An Evansburg man, X., sexually assaulted his three daughters A. (b. approx. 1995), B. (b. 1998), and C. (b. approx. 2000) over the course of six years. His two sons were not reported to be abused. The children were homeschooled.
The family lived in a ‘compound’ near Evansburg. X. “took an interest in firearms after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and underwent training that included instruction in guerrilla warfare.” He pulled his children from school and homeschooled them, forcing them to do weapons drills and training; one of his daughters reported that she could not write because she was pulled from school so early. He prohibited the girls from driving. He forced his wife to work overtime to support the family so she was rarely in the home and did not know how X. was abusing the children.
X. began sexually abusing B. around 2010, when she was 12. He sexually assaulted her many times per week for six years. X. considered B. to be his plural wife; he forced her to take marriage vows to him and forced her to call him ‘master’. In 2014, he posted a naked picture of her online and sold sex with B. to strangers he met online on two occasions; he videotaped and participated in the assaults. One one occasion, he punished B. for seeing a boy her age by “[sticking] clothes pins through her skin and [tearing] them off with a rope.” X. used the Bible to justify the abuse of his daughters and at his sentencing continued to maintain that B. would go to hell for wifely disobedience.
A., who has a developmental delay, was sexually assaulted for two years. X. forced her to have sexual contact with B., then sexually assaulted B. in front of her. C. was sexually assaulted for two and a half years, beginning when she was 14. She reported how X. groomed her and her sisters, telling them the abuse was “teaching” them. She also reported that her father hit her, her siblings, and her mother.
The abuse came to light when a family member reported it to the authorities in October 2016. X. was charged with 23 sexual offenses including human trafficking, incest, sexual assault, and child pornography. He pleaded guilty to 10 of the charges in February 2019 and in September 2019 he was sentenced to 23 years in prison.
Date: November 2016
Location: Evansburg, Alberta, Canada Read More
Last Updated: December 12, 2019 by clmccracken Leave a Comment
Antonio Juan Gonzalez Jr.
Antonio Juan Gonzalez Jr., age 14, was murdered by his father, Antonio Gonzalez, and Gonzalez’s roommate, Paul Bacorn. Antonio was homeschooled. Antonio’s 4-year-old sister was not reported to be abused.
In September 2019, the family moved from Allegheny County to a trailer on a rural property in Mercer County; Bacorn lived in another trailer on the same property and watched the children when Gonzalez was away. The children’s mother had died a few years beforehand. Antonio was enrolled in an online cyber school, but Gonzalez “logged him into school so he wouldn’t get in trouble for missing class.” In late 2019, a concerned neighbor called the police concerned for the children’s safety and wellbeing; the family’s fridge was kept padlocked on the front porch and the trailers were in “deplorable” condition. Antonio was starved, sprayed with a hose, and forced to stand for hours in stress positions. When Antonio died, he weighed only 70 lbs. and officials said he looked like a “concentration camp victim.”
The abuse came to light after Antonio died as a result of hypovolemic shock due to blunt force trauma. Gonzalez called 911 and was charged with criminal homicide, aggravated assault, and child endangerment, among other charges. Bacorn was charged with criminal homicide and criminal conspiracy.
Date: October 23, 2019
Location: Delaware Township, Mercer County, Pennsylvania Read More
Posted: December 12, 2019 by clmccracken Leave a Comment
9 Children of New Zealand woman
Nine children, born between approximately 1995 and 2005, were starved and tortured by their mother, X. The children were homeschooled.
The family were active in their local “conservative Christian” church. At some point X. separated from her husband, who was not charged in connection with the abuse. X. began abusing the children in 2000. They were starved and forced to eat non-food substances; forced to do extreme exercise and spend hours in stress positions; beaten and thrown down stairs; submerged overnight in cold swimming pools; and emotionally abused. X.’s eldest daughter, M., reported that she now requires hearing aids due to head trauma from the abuse, and said “I am still learning that I am not stupid, disgusting, dumb and a servant.” Another adult daughter, P., reported ongoing daily headaches due to head trauma.
The abuse came to light in 2017, when five of the children were adults and had moved out of the house. Six of the children testified against X., who took a plea deal in the middle of the trial due to overwhelming evidence. She pleaded guilty to cruelty to children and assault on a child and was sentenced to four years in prison.
Date: 2017
Location: New Zealand Read More
Posted: November 22, 2019 by clmccracken Leave a Comment
9 Children of Scott and Cherry Blattert
Nine children—the oldest being S., a 15-year-old girl; the youngest being toddlers—were systematically physically abused by their parents, Scott and Cherry Blattert. The children were homeschooled.
Scott Blattert worked at the NSA Crane Naval Base and the Blatterts were religious. Scott experimented with beating his children with various implements including wooden spoons and dowel rods to determine that industrial grade glue sticks caused the most pain with the fewest markings. The glue sticks were kept on the mantle so that Cherry Blattert could use them to beat the children for “minor accidents or behavior issues” while Scott Blattert was at work. She kept a list of the children’s supposed infractions so that Scott could beat the children with glue sticks or a belt when he got home from work. Scott also punched the children, slammed them into walls, and choked them. The Blatterts meticulously documented the children’s injuries with photos and a journal. “One child kept a diary of the abuse and hid it inside her mattress.” There was only one phone in the home and it was kept in the Blatterts’ bedroom, where the children were not permitted to go.
Child protective services visited the home several times; the Blatterts hid the glue sticks in the bedroom when this occurred and coached the children not to speak to social workers. “The family recently moved from one home to another because a DCS worker lived nearby,” and after the children were too honest with social workers, Scott beat them. Though news sources did not report this, it is likely that the Blatterts were following the same child discipline manual as the parents of Sean Paddock, Hana Williams, and Lydia Schatz.
The abuse came to light when police were shown a video of Scott Blattert beating S. It is unknown who recorded the video or how it reached the authorities. Scott Blattert was charged with strangulation and aggravated battery. Cherry Blattert was charged with neglect of a dependent resulting in bodily injury.
Date: October 31, 2019
Location: Springville, Indiana Read More
Posted: November 22, 2019 by clmccracken Leave a Comment
Girl by Margaret and Charles Breeze
An 11-year-old girl, K., was starved, imprisoned, and abused by her legal guardians, Margaret and Charles Breeze. K. was homeschooled. Other children in the home were not reported to be abused.
K. went to live with the Breezes in 2013. Margaret Breeze was the third cousin of K.’s biological mother, who claimed that K. had a mental health condition and thought Breeze could help. In order to gain custody as a foster parent in Bracken County, Kentucky, Breeze falsely claimed to be certified as a foster parent in Ohio. “She claimed she had raised three children of her own and a 1-year-old granddaughter.” Breeze also briefly cared for K.’s biological sister.
While the Breezes lived in a house, they kept K. locked in a trailer in the backyard, which they monitored with a video feed. K. was forced to sleep on a urine-stained mattress and wear a diaper. Her entire food intake consisted of rice each day at midnight; when she was rescued, she weighed only 47 lbs. and was diagnosed with Kwashiorkor, a rare protein deficiency normally only found in famine victims. In 2015, the girl’s biological mother found out that the Breezes were beating and waterboarding K. and allegedly unsuccessfully attempted to regain custody. At K.’s last doctor visit in 2016, she was underweight. In 2017, Joie Jodrey, Charles Breeze’s sister, reported that the Breezes were abusing K.; it is unclear what the results of that report were.
The abuse finally came to light in 2019 when K. told a teacher administering an online test that she was hungry and reported her limited food intake. The teacher reported concerns to the authorities. The Breezes were charged with child endangerment, kidnapping, and assault. K. was hospitalized for several days on the verge of liver failure; she recovered and is “thriving” in her new home, where she gained 15 lbs. in two months.
Date: September 13, 2019
Location: Georgetown, Ohio Read More
Last Updated: November 8, 2019 by clmccracken Leave a Comment
5 Children of Betty Nicolicchia-Allen and Dennis Allen
Five children—G., a 14-year-old girl, and siblings ages 12, 9, 8, and 6—were abused and neglected by their parents, Dennis Allen and Betty Nicolicchia-Allen. The children were homeschooled.
G. reported that “she was being homeschooled but wasn’t taught anything.” Instead, while Allen and Nicolicchia-Allen worked full-time, they forced G. to be a full-time caregiver for her siblings, as well as for six animals in the home. They kept the home in “deplorable” conditions, with no running water, an overflowing toilet, rotting food, animal urine and feces, and insects. G. also reported that her mother physically and emotionally abused her.
The abuse came to light when G. called an abuse hotline to report that she was considering suicide. The hotline alerted authorities to the conditions in the home. Allen and Nicolicchia-Allen were charged with child neglect.
Date: October 31, 2019
Location: Bunnell, Florida Read More
Last Updated: November 8, 2019 by clmccracken Leave a Comment
3 Children by Greg Nelson, Susan Nelson, and Melissa Hamilton
Three girls, ages 10, 9, and 8, were abused by their parents: Greg Nelson, his wife Susan Nelson, and his girlfriend Melissa Hamilton, who lived with them. The girls were homeschooled.
The family lived with 245 animals in “deplorable” conditions, with rotting food and animal urine and feces throughout the house. The police were called to the home four times in the year prior to the girls’ rescue. One neighbor indicated she had regularly called the authorities about the family for three years. The family did not allow authorities to enter the home, so there was never enough evidence for a warrant.
The abuse came to light when Greg Nelson ended his relationship with the two women and attempted to take the children with him when he moved out of the home. Susan Nelson would not allow this, so Greg Nelson called the police for a welfare check on the children. When police observed the family’s living conditions, the Nelsons and Hamilton were charged with child abuse and animal cruelty. The children were placed with a family member.
Date: October 20, 2019
Location: Edgewater, Florida Read More
Posted: October 17, 2019 by clmccracken Leave a Comment
5 Children of Evansburg man
An Evansburg man, X., sexually assaulted his three daughters A. (b. approx. 1995), B. (b. 1998), and C. (b. approx. 2000) over the course of six years. His two sons were not reported to be abused. The children were homeschooled.
The family lived in a ‘compound’ near Evansburg. X. “took an interest in firearms after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and underwent training that included instruction in guerrilla warfare.” He pulled his children from school and homeschooled them, forcing them to do weapons drills and training; one of his daughters reported that she could not write because she was pulled from school so early. He prohibited the girls from driving. He forced his wife to work overtime to support the family so she was rarely in the home and did not know how X. was abusing the children.
X. began sexually abusing B. around 2010, when she was 12. He sexually assaulted her many times per week for six years. X. considered B. to be his plural wife; he forced her to take marriage vows to him and forced her to call him ‘master’. In 2014, he posted a naked picture of her online and sold sex with B. to strangers he met online on two occasions; he videotaped and participated in the assaults. One one occasion, he punished B. for seeing a boy her age by “[sticking] clothes pins through her skin and [tearing] them off with a rope.” X. used the Bible to justify the abuse of his daughters and at his sentencing continued to maintain that B. would go to hell for wifely disobedience.
A., who has a developmental delay, was sexually assaulted for two years. X. forced her to have sexual contact with B., then sexually assaulted B. in front of her. C. was sexually assaulted for two and a half years, beginning when she was 14. She reported how X. groomed her and her sisters, telling them the abuse was “teaching” them. She also reported that her father hit her, her siblings, and her mother.
The abuse came to light when a family member reported it to the authorities in October 2016. X. was charged with 23 sexual offenses including human trafficking, incest, sexual assault, and child pornography. He pleaded guilty to 10 of the charges in February 2019 and in September 2019 he was sentenced to 23 years in prison.
Date: November 2016
Location: Evansburg, Alberta, Canada Read More
Posted: October 12, 2019 by clmccracken Leave a Comment
Girl by Dwight Bainbridge and Jessica Brambilla
A 16-year-old girl, H., was imprisoned, starved, and sexually abused by her father, Dwight Bainbridge; his girlfriend Jessica Brambilla; and her 20-year-old son William C. Land. H. was homeschooled. The other four children who lived in the home were not reported to be abused.
Bainbridge had spent time in and out of state prison over the previous two decades; he was arrested for sexual assault and strangulation in 2012. After his release around March 2018, Bainbridge and H. moved into the home with Brambilla and Land. Around that time, Bainbridge, Brambilla, and Land began to keep H. confined to a locked bedroom with limited bedding and a bucket for urine. She was let out twice a day to use the bathroom and eat. Her meals were limited to “plain oatmeal, two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, two cups of water, and multivitamins.” Bainbridge also began to sexually assault her at this time. While being confined, H. was homeschooled, but Bainbridge and Brambilla would punish her by discontinuing her schooling for up to four months at a time.
The abuse came to light when H. told officials at Booker High School about the abuse. It is unclear how she was able to gain access to them. Bainbridge was charged with sexual battery, molestation, and aggravated child abuse. Brambilla was charged with aggravated child abuse.
Date: September 19, 2019
Location: Sarasota, Florida Read More
Posted: October 12, 2019 by clmccracken Leave a Comment
Girl by Melissa Keister
W., a girl born in 2009, was starved, imprisoned, and abused by her foster mother, Melissa Lin Keister. No charges were filed involving Keister’s husband, Allen Keister, or the six other children who lived in the home. W. was homeschooled.
Keister was active in her church and Milton Little League. Keister’s abuse of W. began in 2015. W. was starved for up to a week at a time: she would eat crumbs off the floor and frozen food because she was starving, and the other children would sneak her food. Keister claimed W. had a mental health disorder that prevented anyone else from feeding her; however, W. gained more than 20 lbs. in two months after she was removed from Keister’s home. On at least 50 occasions, when Keister caught W. eating food she was not supposed to, Keister forced W. to drink vinegar until she vomited. W. was also forced to sleep naked inside a square of tape on the floor in her bedroom; her bedroom had an alarm system, was equipped with a baby monitor, and had a boarded-up window. She was forced to take cold showers at night if she slept on her knees; if she “fell asleep while being home-schooled…she had to run laps around the house or do wall squats,” sometimes for up to two hours. W. was also beaten with a back scratcher and paddle, and on one occasion Keister struck W.’s head against the corner of a desk 20 times. Keister also drugged W. to make her sleep.
W. jumped out a window and ran away from home twice in early 2018; the whole neighborhood searched for her and returned her to her home. Neighbors called the authorities several times to report W.’s abuse, but it was finally investigated after “a home health aide called the Childline in April.” Two other social work professionals who had spent time in the home corroborated the abuse. Keister was charged with child endangerment, neglect, and reckless endangerment.
Date: April 7, 2018
Location: New Columbia, Pennsylvania Read More
Posted: October 12, 2019 by clmccracken Leave a Comment
8 Children of Alonzo Maxin and Andrea Arthur
Eight children—ages 10, 9, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1—were beaten, starved, and tortured by their parents, Alonzo Dewite Maxin and Andrea Lynn Arthur. The children were homeschooled.
Arthur and Maxin reportedly “ran away to New Jersey after having their first child.” The family lived in various other places including Georgia, and McMinnville, Tennessee before moving to Manchester. Arthur’s sister Stephanie Hicks, who personally called authorities four times for a welfare check on the children, last saw them on Thanksgiving 2017. Each time a welfare check was performed, the family moved away. The children were severely beaten; they were locked in an empty bedroom at night and their food was rationed. The 10-year-old boy looked like he was 5 due to malnutrition. When they were rescued, the children’s home was filled with animal urine and feces, trash, and roaches; the children had lice. “Arthur stated that she home-schooled the children[; however,] the home school [did] not appear to be legitimate.”
The abuse came to light in August 2019, when a neighbor in the family’s trailer park saw one of the children eating out of the garbage and called the authorities. The neighbors had not previously known any children lived in the home, though the family had been there two years. Arthur and Maxin were charged with aggravated child abuse.
Date: September 17, 2019
Location: Manchester, Tennessee Read More
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