and housed at the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility until he turned 19 years-old.” Hyacinth Poouahi pleaded guilty to assault, unlawful imprisonment, and child endangerment; she was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Date: February 7, 2005
Location: ‘Ainaloa, Hawaii

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Peter J. Kema, Jr., age 6, often called Peter Boy, was abused and murdered by his parents, Peter Kema, Sr. and Jaylin Kema. Peter Boy was homeschooled. His older half-siblings, Chauntelle and Allan Acol, and younger sister Devalynn ‘Lina’ Acol, were also abused.

In August 1991, when Peter Boy was only a few months old, he and his siblings were removed from their parents’ care after authorities discovered signs of abuse; Peter Boy had broken bones and Allan reported that his parents beat him and his siblings. The children were raised by their grandparents, James and Yolanda Acol, until 1995 when they were returned to the Kemas. According to Allan, the Kemas soon resumed physically abusing their children. Peter Boy’s abuse included being shot with a pellet gun, locked in the trunk of a car, and forced to eat dog feces. Though Peter Boy was enrolled in preschool, he was soon withdrawn from school to be homeschooled. In June 1997, Lina witnessed Peter Boy’s death and the Kemas’ attempts to hide the body.

The Kemas did not report Peter Boy missing until January 1998; the other children were interviewed at this time, reported abuse, and were permanently removed from the home. Peter Kema, Sr., insisted that he had left Peter Boy with a relative who is believed not to have existed. No charges were filed against the Kemas until 2014 because Peter Boy’s body was never found. Jaylin Kema pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 2016 and was sentenced to time served. Peter Kema, Sr., pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 2017 and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Date: June 1997
Location: Keaau, Hawaii

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Two boys (b. 2004 and 2008) were starved and physically abused by their stepmother, Sara Anne Woody. Their father, Jonathan Woody, knew about the abuse but did nothing to stop it. The boys’ siblings–a younger girl and boy who were Sara Anne’s children from a previous relationship, and two younger children who were both the Woodys’ biological children–witnessed the abuse although they were not reported to be targets of it. The children were homeschooled.

The abuse began soon after Sara Anne and Jonathan moved in together around 2014. Sara Anne burned the boys’ tongues with a lighter, beat their genitals with a belt, forced them to go naked as punishment (“because it was the worst thing a Christian fanatic could think of,” according to the prosecution), forced them to lick feces off of a toilet, forced them to vomit up food they had “stolen”, forced them to exercise and beat them when they stopped, and locked them in a closet overnight with a bucket for a toilet. After the boys’ grandparents noticed the abuse, visits to the grandparents ceased, and prosecutors later noted that “the defense never called any…other mothers from their homeschool group to testify, showing an increased isolation of the children.” According to the boys’ grandparents, after they were rescued, “the older boy scored in the sixth percentile in reading and 15th percentile in math…His younger brother has also had to repeat the first grade.”

The abuse came to light after Sara Anne beat one of the boys’ faces with a metal spoon and Jonathan took the boy to the hospital, where his injuries were recognized as caused by abuse. The boys quickly gained weight when they were placed in a different home, and they and Sara Anne’s two children were diagnosed with PTSD. Sara Anne was found guilty on 16 counts of injury to a child and sentenced to 45 years in prison. Jonathan Woody was charged with child endangerment.

Date: March 30, 2016
Location: Burkburnett, Texas

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