Trinity Love Jones, age 9, was murdered by her mother, Taquesta Graham, and Graham’s boyfriend Emiel Hunt. Trinity was homeschooled.
Graham experienced child abuse or neglect and was performing sex work around age 18. Graham “pleaded no contest in 2009 to enticing a girl [under 16] for prostitution in San Bernardino County” and was placed on probation and the sex offender registry. Trinity was born in January 2010. In 2011, child services investigated Graham for abusing Trinity; the allegations were deemed unfounded/inconclusive. Trinity’s relatives described her as a social butterfly who loved fashion. Her father, Antonio Jones, said she was “full of character, full of life, full of joy.”
In 2016 Graham’s probation was revoked and she was sentenced to two years in prison. In December 2017, Graham began her relationship with Hunt, who had been convicted of torture and felony child abuse in San Diego County and “sentenced in 2005 to 12 years in state prison.” In May 2018, Hunt, Graham, and Trinity moved out of a relative’s home in Long Beach and lived in motels and in their vehicle for the next ten months. The couple pulled Trinity out of school to homeschool her and kept her isolated from family and friends, who called child services for help to no effect. Hunt and Graham starved Trinity and beat her, leaving her “scarred from head to toe.” She had a foot infection that made it hard for her to wear shoes, and in early 2019 Trinity experienced a head injury that caused her eyes to swell and made her lethargic.
Around the evening of February 28, 2019, or the morning of March 1, Trinity stopped breathing as a result of blunt force trauma and neglect. Hunt and Graham did not seek medical attention for her; instead they concealed her body in a duffel bag and dumped it in a wooded area. Trinity’s body was discovered by workers on March 5 and it took nearly a week to identify her. “Graham was arrested on an unrelated warrant March 8 at a Border Patrol checkpoint in Texas. Hunt was arrested a day later after he was found sleeping in his SUV near San Diego International Airport.” Graham and Hunt were charged with torture and murder.
Date: March 1, 2019
Location: Hacienda Heights, California Read More
Josie Ann Abney, age 10, was starved to death by her parents, Randall and Susan Abney. Josie was homeschooled.
Josie was born in 2010 and adopted by the Abneys in 2013. She was the first of “12 or 13 children” that the Abneys fostered. According to her obituary, “Josie was a cute little redhead who was full of life and had an amazing personality. Josie was a ray of sunshine, beautiful inside and out, always had a smile to share and was a blessing to all.” She attended public school until she was withdrawn from school to be homeschooled. The Abneys kept the refrigerator locked and all food in the kitchen was stored too high for Josie to reach. They kept her locked in her bedroom and placed an alarm on the door. Josie’s bedroom contained only “a single mattress on the floor, one lamp and a clothes basket.” In September 2020, the Abneys reported that Josie stopped eating and complained of constipation. The Abneys did not take her to a doctor. By early October, Josie was covered in bruises and weighed 40 lbs. with an extremely low blood sugar and extreme dehydration; investigators said she looked like a “Holocaust victim.”
Josie collapsed at home on October 3. She was rushed to the hospital but doctors could not save her. The Abneys were charged with felony child abuse resulting in death.
Date: October 3, 2020
Location: Salem, Missouri Read More
An 8-year-old boy, H., was imprisoned by his parents, Kelley and Daniel Davis. The boy and his five sisters (ranging in age from 10 to infancy) were homeschooled.
Beginning at least in March 2020, H. was kept locked in a dark room with boards over the window and door overnight or, according to his parents, “when he misbehaved.” The only things in the room were a mattress and blanket, so H. was often forced to urinate and defecate on the floor. Daniel Davis claimed that H. had “behavioral and possibly mental health issues.” H. was singled out for abuse; his sisters were not similarly abused. Authorities visited the home in February and July 2020 but did not notice anything suspicious. A concerned neighbor contacted the authorities in August 2020 to report a child rummaging through the refrigerator in the Davises’ garage.
The abuse came to light when H. and one of his sisters orchestrated his escape. H.’s sister passed him matches under the door and H. set his mattress on fire. When authorities arrived to put out the fire, they recognized H.’s imprisonment. The Davises were charged with aggravated child abuse and their children were removed from their custody.
Date: October 5, 2020
Location: Sugar Hill, Florida Read More
Kaya Centeno (b. 2002) disappeared while being homeschooled. Her sister S. (b. 2003) and brother B. (b. 2005) were physically, emotionally, and sexually abused by the children’s adoptive parents, Gina and Jose Centeno. It is unknown if the children’s twin adoptive siblings P. and Q. were also abused.
The Centenos adopted Kaya, S., and B., who were all biological siblings, in 2008. Kaya was enrolled in John Reed Elementary School in Rohnert Park, California, in 2010-2011 for second grade, but she was withdrawn from school to be homeschooled. She was last seen between 2010 and 2012. Around the time of Kaya’s disappearance, the Centenos began abusing the other children. Jose Centeno repeatedly sexually abused S., and both Centenos physically abused S. and B. At some point, the Centenos adopted twins P. and Q. In early 2019, the now separated Centenos sent S. and B. to live with their relatives in Mexico, while P. and Q. continued to live in California with Gina Centeno. This arrangement was reportedly part of a fraudulent scheme “to access adoption assistance funding.”
The abuse came to light in summer 2020 when S. and B. reported it to Mexican authorities. They were returned to the United States and the Centenos were arrested on several counts of kidnapping, torture, and sexual abuse.
Date: August 19, 2020
Location: Rohnert Park, California Read More
Two girls—G. (age 14) and B. (age 7)—were abducted by G.’s homeschool teacher, Terry Miles. Miles also sexually assaulted G.
Miles met G. and began grooming her while she was visiting her father in Louisiana during the summer of 2017. According to G.’s father, “[Miles] knew [G.] for one day or something like that and then they’re hugging;” G. testified that Miles sexually assaulted her the first day they met and continued to assault her every day for a month. In fall 2017, G. convinced her mother, Tonya Bates, to allow Miles to move into the Round Rock, Texas home Bates shared with her daughters. Miles was G.’s homeschool teacher and continued to sexually assault her.
On December 29, 2017, Miles lied to Bates, telling her that G. wanted to marry Miles. Following an altercation, Bates was found dead—probably murdered by Miles, as suggested by the evidence. Miles then kidnapped the girls in Bates’s car and transported them to a rural campground near Trinidad, Colorado, where he sexually assaulted G. The girls were rescued on January 3, 2018, after authorities spotted their vehicle.
Miles was found guilty of kidnapping and transportation of a minor for sex; he was sentenced to life in prison.
Date: December 29, 2017
Location: Round Rock, Texas Read More
James Alex Hurley, age 12, who went by Alex, was tortured and murdered by his grandparents, James Sasser, Jr. and Patricia Batts, and their 14-year-old son, J.S. A family friend, Gage Roush, was also charged in connection with Alex’s death. Alex also lived with his 18-year-old aunt M.S. and his 6-year-old uncle H.S. Alex was homeschooled.
Alex originally lived with his mother, Alicia Davis, in Texas. Davis sent Alex to Montana to live with his father, Tommy Tate, but Tate died in early 2018. After Tate’s death, Alex moved in with Batts, who was Tate’s mother. Batts, Sasser, and J.S. claimed that Alex’s behavior became erratic after he moved in with them. However, there is no record that Batts and Sasser ever sought help for Alex, whose behavior was consistent with severe ADHD, according to a school superintendent.
Alex was withdrawn from school in September 2019 and “Batts filed paperwork with the West Yellowstone School District to homeschool” him. “Batts struggled with the task and said she would make Alex do jumping jacks and ‘wall sits’ if she caught him not doing his school work.” Batts, Sasser, and J.S. tortured Alex, beating him, spraying him with water, strangling him, and depriving him of food.
The abuse came to light when Alex died following an altercation with J.S. where Alex sustained blunt force trauma to the back of his head. Batts, Sasser, and J.S. were charged with homicide; Batts and Sasser were also charged with child endangerment, among other charges.
Date: February 3, 2020
Location: West Yellowstone, Montana Read More
An 11-year-old girl, D., was allegedly singled out for starvation and torture by her foster mother, Kimberly Howell. D. was homeschooled. Her four siblings, who were also Howell’s foster children, attended school and were allegedly forced to participate in the abuse.
D. was allegedly forced to provide childcare for her siblings, including a 1-year-old. She was allegedly forced to cook all the family’s meals, but not allowed to eat them; she was allegedly only allowed to eat rice and milk or water. While the other children had beds, D. allegedly had to sleep on the floor in Howell’s room, and she was sometimes allegedly forced to sleep in the bathroom. As punishment for “stealing” food, Howell allegedly forced D. to do push-ups and forced her siblings to beat her. Howell allegedly told D. she couldn’t go to school like her siblings because there wasn’t “enough money to pay for [her] ‘tuition’ at Wilson Junior High.” Howell allegedly threatened to beat D. in her sleep and allegedly did so the week before she was rescued. Howell allegedly instructed D.’s mother to cut off her ponytail. D. attempted suicide to escape the alleged abuse.
The alleged abuse came to light after an anonymous source reported it to authorities. Howell was charged with child abuse.
Date: December 16, 2019
Location: Manitowoc, Wisconsin Read More
Two children–Heather “Sophie” Gray (b. 2006) and Jonathan Gray–died in the custody of their adoptive parents, Michael and Shirley Gray. Three other adopted children–M., a boy born in 2005; L., a girl born c. 2007; and T., a boy born in 2009–were imprisoned, starved, and abused by the Grays. The Grays’ adult children, Anthony “Bubba” and Carolyn Gray, lived with them at various points and knew about the abuse. The children were homeschooled.
The Grays were originally from Mississippi, where Anthony and Carolyn were born in the early 1980s. The family moved to Tennessee in the mid-1990s and began adopting children in Halls, Knox County, after their biological children had reached adulthood. They adopted a total of five children, including one child in 2007, one child in 2008, and two children in 2011. The Grays lived in the basement of the Halls home while Anthony, his partner, and sometimes Carolyn with her children lived on the upper floor of the home.
All of the Grays’ adopted children were starved; when they were rescued, they were amazed at how a refrigerator works, and they reported being punished for “stealing” food. The children last saw a doctor or dentist in 2014. By at least 2015, M. was being regularly kept confined in a cage in the basement. In 2015 or 2016, Jonathan became sick and died of causes yet to be determined; the Grays buried him in the yard, telling the other children he had “gone away to live with another family.”
In 2016, the Grays moved to Ten Mile, Roane County with their four surviving minor children, M., Sophie, L., and T. Within a month, M. and Sophie had both been confined to the basement with little food and a bucket for a toilet. The children were originally locked in a dog crate, then later a concrete room that Michael Gray constructed for that purpose. Sophie died in early 2017 and the Grays buried her in the barn, continuing to collect adoption subsidies on her behalf. At various points, T. was also confined to the basement.
When they were rescued, all of the children were officially considered to be homeschooled by the state; Shirley Gray consistently updated their records, even for Sophie who had been dead for three years. M. never received any education at all.
The abuse came to light when neighbors reported T. for riding his scooter alone. When authorities spoke to him, he reported that M. was confined in his home and that Sophie was dead. The Grays were charged with kidnapping, child abuse, and abuse of a corpse. Additional charges may be pending.
Date: May 22, 2020
Location: Ten Mile, Roane County, Tennessee Read More
Two children—Tylee Ryan, age 17; and Joshua “J.J.” Vallow, age 7—died under suspicious circumstances while under the care of their mother, Lori Vallow. The children were homeschooled.
Tylee was born around 2002. Lori later married Charles Vallow, and the Vallows adopted J.J., who was autistic. The family lived in Chandler, Arizona, where the children attended school.
Around 2017, Lori Vallow began to become involved with a new religious movement called Preparing A People. In February 2019, Charles Vallow filed for divorce, claiming that Lori was not mentally stable and had threatened to kill him. The divorce was never finalized because in July 2019 Charles was killed, allegedly in self-defense, by Lori’s brother Alex Cox. The children reportedly witnessed their father’s death. Shortly after August 31, 2019, Lori Vallow moved her children to Idaho to be closer to the home of her romantic partner, Chad Daybell, who was a speaker at Preparing A People events. Tylee did not want to leave Arizona and had gotten her GED, but she opted to move with her family.
J.J. began attending school at Kennedy Elementary School in Rexburg on September 3, and he last attended September 23. The next day, Lori Vallow came to the school to tell administrators she was homeschooling J.J. In late September, Lori told a family friend that the children were “zombies” and that she had “an earthly mission to remove zombies from the world.” The children were not seen after September 2019.
On October 19, 2019, Chad Daybell’s wife Tammy Daybell died under suspicious circumstances. Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow married two weeks later; Lori told a witness that Tylee was dead, and Chad told a witness that Lori had no children. The children were reported missing after a requested wellness check in November, where Lori Vallow falsely claimed they were living with relatives in Arizona. The couple subsequently left the state. Cox died of unknown causes in December 2019.
On June 9, 2020, authorities discovered J.J. and Tylee’s remains on Chad Daybell’s farm. Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell have been arrested while authorities search for evidence related to the children’s deaths.
Date: September 23, 2019
Location: Rexburg, Idaho Read More
A 12-year-old boy, R., was starved, imprisoned, and tortured by his father, Christopher Crets, and his stepmother Nicole Crets. The boy was homeschooled. The other children who lived in the home were not reported to be abused.
Christopher Crets had prior felony convictions for statutory rape and drug trafficking. R. was pulled from school to be homeschooled in early February 2020. The Cretses beat him and kept him handcuffed to a bed at night. They also starved him; he lost approximately 40 lbs. over the course of a few months’ imprisonment, and he suffered from refeeding syndrome after he was rescued.
The abuse came to light when the Cretses forgot to handcuff R. to the bed one night; he escaped and was found by authorities to whom he reported the abuse. The Cretses were charged with child abuse and kidnapping.
Date: May 2, 2020
Location: Warren County, Missouri Read More
Last Updated: January 4, 2021 by clmccracken Leave a Comment
Trinity Love Jones
Trinity Love Jones, age 9, was murdered by her mother, Taquesta Graham, and Graham’s boyfriend Emiel Hunt. Trinity was homeschooled.
Graham experienced child abuse or neglect and was performing sex work around age 18. Graham “pleaded no contest in 2009 to enticing a girl [under 16] for prostitution in San Bernardino County” and was placed on probation and the sex offender registry. Trinity was born in January 2010. In 2011, child services investigated Graham for abusing Trinity; the allegations were deemed unfounded/inconclusive. Trinity’s relatives described her as a social butterfly who loved fashion. Her father, Antonio Jones, said she was “full of character, full of life, full of joy.”
In 2016 Graham’s probation was revoked and she was sentenced to two years in prison. In December 2017, Graham began her relationship with Hunt, who had been convicted of torture and felony child abuse in San Diego County and “sentenced in 2005 to 12 years in state prison.” In May 2018, Hunt, Graham, and Trinity moved out of a relative’s home in Long Beach and lived in motels and in their vehicle for the next ten months. The couple pulled Trinity out of school to homeschool her and kept her isolated from family and friends, who called child services for help to no effect. Hunt and Graham starved Trinity and beat her, leaving her “scarred from head to toe.” She had a foot infection that made it hard for her to wear shoes, and in early 2019 Trinity experienced a head injury that caused her eyes to swell and made her lethargic.
Around the evening of February 28, 2019, or the morning of March 1, Trinity stopped breathing as a result of blunt force trauma and neglect. Hunt and Graham did not seek medical attention for her; instead they concealed her body in a duffel bag and dumped it in a wooded area. Trinity’s body was discovered by workers on March 5 and it took nearly a week to identify her. “Graham was arrested on an unrelated warrant March 8 at a Border Patrol checkpoint in Texas. Hunt was arrested a day later after he was found sleeping in his SUV near San Diego International Airport.” Graham and Hunt were charged with torture and murder.
Date: March 1, 2019
Location: Hacienda Heights, California Read More
Posted: October 20, 2020 by clmccracken Leave a Comment
Josie Ann Abney
Josie Ann Abney, age 10, was starved to death by her parents, Randall and Susan Abney. Josie was homeschooled.
Josie was born in 2010 and adopted by the Abneys in 2013. She was the first of “12 or 13 children” that the Abneys fostered. According to her obituary, “Josie was a cute little redhead who was full of life and had an amazing personality. Josie was a ray of sunshine, beautiful inside and out, always had a smile to share and was a blessing to all.” She attended public school until she was withdrawn from school to be homeschooled. The Abneys kept the refrigerator locked and all food in the kitchen was stored too high for Josie to reach. They kept her locked in her bedroom and placed an alarm on the door. Josie’s bedroom contained only “a single mattress on the floor, one lamp and a clothes basket.” In September 2020, the Abneys reported that Josie stopped eating and complained of constipation. The Abneys did not take her to a doctor. By early October, Josie was covered in bruises and weighed 40 lbs. with an extremely low blood sugar and extreme dehydration; investigators said she looked like a “Holocaust victim.”
Josie collapsed at home on October 3. She was rushed to the hospital but doctors could not save her. The Abneys were charged with felony child abuse resulting in death.
Date: October 3, 2020
Location: Salem, Missouri Read More
Posted: October 20, 2020 by clmccracken Leave a Comment
6 Children of Kelley and Daniel Davis
An 8-year-old boy, H., was imprisoned by his parents, Kelley and Daniel Davis. The boy and his five sisters (ranging in age from 10 to infancy) were homeschooled.
Beginning at least in March 2020, H. was kept locked in a dark room with boards over the window and door overnight or, according to his parents, “when he misbehaved.” The only things in the room were a mattress and blanket, so H. was often forced to urinate and defecate on the floor. Daniel Davis claimed that H. had “behavioral and possibly mental health issues.” H. was singled out for abuse; his sisters were not similarly abused. Authorities visited the home in February and July 2020 but did not notice anything suspicious. A concerned neighbor contacted the authorities in August 2020 to report a child rummaging through the refrigerator in the Davises’ garage.
The abuse came to light when H. and one of his sisters orchestrated his escape. H.’s sister passed him matches under the door and H. set his mattress on fire. When authorities arrived to put out the fire, they recognized H.’s imprisonment. The Davises were charged with aggravated child abuse and their children were removed from their custody.
Date: October 5, 2020
Location: Sugar Hill, Florida Read More
Last Updated: September 21, 2020 by clmccracken Leave a Comment
Kaya Centeno, and 4 siblings
Kaya Centeno (b. 2002) disappeared while being homeschooled. Her sister S. (b. 2003) and brother B. (b. 2005) were physically, emotionally, and sexually abused by the children’s adoptive parents, Gina and Jose Centeno. It is unknown if the children’s twin adoptive siblings P. and Q. were also abused.
The Centenos adopted Kaya, S., and B., who were all biological siblings, in 2008. Kaya was enrolled in John Reed Elementary School in Rohnert Park, California, in 2010-2011 for second grade, but she was withdrawn from school to be homeschooled. She was last seen between 2010 and 2012. Around the time of Kaya’s disappearance, the Centenos began abusing the other children. Jose Centeno repeatedly sexually abused S., and both Centenos physically abused S. and B. At some point, the Centenos adopted twins P. and Q. In early 2019, the now separated Centenos sent S. and B. to live with their relatives in Mexico, while P. and Q. continued to live in California with Gina Centeno. This arrangement was reportedly part of a fraudulent scheme “to access adoption assistance funding.”
The abuse came to light in summer 2020 when S. and B. reported it to Mexican authorities. They were returned to the United States and the Centenos were arrested on several counts of kidnapping, torture, and sexual abuse.
Date: August 19, 2020
Location: Rohnert Park, California Read More
Posted: September 21, 2020 by clmccracken Leave a Comment
2 Girls by Terry Miles
Two girls—G. (age 14) and B. (age 7)—were abducted by G.’s homeschool teacher, Terry Miles. Miles also sexually assaulted G.
Miles met G. and began grooming her while she was visiting her father in Louisiana during the summer of 2017. According to G.’s father, “[Miles] knew [G.] for one day or something like that and then they’re hugging;” G. testified that Miles sexually assaulted her the first day they met and continued to assault her every day for a month. In fall 2017, G. convinced her mother, Tonya Bates, to allow Miles to move into the Round Rock, Texas home Bates shared with her daughters. Miles was G.’s homeschool teacher and continued to sexually assault her.
On December 29, 2017, Miles lied to Bates, telling her that G. wanted to marry Miles. Following an altercation, Bates was found dead—probably murdered by Miles, as suggested by the evidence. Miles then kidnapped the girls in Bates’s car and transported them to a rural campground near Trinidad, Colorado, where he sexually assaulted G. The girls were rescued on January 3, 2018, after authorities spotted their vehicle.
Miles was found guilty of kidnapping and transportation of a minor for sex; he was sentenced to life in prison.
Date: December 29, 2017
Location: Round Rock, Texas Read More
Last Updated: July 20, 2020 by clmccracken Leave a Comment
James Alex Hurley
James Alex Hurley, age 12, who went by Alex, was tortured and murdered by his grandparents, James Sasser, Jr. and Patricia Batts, and their 14-year-old son, J.S. A family friend, Gage Roush, was also charged in connection with Alex’s death. Alex also lived with his 18-year-old aunt M.S. and his 6-year-old uncle H.S. Alex was homeschooled.
Alex originally lived with his mother, Alicia Davis, in Texas. Davis sent Alex to Montana to live with his father, Tommy Tate, but Tate died in early 2018. After Tate’s death, Alex moved in with Batts, who was Tate’s mother. Batts, Sasser, and J.S. claimed that Alex’s behavior became erratic after he moved in with them. However, there is no record that Batts and Sasser ever sought help for Alex, whose behavior was consistent with severe ADHD, according to a school superintendent.
Alex was withdrawn from school in September 2019 and “Batts filed paperwork with the West Yellowstone School District to homeschool” him. “Batts struggled with the task and said she would make Alex do jumping jacks and ‘wall sits’ if she caught him not doing his school work.” Batts, Sasser, and J.S. tortured Alex, beating him, spraying him with water, strangling him, and depriving him of food.
The abuse came to light when Alex died following an altercation with J.S. where Alex sustained blunt force trauma to the back of his head. Batts, Sasser, and J.S. were charged with homicide; Batts and Sasser were also charged with child endangerment, among other charges.
Date: February 3, 2020
Location: West Yellowstone, Montana Read More
Last Updated: October 20, 2020 by clmccracken Leave a Comment
Girl by Kimberly Howell
An 11-year-old girl, D., was allegedly singled out for starvation and torture by her foster mother, Kimberly Howell. D. was homeschooled. Her four siblings, who were also Howell’s foster children, attended school and were allegedly forced to participate in the abuse.
D. was allegedly forced to provide childcare for her siblings, including a 1-year-old. She was allegedly forced to cook all the family’s meals, but not allowed to eat them; she was allegedly only allowed to eat rice and milk or water. While the other children had beds, D. allegedly had to sleep on the floor in Howell’s room, and she was sometimes allegedly forced to sleep in the bathroom. As punishment for “stealing” food, Howell allegedly forced D. to do push-ups and forced her siblings to beat her. Howell allegedly told D. she couldn’t go to school like her siblings because there wasn’t “enough money to pay for [her] ‘tuition’ at Wilson Junior High.” Howell allegedly threatened to beat D. in her sleep and allegedly did so the week before she was rescued. Howell allegedly instructed D.’s mother to cut off her ponytail. D. attempted suicide to escape the alleged abuse.
The alleged abuse came to light after an anonymous source reported it to authorities. Howell was charged with child abuse.
Date: December 16, 2019
Location: Manitowoc, Wisconsin Read More
Last Updated: June 26, 2020 by clmccracken Leave a Comment
Children of Michael and Shirley Gray
Two children–Heather “Sophie” Gray (b. 2006) and Jonathan Gray–died in the custody of their adoptive parents, Michael and Shirley Gray. Three other adopted children–M., a boy born in 2005; L., a girl born c. 2007; and T., a boy born in 2009–were imprisoned, starved, and abused by the Grays. The Grays’ adult children, Anthony “Bubba” and Carolyn Gray, lived with them at various points and knew about the abuse. The children were homeschooled.
The Grays were originally from Mississippi, where Anthony and Carolyn were born in the early 1980s. The family moved to Tennessee in the mid-1990s and began adopting children in Halls, Knox County, after their biological children had reached adulthood. They adopted a total of five children, including one child in 2007, one child in 2008, and two children in 2011. The Grays lived in the basement of the Halls home while Anthony, his partner, and sometimes Carolyn with her children lived on the upper floor of the home.
All of the Grays’ adopted children were starved; when they were rescued, they were amazed at how a refrigerator works, and they reported being punished for “stealing” food. The children last saw a doctor or dentist in 2014. By at least 2015, M. was being regularly kept confined in a cage in the basement. In 2015 or 2016, Jonathan became sick and died of causes yet to be determined; the Grays buried him in the yard, telling the other children he had “gone away to live with another family.”
In 2016, the Grays moved to Ten Mile, Roane County with their four surviving minor children, M., Sophie, L., and T. Within a month, M. and Sophie had both been confined to the basement with little food and a bucket for a toilet. The children were originally locked in a dog crate, then later a concrete room that Michael Gray constructed for that purpose. Sophie died in early 2017 and the Grays buried her in the barn, continuing to collect adoption subsidies on her behalf. At various points, T. was also confined to the basement.
When they were rescued, all of the children were officially considered to be homeschooled by the state; Shirley Gray consistently updated their records, even for Sophie who had been dead for three years. M. never received any education at all.
The abuse came to light when neighbors reported T. for riding his scooter alone. When authorities spoke to him, he reported that M. was confined in his home and that Sophie was dead. The Grays were charged with kidnapping, child abuse, and abuse of a corpse. Additional charges may be pending.
Date: May 22, 2020
Location: Ten Mile, Roane County, Tennessee Read More
Posted: June 26, 2020 by clmccracken Leave a Comment
Tylee Ryan and Joshua Vallow
Two children—Tylee Ryan, age 17; and Joshua “J.J.” Vallow, age 7—died under suspicious circumstances while under the care of their mother, Lori Vallow. The children were homeschooled.
Tylee was born around 2002. Lori later married Charles Vallow, and the Vallows adopted J.J., who was autistic. The family lived in Chandler, Arizona, where the children attended school.
Around 2017, Lori Vallow began to become involved with a new religious movement called Preparing A People. In February 2019, Charles Vallow filed for divorce, claiming that Lori was not mentally stable and had threatened to kill him. The divorce was never finalized because in July 2019 Charles was killed, allegedly in self-defense, by Lori’s brother Alex Cox. The children reportedly witnessed their father’s death. Shortly after August 31, 2019, Lori Vallow moved her children to Idaho to be closer to the home of her romantic partner, Chad Daybell, who was a speaker at Preparing A People events. Tylee did not want to leave Arizona and had gotten her GED, but she opted to move with her family.
J.J. began attending school at Kennedy Elementary School in Rexburg on September 3, and he last attended September 23. The next day, Lori Vallow came to the school to tell administrators she was homeschooling J.J. In late September, Lori told a family friend that the children were “zombies” and that she had “an earthly mission to remove zombies from the world.” The children were not seen after September 2019.
On October 19, 2019, Chad Daybell’s wife Tammy Daybell died under suspicious circumstances. Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow married two weeks later; Lori told a witness that Tylee was dead, and Chad told a witness that Lori had no children. The children were reported missing after a requested wellness check in November, where Lori Vallow falsely claimed they were living with relatives in Arizona. The couple subsequently left the state. Cox died of unknown causes in December 2019.
On June 9, 2020, authorities discovered J.J. and Tylee’s remains on Chad Daybell’s farm. Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell have been arrested while authorities search for evidence related to the children’s deaths.
Date: September 23, 2019
Location: Rexburg, Idaho Read More
Posted: May 16, 2020 by clmccracken Leave a Comment
Son of Christopher and Nicole Crets
A 12-year-old boy, R., was starved, imprisoned, and tortured by his father, Christopher Crets, and his stepmother Nicole Crets. The boy was homeschooled. The other children who lived in the home were not reported to be abused.
Christopher Crets had prior felony convictions for statutory rape and drug trafficking. R. was pulled from school to be homeschooled in early February 2020. The Cretses beat him and kept him handcuffed to a bed at night. They also starved him; he lost approximately 40 lbs. over the course of a few months’ imprisonment, and he suffered from refeeding syndrome after he was rescued.
The abuse came to light when the Cretses forgot to handcuff R. to the bed one night; he escaped and was found by authorities to whom he reported the abuse. The Cretses were charged with child abuse and kidnapping.
Date: May 2, 2020
Location: Warren County, Missouri Read More
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