8-year-old M. L. Lloyd III’s official cause of death was “asphyxia due to neck compression.” His body was covered with bruises indicating a severe beating, and officials were concerned that he may have been dead for several hours before being brought to the hospital. Lloyd’s mother and stepfather, Tonya and Errol Victor, claim that the boy died of a severe asthma attack. According to Tanya, Lloyd confessed to lying the morning of his death, after which she punished him by whipping him with a belt. She then gathered her other sons together and told them they would be sent to military school if their behavior did not improve. She left the room and returned to find an altercation. She claims that Lloyd was fine when she broke up the fight, but that the exertion triggered an asthma attack later that morning, leading to his death.
When Tonya and Errol met and married, both had children from previous marriages: Tonya had five sons and Errol had six sons. The couple went on to have two more sons together. Tonya stayed home to raise the children, and when the boys got in fights at school and exhibited behavior problems she began homeschooling them as she and Errol sought to get their behavior under control. Neighbors reported that Errol was a harsh disciplinarian. None of the children were registered with the state as homeschoolers as required by law.
The Victors were charged in Lloyd’s death, but the trial dragged on for years as the couple maintained their innocence and fired lawyer after lawyer. At one point the Victors fled and were on the run for eight months before being apprehended.
Date: April 1, 2008
Location: Reserve, Louisiana
Posted: August 29, 2014 by rachel
Donovan McKee
11-year-old Donovan McKee was beaten to death by his mother’s boyfriend, Anthony Lee Bush, over a period of nine hours while his mother, Cynthia McKee, was at work. Bush began beating Donovan because the boy refused to vacuum the floor. Bush was charged with homicide and child endangerment. Donovan’s body showed evidence of injuries from previous abuse. Bush had also previously physically abused McKee. Donovan was homeschooled through an online cyber charter program, which Mary Carrasco, the director of a child advocacy center, said may have helped hide his injuries.
Date: February 12, 2012
Location: Knoxville, Pennsylvania Read More
Posted: August 28, 2014 by clmccracken
Dozens of children by Dwight "Malachi" York
Dwight “Malachi” York’s was arrested in 2002 and convicted in 2004 of child molestation in what was the largest prosecution of child molestation by a single individual in U.S. history. York was the leader of a quasi-religious cult, United Nuwaubian Nation of Moors, and moved his 100 or so followers from Brooklyn, New York, to a rural property in Putnam County, Georgia, in 1993, where he separated children from parents to be home-schooled. Girls as young as 8 were instructed that sex with York was normal activity. York abused dozens of girls and is now serving a 135-year prison sentence.
Date: May 2002
Location: Eatonton, Georgia Read More
Last Updated: November 8, 2019 by rachel
Four Children of M.A.H. and R.J.H.
M.A.H. and R.J.H. were the biological parents of A.J.H., age 10, and the adoptive parents of P.P.H., T.S.H., and N.M.H., ages 8, 7, and 5. They homeschooled all four children. In October 2012, M.A.H. took P.P.H. to the emergency room, concerned that he had vomited blood. Even though he was 8 years old, P.P.H. weighed only 34 pounds, only five pounds more than he had at age 2. The doctors found that P.P.H. exhibited classic signs of malnutrition and starvation. Further tests found brain volume loss and revealed that P.P.H.’s bone age was six years and six months. M.A.H. claimed P.P.H.’s food issues “stemmed from his desire to control situations and to gain attention.” M.A.H. had not taken P.P.H. to the doctor since he had been placed with them at age 2, stating that she did not believe in medical doctors. P.P.H. was transferred to Mayo Clinic, where doctors expressed concern about P.P.H.’s safety in M.A.H.’s custody as there was no sign that he had any medical condition that could have caused his malnutrition. P.P.H. was released to foster care after one month at Mayo. In foster care, P.P.H. exhibited no sign of food issues, and his foster mother said he showed no sign of manipulative or controlling behavior. By January, P.P.H. had gained nearly twenty pounds. Physchologists found that M.A.H. and R.J.H. showed no sign of attachment to P.P.H. but did show empathy for their other three children. A.J.H., T.S.H., and N.M.H. blamed P.P.H. for their temporary stay in foster care, accusing him of lying and stealing. The court terminated M.A.H. and R.J.H.’s parental rights to P.P.H. and found the other three children in need of protection or services.
Date: October 2012
Location: Minnesota Read More
Posted: August 28, 2014 by clmccracken
10 children of Sharon and Reed Leonard
Sharon Leonard struck her ten adopted children with a paddle or other objects, including a plastic pipe, a metal rod and a snow-removal brush. The children told investigators that Sharon had threatened to kill a couple of the boys. They also reported that six of them had been made to stay outside the Leonards’ home from time to time and to sleep in calf huts and the detached box trailer of a truck. The children were adopted from Ethiopia and China. Four of the Ethiopian children were siblings adopted together, and the other three were obtained through disrupted adoptions. One of the three children from China was also obtained through a disruption. The children were homeschooled through a virtual charter school, and their abuse was discovered when one of the children reported it to a teacher. Sharon and and her husband Reed were charged with misdemeanor child endangerment, and Sharon was also charged with felony child abuse, which was later reduced to a misdemeanor.
Date: September 18, 2010
Location: Neosho, Missouri
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Posted: August 28, 2014 by rachel
7 Children of Thomas Halbesleben and Jessica Halbesleben
In 2005, police following up on a report found Thomas and Jessica Halbesleben’s seven children alone in an unsanitary home, several suffering from medical neglect. The children, who ranged in age from 1 to 13, had experienced years of physical, psychological, and sexual abuse. Halbesleben claimed to be homeschooling, but the children were ignorant of basic math and spelling. The court found that Jessica Halbesleben had removed her children from school to prevent teachers from reporting the abuse that was occurring in the home, and that the extra time at home had exacerbated the sexual abuse, including incest between the siblings. The Halbeslebens were convicted of several counts of felony injury to a child. Thomas Halbesleben had previously been convicted of felony child endangerment in 1998, but Idaho law does not prevent convicted child abusers from homeschooling.
Date: June 2005
Location: Eagle, Idaho Read More
Posted: August 2, 2014 by clmccracken
Hannah Davenport
Hannah Davenport, age 6, died of malnutrition and dehydration after her caregivers failed to give her proper treatment for her medical condition. Hannah had a birth defect known as ectopic anus and required a special diet of soft food and frequent doctor visits, which her mother Karen Davenport (later Karen Chandler) and grandmother Linda Walsham failed to provide. Hannah and her two brothers were homeschooled.
Hannah’s parents had divorced in 2003 leaving Karen with full custody of their three children. Hannah’s father Leonard Davenport urged his ex-wife to take Hannah to the hospital after he saw her emaciated appearance about two weeks before her death, but Karen refused. Hannah weighed 27 lbs. at the time of her death.
Karen Davenport and Linda Walsham were charged in February 2005 with one count each of voluntary manslaughter. In spring 2007, the county prosecutor’s successor upped the charges to one count each of second-degree murder. In 2009 the charges against Walsham were dropped due to lack of evidence and the charge against Davenport was changed to voluntary manslaughter. Davenport was eventually found guilty in 2010 of second-degree voluntary manslaughter and was fined $5,000, avoiding jail time.
Date: January 29, 2005
Location: Anderson, Missouri Read More
Posted: August 1, 2014 by clmccracken
10 children of Jack and Kathy Stratton
Jack and Kathy Stratton’s ten children–Spencer (17), Isaiah (15), Solomon (11), Tanna (10), Rachel (8), Simon (6), Michelle (5), Maria (4), Stephanie (3), and Leah (1)–were removed from their home by social services due to neglect. The children lacked adequate food and medical care–the Strattons practiced homebirth and never took their children to see a doctor. All the children were homeschooled.
In 2002 the Strattons’ parental rights were terminated due to their failure to fulfill any of the state’s conditions for the return of their children. They continued to wage a legal battle with the state until 2013, even after Jack Stratton’s death in 2011.
Date: January 30, 2001
Location: Charlotte, North Carolina Read More
Posted: August 1, 2014 by clmccracken
Lance Planck
Lance Planck, age 6, died from untreated meningitis after his parents, William and Sarah Planck, failed to seek medical treatment for him. He was also found to be malnourished when he died. The Plancks’ religious beliefs were opposed to medical care: they practiced homebirth, believed doctors were agents of the devil, and did not have their children vaccinated. Three of the children were also blind from medical neglect. The Plancks homeschooled Lance and his ten siblings.
The Plancks were charged with reckless homicide, manslaughter, and neglect, but the jury deadlocked in their case after the coroner withdrew his finding of homicide during a contested primary race. The county dismissed the charges, including those involving neglect of the surviving children.
Date: November 30, 1995
Location: Alexandria, Indiana Read More
Posted: June 12, 2014 by rachel
M. L. Lloyd III
8-year-old M. L. Lloyd III’s official cause of death was “asphyxia due to neck compression.” His body was covered with bruises indicating a severe beating, and officials were concerned that he may have been dead for several hours before being brought to the hospital. Lloyd’s mother and stepfather, Tonya and Errol Victor, claim that the boy died of a severe asthma attack. According to Tanya, Lloyd confessed to lying the morning of his death, after which she punished him by whipping him with a belt. She then gathered her other sons together and told them they would be sent to military school if their behavior did not improve. She left the room and returned to find an altercation. She claims that Lloyd was fine when she broke up the fight, but that the exertion triggered an asthma attack later that morning, leading to his death.
When Tonya and Errol met and married, both had children from previous marriages: Tonya had five sons and Errol had six sons. The couple went on to have two more sons together. Tonya stayed home to raise the children, and when the boys got in fights at school and exhibited behavior problems she began homeschooling them as she and Errol sought to get their behavior under control. Neighbors reported that Errol was a harsh disciplinarian. None of the children were registered with the state as homeschoolers as required by law.
The Victors were charged in Lloyd’s death, but the trial dragged on for years as the couple maintained their innocence and fired lawyer after lawyer. At one point the Victors fled and were on the run for eight months before being apprehended.
Date: April 1, 2008
Location: Reserve, Louisiana
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Posted: June 12, 2014 by rachel
Kylie Lavelle
51-year-old Phyllis Oser fatally shot her two grandchildren, Kylie Lavelle, 5, and Landon Lavelle, 5 months, before turning the gun on herself. Family members reported that Oser had struggled with depression and had not sought treatment. Oser’s husband had tried to convince her to put Kylie in school and get a job, but Oser resisted this suggestion. Kylie had lived with her grandparents since she was born. Kylie’s mother, Heidi Oser, had also lived with the family, but moved out around the time Landon was born, taking the baby with her. Kylie was left with her grandparents because Oser was homeschooling her. Kylie’s father, Craig Lavelle, had been seeking joint custody of both children.
Date: January 31, 2010
Location: Hanahan, South Carolina Read More
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