On September 21, 1992, six year old Hannah Carroll died of severe bleach burns, which covered one third of her body and were left untreated for three days. Hannah, who had Down syndrome, was one of ten special needs children adopted by Kathleen and Timothy Carroll, a fundamentalist Christian homeschooling couple. In the three months after Hannah’s death, three more of the Carrolls’ adopted children died. One month old Chloe died shortly after being returned by court order to the adoption agency that had preliminarily placed her with the Carrolls, and her death was not included in future investigations. The remaining deaths were those of three year old Noah, who suffered seizures, and three year old Mollie, who had mental retardation and severe allergies. When it appeared that Mollie had been dead for 12 hours before her death was reported, officials temporarily removed the remaining Carroll children from the home, returning them shortly before Christmas.
In January 1993 Kathleen and Timothy Carroll pleaded guilty to child neglect in relation to Hannah’s death. They were placed on probation and prohibited from adopting more children without court permission. In June 1993, there was a fifth death: twelve year old Josiah, who had cerebral palsy. The county had an inquest in July where inconsistencies emerged between experts’ testimony and family members’ stories. A judge recused himself amid concerns that he had grown too close to the case.
In August, the couple’s eldest biological son, James, then 17, was charged with involuntary manslaughter; James had been the one supervising Hannah at the time she received the bleach burns that resulted in her death. A new judge ordered Samuel, then 5, and Isaiah, then 11, to be placed in foster care. In October the bodies of Mollie and Josiah were exhumed, and the deaths of both Hannah and Josiah were ruled homicides while the deaths of Noah and Mollie were ruled inconclusive.
In November, James was acquitted of all charges. Kathleen and Timothy immediately turned their attention to regaining custody of Samuel and Isaiah, and were eventually granted home visits. In June 1994, Isaiah implicated James in Josiah’s death. Home visits continued, but the judge ruled that James must not be present. In May 1995, after James had turned 18 and left home, Samuel and Isaiah were returned to the Carrolls. In October 1997, as a result of legal representation by the Home School Legal Defense Association, the Carrolls were allowed to resume homeschooling Samuel and Isaiah.
Date: September 21, 1992, through June 14, 1993
Location: Cedarville, Ohio
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Last Updated: July 3, 2021 by rachel
1 Child of Rene Tibucio Valenzuela
A 14-year-old girl was physically and sexually abused by her father, Rene Tibucio Valenzuela, and locked in a small, dark empty bedroom for 15 months. The girl was only let out of the room for brief bathroom and meal breaks, and was occasionally allowed to shower. The girl escaped in 2005 by kicking in the bedroom door when she knew her family was away. She ran two miles to an apartment complex where her family used to live and found an old friend, whose family called 911. The girl lived with her father and his girlfriend, and two younger sisters, aged, 8 and 10, who did not appear to have been abused. The girl herself was severely malnourished. Past child abuse reports, the last in 2001, were unsubstantiated. The girl had been homeschooled since 2002, when Valenzuela withdrew her from public school and told school officials he was going to homeschool her.
Date: February 2005
Location: Tucson, Arizona Read More
Last Updated: July 3, 2021 by rachel
3 Grandchildren of John Pierre Baker and Betty Jo Miller
In 1997, two children, a boy and a girl, clawed a hole in the room of their trailer home prison and escaped into the Arizona desert. Their story began ten years before, when their mother went to prison for theft and forgery and they were placed in the custody of their grandfather, John Pierre Baker. When their mother was paroled four years later, Baker and his grandchildren had disappeared. The two older children originally attended public school, and in 1991 a concerned teacher called child protective services regarding the older child, a girl in second grade. The girl told social workers she was not abused, and the case was closed. Later that year Baker removed the two children from public school to homeschool them. Baker and his girlfriend, Betty Jo Miller, locked the two children in a barren room in their trailer. The children were deprived of food, psychologically tortured, and frequently beaten. Miller was the instigator, whipping the children with a belt for infractions like talking with each other. The two children were only let out of their room for brief meals and were given only scanty rations of water. They were not allowed out to relieve themselves, but were then punished when they defecated on the floor. There was a third grandchild, the youngest. She was also homeschooled and was, like her older siblings, sorely uneducated. However, she was treated less harshly than the older two and was not locked up. The second child, a boy, ran away several times in the early to mid 1990s, but each time Baker convinced authorities that he had fetal alcohol syndrome and did not know what he was saying. From 1995 to 1997, the two older children never left the trailer. Then came 1997 and their escape into the desert, then aged 13 and 11. Baker called the two children in as runaways and told authorities that they were mentally challenged and would lie. Once found, the children were removed from the home, along with their younger sister, then 10, and Miller’s 3-year-old son. Baker and Miller were convicted of child abuse and kidnapping, and the three children were returned to their mother and father. Neither child had fetal alcohol syndrome, and both were mentally normal.
Date: May 26, 1997
Location: Tucson, Arizona Read More
Posted: November 26, 2013 by rachel
Elizabeth Smart
14-year-old Elizabeth Smart was abducted from her bedroom in Salt Lake City on June 5, 2002. Elizabeth was held captive by Brian David Mitchell, who considered himself a prophet, and his wife Wanda Ileen Barzee. Mitchell threatened, bound, and raped Elizabeth daily, treating her as his second wife and sex slave. The three traveled from place to place. “He told me to say I had been home schooled and that we traveled around ministering to different people,” Elizabeth reported during later testimony. Elizabeth was discovered on March 12, 2003, nine months after she was kidnapped, and was reunited with her family. She has since become an advocate for victims of abduction.
Date: June 5, 2002
Location: Salt Lake City, Utah Read More
Posted: November 26, 2013 by rachel
Jaycee Dugard and 2 Daughters
Jaycee Dugard was kidnapped from her home town of Lake Tahoe, on June 10, 1991. She was held captive by previously convicted kidnapper Phillip Garrido at his home in Antioch, California. Jaycee was kept handcuffed, locked in a bolted room, and then confined to a backyard surrounded by an 8 foot fence. Garrido sexually assaulted her and created pornography of her, all the well psychologically abusing her. Jaycee had two daughters as a result of Garrido’s assaults, the first born in 1994 and the second born in 1997. Jaycee and her daughters lived in a makeshift tent in the backyard, where Jaycee homeschooled the two girls. Garrido claimed to be able to control sound with his mind and was the leader of what he called “God’s Desire Church.” While they were tightly controlled by Garrido, Jaycee and her daughters were sometimes seen answering the door, playing in the backyard, or as passengers in Garrido’s car. On August 24, 2009, Garrido, accompanied by his two daughters by Jaycee, visited a University of California, Berkeley, police office to request permission to hold a “God’s Desire” program on campus. The girls said they were homeschooled. Concerned at Garrido’s erratic behavior and the girls’ unusual behavior, Berkeley’s special events manager, Lisa Campbell, and Officer Ally Jacobs ran a background check on Garrido and learned that he was a registered sex offender out on federal parole. They called the parole office with their concerns, and two parole agents visited Garrido’s home the same day. Garrido was arrested and Jaycee and her daughters were reunited with her family.
Date: August 2009
Location: Antioch, California Read More
Posted: November 26, 2013 by rachel
Jessyca Mullenberg
13-year-old Jessyca Mullenberg was kidnapped from her father’s home in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, by her writing teacher, Steven Oliver, on September 16, 1995. Oliver and Jessyca drove to Kansas City, Missouri, and then flew to Houston, Texas. Oliver took Jessyca from motel to motel, presenting himself as her father and physically, sexually, and mentally abusing her. Oliver bought homeschool books and gave Jessyca work out of them; if she did not finish in time, Oliver would hit her or tie her up. Jessyca was rescued after three and a half months in captivity when a motel owner recognized Oliver on America’s Most Wanted.
Date: September 16, 1995
Location: Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and Houston, Texas Read More
Posted: November 26, 2013 by rachel
Shawn Hornbeck
11-year-old Shawn Hornbeck was kidnapped on October 6, 2002, while he was out riding his bike. His abductor, Michael Devlin, kept Shawn captive at his home fifty miles away for four years, sexually assaulting the boy and creating pornography of their encounters. Neighbors were led to believe that the two were father and son. When questioned, Shawn said he was being homeschooled. Shawn was discovered on January 12, 2007, at age 15 after Devlin’s truck was identified following a kidnapping of a second boy, 13-year-old Ben Ownby. Shawn was returned to his parents, Pam and Craig Akers, who homeschooled him briefly to help him catch up in school.
Date: January 12, 2007
Location: Kirkwood, Missouri Read More
Posted: November 19, 2013 by rachel
5 Children of Wanda Sue Larson and Dorian Harper
Wanda Sue Larson and Dorian Harper were arrested on child abuse charges after they handcuffed their 11-year-old foster son to the porch in November in his underwear with a dead chicken tied around his neck. The foster child and four other adopted children, aged 8, 9, 13, and 14, were removed from the home, which investigators found was littered with animal feces. It is reported that the children were often underfed and hungry and that they were chained to a piece of railroad rail found in the home when they did not finish their homeschool work quickly enough. Larson filed notice of intent to homeschool in March 2012, naming her homeschool the “Eclectic Primer School.” It is unclear when the children were placed with Larson and Harper or where they attended school before being homeschooled. Larson was a supervisor for the Union County Department of Social Services, and is being charged with failure to discharge her duty as a public official as well as intentional child abuse, inflicting serious injury, false imprisonment, and cruelty to animals. The family was reclusive and kept pigs, donkeys, llamas, chickens, turkeys, geese, and other animals.
Date: November, 2013
Location: Union County, North Carolina Read More
Posted: October 14, 2013 by rachel
Michaela Watkins
Michaela Watkins, aged 10, was found dead in her family’s apartment on March 11, 2007. Her body was severely bruised and burned. Michaela’s father, Patrick Watkins, and her stepmother, Joy Watkins, claimed that Michaela’s death was an accident—that she had burned herself in hot water in a bathtub and then fallen down the stairs. Michaela had previously lived with her mother, Rachel Samuels, and stepfather, Patrick Samuels, but was removed to foster care and then given into the custody of her father and stepmother following charges that the Samuels had neglected her. This was in spite of the fact that Patrick and Joy had a history of domestic violence disputes, and that at the time of their divorce Rachel had taken out a restraining order against Patrick. Officials at Michaela’s new school described her as a sweet and loving overachiever, but in December of 2006 Patrick and Joy withdrew the girl from school to homeschool her. Her grandmother, who lived nearby, was aware of the verbal and physical abuse the girl suffered at the hands of her father and stepmother, and tried to keep an eye on the girl. Neighbors were also aware of the girl’s abuse, but were intimidated by Patrick’s angry and volatile behavior. Michaela began to lose weight quickly, and was often confined to her room, given only a bucket to urinate in. Joy’s mother called social services, who visited the home and continued to monitor the situation but did not see sufficient reason to remove her from the home. In the end, Michaela was beaten to death by her stepmother while her father did nothing to stop beating. Both were convicted, and the three children remaining in the home were removed to foster care. Michaela Watkins was failed on numerous levels.
Date: March 11, 2007
Location: Clark County, Kentucky Read More
Posted: October 9, 2013 by rachel
4 Children of Wayne Sperling and Lorinda Bailey
The four boys ranged in age from 2 to 6. None of them were verbal, and none were potty trained. They communicated only in grunts, and lived with their parents, Wayne Sperling and Lorinda Bailey, in a filthy apartment. Flies covered every surface, cat poop and urine covered the floor, and the smell of decay came from a back room. Human services were tipped off to visit the family by a doctor who noticed suspicious bruising and smells during an emergency room visit. None of the children attended daycare or school, and Sperling told officials that he was “applying to home school” the oldest child.
Date: October 2013
Location: Denver, Colorado Read More
Last Updated: July 3, 2021 by rachel
Hannah, Noah, Mollie, and Josiah Carroll
On September 21, 1992, six year old Hannah Carroll died of severe bleach burns, which covered one third of her body and were left untreated for three days. Hannah, who had Down syndrome, was one of ten special needs children adopted by Kathleen and Timothy Carroll, a fundamentalist Christian homeschooling couple. In the three months after Hannah’s death, three more of the Carrolls’ adopted children died. One month old Chloe died shortly after being returned by court order to the adoption agency that had preliminarily placed her with the Carrolls, and her death was not included in future investigations. The remaining deaths were those of three year old Noah, who suffered seizures, and three year old Mollie, who had mental retardation and severe allergies. When it appeared that Mollie had been dead for 12 hours before her death was reported, officials temporarily removed the remaining Carroll children from the home, returning them shortly before Christmas.
In January 1993 Kathleen and Timothy Carroll pleaded guilty to child neglect in relation to Hannah’s death. They were placed on probation and prohibited from adopting more children without court permission. In June 1993, there was a fifth death: twelve year old Josiah, who had cerebral palsy. The county had an inquest in July where inconsistencies emerged between experts’ testimony and family members’ stories. A judge recused himself amid concerns that he had grown too close to the case.
In August, the couple’s eldest biological son, James, then 17, was charged with involuntary manslaughter; James had been the one supervising Hannah at the time she received the bleach burns that resulted in her death. A new judge ordered Samuel, then 5, and Isaiah, then 11, to be placed in foster care. In October the bodies of Mollie and Josiah were exhumed, and the deaths of both Hannah and Josiah were ruled homicides while the deaths of Noah and Mollie were ruled inconclusive.
In November, James was acquitted of all charges. Kathleen and Timothy immediately turned their attention to regaining custody of Samuel and Isaiah, and were eventually granted home visits. In June 1994, Isaiah implicated James in Josiah’s death. Home visits continued, but the judge ruled that James must not be present. In May 1995, after James had turned 18 and left home, Samuel and Isaiah were returned to the Carrolls. In October 1997, as a result of legal representation by the Home School Legal Defense Association, the Carrolls were allowed to resume homeschooling Samuel and Isaiah.
Date: September 21, 1992, through June 14, 1993
Location: Cedarville, Ohio
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