Six children–Markis, 19; Hannah, 16; Devonte, 15; Jeremiah, 14; Abigail, 14; and Ciera, 12–were starved and abused by their adoptive parents, Jennifer and Sarah Hart. The children were homeschooled. According to some reports, Devonte had disabilities.
Siblings Markis, Hannah, and Abigail were adopted from Colorado County, Texas in September 2006, and went to live with the Harts in Alexandria, Minnesota. In 2008, 6-year-old Hannah was a student at Washington Elementary School. She reported to school authorities that Jennifer had struck her arm with a belt, leaving bruises. Teachers also noticed that Hannah was hungry at school. When CPS investigated, the Harts claimed Hannah was lying. Siblings Devonte, Jeremiah, and Ciera were adopted shortly thereafter from Harris County, Texas in February 2009. Within two months of the CPS investigation, the Harts pulled the three oldest children Markis, Hannah, and Devonte out of school to homeschool them.
The children were re-enrolled in a different public school the following school year. In November 2010, Abigail (then age 6) attended Woodland Elementary School. Abigail reported to a teacher that her mother Jennifer had hit her, deprived her of food, and shoved her face underwater. Abigail showed the teacher her bruises, and the teacher called the authorities. When the Harts were interviewed, Sarah Hart confessed to beating Abigail, saying she “let her anger get out of control.” Sarah Hart pleaded guilty to misdemeanor domestic assault and was sentenced to 90 days in jail, although the sentence was suspended. According to the investigating officer, the Harts “didn’t like the school or that the police intervened, and they certainly didn’t like the outcome.”
Shortly after this incident, the Harts moved their family to West Linn, Oregon, and began homeschooling the children. They did not notify the district as the law required. In July 2013, the Harts stayed with a friend, Alexandra Argyropoulos, for two weeks. Argyropoulos observed that Jennifer Hart withheld food from the children and punished them for laughing by forbidding them to talk for the day. Argyropoulos reported her concerns to the police, who investigated the Harts. The children were coached to lie so the police could not gather enough evidence for a charge. The Harts were active in liberal activist causes in their local community. In 2014, Devonte became famous for a viral photo taken of him hugging a police officer; it was later revealed that Jennifer Hart had coerced him into doing so. The Harts joined presidential candidate Bernie Sanders onstage during a 2016 rally in Vancouver.
Around February 2017, uncomfortable with the media attention they had received, the family moved again to Woodland, Washington, where again they did not follow the homeschooling laws. One neighbor reported the children rarely left home and were not allowed to eat sugar. Another neighbor, Dana Dekalb, reported the children looked thin and small. According to Dekalb, one of the Hart girls had asked for help because she was afraid to go home. In another incident in mid-2017, Hannah showed up at Dekalb’s door in the middle of the night, asking Dekalb to take her away to Seattle and saying “Don’t make me go back” to her home. In March 2018, Devonte began to make regular visits to the Dekalbs’ home, asking every day for food because his parents were withholding food as punishment. He asked Dekalb not to tell his mom. Concerned, Dekalb called child services on March 23. Social workers visited the same day, but the Harts did not answer the door. Hours later, the family piled into their car and left home. On March 26, Jennifer Hart drove their car off a cliff in California, killing herself, Sarah, Markis, Abigail, Jeremiah, and Ciera. The other children are believed to have been killed as well. Sarah and the children were drugged, and Jennifer was drunk. The crash appears to have been intentional, although officials are still investigating.
Date: March 26, 2018
Location: Woodland, Washington Read More
Posted: June 13, 2018 by clmccracken Leave a Comment
Jordan Burling, and 1 sibling
Jordan Burling, age 18, died of bronchopneumonia as a result of medical neglect by his mother, Dawn Cranston, his sister Abigail Burling, and his grandmother Denise Cranston. Jordan was homeschooled. The body of Jordan’s infant brother was also found concealed in the home.
When he attended the local elementary school, Jordan had head lice, dental decay, and couldn’t control his bodily functions. He went on to attend Farnley Park High School for a few terms, but then his mother pulled him out of school to homeschool him. Jordan last saw a dentist in 2009 when “16 of his teeth were treated, four of them removed.” Jordan’s father, who did not live with the family, last saw him in December 2015. According to the family members accused of abusing Jordan, about three months before Jordan’s death, he injured his leg and decided he would stop walking. The family members also claim that Jordan refused to see a doctor.
The abuse came to light when Dawn Cranston called paramedics to report Jordan was dying. When the paramedics arrived they found his body riddled with rotting bedsores, the bones exposed, and Jordan weighed only 84 lbs. Jordan’s mother, sister, and grandmother were charged with manslaughter and allowing the death of a vulnerable adult. Dawn Cranston was also charged with concealing the birth of a child.
Date: June 30, 2016
Location: Leeds, England, UK Read More
Posted: June 1, 2018 by clmccracken Leave a Comment
6 Children of Timothy and Barbara Krause
Six children—five boys, ages 16, 15, 14, 14, and 12; and a 13-year-old girl—were tortured and starved by their adoptive parents, Timothy and Barbara Krause. The children were homeschooled, although according to investigators they were at least two years behind in their studies.
The abuse began in 2011. The children were all forced to sleep in one bedroom, some of them without beds. They were beaten with a variety of objects, leaving bruises and scars and in one case an abscess the child had to lance himself. They were threatened with guns and axes; “the 12-year-old said that his mother threatened to shoot him if he touched the phone after he called police to report abuse.” The Krauses used racial slurs against the children and trained their dogs to attack the children during the beatings. Several of the children had scars from untreated dog bites. The children were also forced to do extreme exercise as punishment and to hold stress positions for long periods of time, and they “were only fed eggs and water for weeks at a time.”
The Krauses were charged with child abuse, assault, child endangerment, and terroristic threats.
Date: 2018
Location: Houtzdale, Pennsylvania Read More
Posted: May 14, 2018 by clmccracken Leave a Comment
10 Children of Jonathan Allen and Ina Rogers
Ten children, ages 12 years to 4 months, were tortured and neglected by their parents, Jonathan Allen and Ina Rogers. The children were homeschooled.
Rogers had a 14-year-old child who did not live with the family. Her 12-year-old and 11-year-old were from a previous relationship, while Allen was the biological father of the 8 younger children. The 10 children slept on the floor in one room of the house; investigators “found spoiled food on the floor and animal and human feces at the house.” Allen punctured the children’s skin, burned them, bruised them, and shot them with a pellet gun. Child services visited the home at least once. Rogers denied the abuse and claimed she was being persecuted for homeschooling.
The abuse came to light when the 12-year-old escaped and Rogers called the police to report him missing. The police investigated and found the other children, who reported the torture. Allen was charged with torture and child abuse. Rogers was charged with neglect.
Date: March 31, 2018
Location: Fairfield, California Read More
Posted: April 27, 2018 by clmccracken Leave a Comment
Matthew Tirado
Matthew Tirado, age 17, was starved to death by his mother, Katiria Tirado. Matthew’s 9-year-old sister was also physically abused. Both children were homeschooled.
Matthew was born in 1999 when Tirado was just 16; Matthew’s father, Pedro Gomez, was 34 years older than Tirado and did not live with the family. Matthew was autistic and intellectually disabled, and received special education services in Hartford Public Schools. Tirado began abusing him at least as early as 2005, when the first CPS investigation occurred on his behalf. Between 2010 and 2014, Matthew was withdrawn from school for months and years at a time, seeing a doctor only once in 2011. In August 2013, Matthew’s sister was enrolled in public school; in October 2014 she reported her mother had physically abused her and Matthew, and Tirado was placed on the state child abuse registry. At this time Hartford Public Schools reported Matthew’s long absence to CPS and he was enrolled in Oak Hill School, “a private, state-approved special education program that delivers services to children,” in December 2014. Though he remained enrolled until his death in 2017, he attended less than 100 days of school during this time. According to Tirado’s friends and neighbors, she claimed to be homeschooling Matthew. He last attended school in January 2016. Matthew’s sister was withdrawn from school to be homeschooled in November 2016 after Tirado was charged with educational neglect for failing to send her to school as well. Tirado’s mother, one of Matthew’s primary caregivers, died in mid-2016. Matthew’s father last saw him in August 2016.
Tirado kept the cabinets and refrigerator locked, and beat Matthew when he tried to sneak food. When he died, Matthew weighed 88 pounds and had “broken ribs, a laceration to his head, several contusions and bedsore-type injuries to his buttocks, and severe malnutrition.” A few days before his death, Tirado held a party at her house, where relatives remarked on Matthew’s thinness; Tirado claimed he had a “fast metabolism.” Texts between Tirado and a relative show she knew he needed medical attention, but chose not to seek it because of fears of CPS. The abuse came to light in February 2017 when Matthew’s condition worsened and Tirado took him to the hospital. He died a few hours later. Tirado pleaded guilty to manslaughter and faces up to 11 years in prison.
Date: February 14, 2017
Location: Hartford, Connecticut Read More
Posted: April 13, 2018 by clmccracken Leave a Comment
Jessica Willis
Jessica Willis (b. 1992) was sexually abused by her father, Tony Willis, patriarch of the reality TV family The Willis Clan. According to Jessica, her mother Brenda Willis knew about the abuse, but no charges were filed against Brenda. Jessica and her eleven siblings (7 girls and 4 boys, b. 1993-2010) were homeschooled. Jessica believes some of her other siblings may have been abused as well, although no charges were filed on their behalf.
The Willises moved from Chicago, IL to Nashville, TN in 2001. The abuse took place in 2002. It came to light in 2016 when Jessica’s friend reported it to the police. Willis fled the state to escape arrest. He was caught and pleaded guilty to four counts of child rape. He was sentenced to 40 years in prison.
Date: September 9, 2016
Location: Nashville, Tennessee Read More
Last Updated: April 24, 2018 by clmccracken Leave a Comment
Sophia Brito, and 1 sibling
Sophia Brito, age 6 (pictured right; also spelled Sofia), was beaten by her parents, Shana Pedroso (pictured left) and Marvin Brito, resulting in her death. Sophia and her 9-year-old brother J.B. were homeschooled.
Brito had a history of violent criminal charges dating back to 1997. Neighbors said the family kept to themselves and the children were rarely seen. J.B. attended public preschool for about a month in 2012, but was soon withdrawn from school. “The family submitted a homeschool application for their two children in fall 2017, their first record of any interaction with the district.” On April 9, 2018, Pedroso beat the children, writing in a note that they were “bad and beaten.” According to J.B, the next morning, Sophia “wouldn’t drink” but his parents told him not to call 911. Pedroso used superglue to close a wound on J.B.’s face. When authorities were called later that day, Sophia was unresponsive and had “extensive bruising of various ages over her entire body.” J.B. had “serious injuries and bruising to his face.” The children were taken to the hospital, where Sophia died.
Pedroso was charged with assault of a child, Brito was charged with permitting injury to a child, and both were charged with reckless endangerment.
Date: April 10, 2018
Location: Fitchburg, Massachusetts Read More
Last Updated: April 11, 2018 by clmccracken Leave a Comment
Amina Krouser
Amina Krouser, age 14 (pictured left), died of Lenierre’s Syndrome as a result of medical neglect by her mother, Aziyza Ababneh (pictured right). Amina and her siblings, ages 16 and 12, were homeschooled.
Ababneh, a US Army veteran, divorced the children’s father around 2007. She remarried but had divorced again by 2015. In 2017, Ababneh and the children lived in a filthy, feces-filled home without heat or running water. The children ate mostly baby food and used a bucket for a toilet. They rarely interacted with anyone outside the family, and Ababneh stated that “she doesn’t have health insurance and doesn’t take her daughter to the hospital so she was unaware as to whether she had any cognitive delays.” On November 26, Amina became sick with cold-like symptoms. As Amina’s symptoms worsened over the next four days, Ababneh—convinced Amina was being “lazy”—beat her with a belt, a paddle, and a “face blade” made of PVC pipe. Amina was taken to the hospital on December 3 where doctors diagnosed that the infection had spread to her brain. They told Ababneh that Amina needed emergency surgery in order to survive, but Ababneh refused, stating that she had “already lost her.” The surgery was performed anyway, but Amina did not recover and died December 10.
Ababneh was charged with child abuse and neglect causing death.
Date: December 10, 2017
Location: Milwaukee, Wisconsin Read More
Last Updated: April 27, 2018 by clmccracken Leave a Comment
6 Children of Jennifer and Sarah Hart
Six children–Markis, 19; Hannah, 16; Devonte, 15; Jeremiah, 14; Abigail, 14; and Ciera, 12–were starved and abused by their adoptive parents, Jennifer and Sarah Hart. The children were homeschooled. According to some reports, Devonte had disabilities.
Siblings Markis, Hannah, and Abigail were adopted from Colorado County, Texas in September 2006, and went to live with the Harts in Alexandria, Minnesota. In 2008, 6-year-old Hannah was a student at Washington Elementary School. She reported to school authorities that Jennifer had struck her arm with a belt, leaving bruises. Teachers also noticed that Hannah was hungry at school. When CPS investigated, the Harts claimed Hannah was lying. Siblings Devonte, Jeremiah, and Ciera were adopted shortly thereafter from Harris County, Texas in February 2009. Within two months of the CPS investigation, the Harts pulled the three oldest children Markis, Hannah, and Devonte out of school to homeschool them.
The children were re-enrolled in a different public school the following school year. In November 2010, Abigail (then age 6) attended Woodland Elementary School. Abigail reported to a teacher that her mother Jennifer had hit her, deprived her of food, and shoved her face underwater. Abigail showed the teacher her bruises, and the teacher called the authorities. When the Harts were interviewed, Sarah Hart confessed to beating Abigail, saying she “let her anger get out of control.” Sarah Hart pleaded guilty to misdemeanor domestic assault and was sentenced to 90 days in jail, although the sentence was suspended. According to the investigating officer, the Harts “didn’t like the school or that the police intervened, and they certainly didn’t like the outcome.”
Shortly after this incident, the Harts moved their family to West Linn, Oregon, and began homeschooling the children. They did not notify the district as the law required. In July 2013, the Harts stayed with a friend, Alexandra Argyropoulos, for two weeks. Argyropoulos observed that Jennifer Hart withheld food from the children and punished them for laughing by forbidding them to talk for the day. Argyropoulos reported her concerns to the police, who investigated the Harts. The children were coached to lie so the police could not gather enough evidence for a charge. The Harts were active in liberal activist causes in their local community. In 2014, Devonte became famous for a viral photo taken of him hugging a police officer; it was later revealed that Jennifer Hart had coerced him into doing so. The Harts joined presidential candidate Bernie Sanders onstage during a 2016 rally in Vancouver.
Around February 2017, uncomfortable with the media attention they had received, the family moved again to Woodland, Washington, where again they did not follow the homeschooling laws. One neighbor reported the children rarely left home and were not allowed to eat sugar. Another neighbor, Dana Dekalb, reported the children looked thin and small. According to Dekalb, one of the Hart girls had asked for help because she was afraid to go home. In another incident in mid-2017, Hannah showed up at Dekalb’s door in the middle of the night, asking Dekalb to take her away to Seattle and saying “Don’t make me go back” to her home. In March 2018, Devonte began to make regular visits to the Dekalbs’ home, asking every day for food because his parents were withholding food as punishment. He asked Dekalb not to tell his mom. Concerned, Dekalb called child services on March 23. Social workers visited the same day, but the Harts did not answer the door. Hours later, the family piled into their car and left home. On March 26, Jennifer Hart drove their car off a cliff in California, killing herself, Sarah, Markis, Abigail, Jeremiah, and Ciera. The other children are believed to have been killed as well. Sarah and the children were drugged, and Jennifer was drunk. The crash appears to have been intentional, although officials are still investigating.
Date: March 26, 2018
Location: Woodland, Washington Read More
Posted: February 15, 2018 by clmccracken Leave a Comment
Boy by David Eidens
A 12-year-old boy was repeatedly sexually assaulted by his babysitter/homeschool teacher, David Peter Eidens (pictured). Eidens, who was a friend of the family, had an agreement with the boy’s parents to babysit and homeschool him. The abuse came to light when the boy’s father walked in during a sexual assault. Investigators discovered that Eidens had been convicted in 1984 of sexually assaulting an 11-year-old boy in Florida. Eidens pleaded guilty to child molestation and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Date: February 27, 2017
Location: Mableton, Georgia Read More
Last Updated: January 25, 2018 by clmccracken Leave a Comment
19 Children of Mansa Musa Muhummed
Nineteen children were starved, tortured, and imprisoned by their father, Mansa Musa Muhummed. Muhummed’s three wives—Marva Barfield, Laura Cowan, and Adrienne Easter—were also sexually assaulted, beaten, and imprisoned; Barfield participated in the children’s abuse at Muhummed’s instruction, and Cowan has also been accused of participating in the abuse. The children included Delmarcus (b. 1974), Marlon (b. 1980), Sharon (b. 1981; pictured), Michael (b. 1982), Curtis (b. 1983), C. (b. 1989), Felicia, and Tiffany Boddie (Muhummed’s children with Barfield; 14 in total); Ahmed (b. 1992) and Maryam (b. 1994) (Cowan’s children from a previous marriage), a daughter born to Cowan and Muhummed; and Abdullah and Jada (Easter’s children). The children were homeschooled.
Muhummed and Barfield married in 1973 in Virginia; they had 12 children when they moved to California in 1985. Two more were born shortly thereafter. In 1988, when Sharon was in second grade, she was removed from school to be homeschooled “because she kept running away and teachers no longer wanted her there because she stole other children’s lunches.” Some of the younger children were never sent to school at all. When she was rescued at age 18, Sharon couldn’t read. In 1995, Muhummed married Cowan and added her children to the family. In 1998, he married Easter and added her children to the family. The family moved several times within California.
Muhummed starved the children for days at a time and forced them to eat their own vomit and feces when they “stole” food. He kept locks on the refrigerator and cabinets. He beat them, forced them to beat each other, smashed their toes with a hammer, and hung them upside down. He forced them to stand naked in cold water for hours and denied them use of a bathroom for weeks. He imprisoned Cowan, Easter, and their children in the garage. When the children were injured, Muhummed denied them medical attention. Marlon Boddie “said he once smashed a bottle against his head in order to get sent to a hospital and out of the house.” “When police found Sharon Boddie in 1999, she was 18 years old, weighed 48 pounds and stood barely 4 feet tall. Her older brother Marlon weighed 53 pounds. Another brother, Curtis, 16, weighed 42 pounds.”
In early 1999, a social worker spoke to the children, but they were frightened of Muhummed and did not disclose the abuse. The abuse finally came to light when Cowan slipped a note about the abuse to a postal worker, who alerted the authorities. Barfield pleaded guilty to child endangerment in a deal to testify against Muhummed. She served 17 months in prison. “At least two of [Muhummed’s] older daughters and one wife became involved in polygamous marriages again.” Muhummed was sentenced to life in prison.
Date: April 6, 1999
Location: Aguanga, California Read More
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