A 6 year old boy and a 5 year old girl were abused by their adoptive parents, Richard and Christine Dodson. The Dodsons severely starved and beat the boy, and broke the girl’s bones multiple times. The boy was reported to have been beaten with a stick, often forced to run laps around a tree for up to an hour, and made to sleep in a closet. While running laps around the tree he fell and hit his head, was put in the closet by Christine Dodson, and was later rushed to the hospital, where he was in a coma for 3 days. Richard Dodson’s father reported being fearful for the boy’s wellbeing, seeing Richard spank him for eating a potato chip and a piece of bread at a family reunion. A neighbor reported that there was a racial component to the abuse, as the Dodson’s were white, the children they adopted were black, and Christine Dodson had said that that she punished the adopted boy more harshly because she did not want the 6 year old to turn into “a lazy black man.” The couple were charged, convicted, and each sentenced to 45 years in prison.
Date: July, 1995
Location: Round Rock, Texas
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Posted: June 4, 2013 by rachel
Timothy Boss
In July 2000, 10 year old Timothy Boss was beaten to death by his adoptive parents, Donald Boss Jr. and Lisa Boss. He spent the night before his death bound to a chair in the family’s basement. Timothy Boss and three other special needs children were adopted by Donald Jr. and Lisa Boss in Michigan; the couple had since moved their family of thirteen (four adopted children and seven biological children) to Iowa, where Timothy was homeschooled during the 1999 to 2000 school year. Several days after Timothy’s death, per Iowa’s homeschooling regulations, school officials contacted the family regarding Timothy’s end-of-the-year assessment. The Bosses told officials that the boy had returned to Michigan to live with family. Some of Timothy’s adopted brothers were enrolled as homeschool students for the 2000 to 2001 school year, but Timothy was not (the couple’s biological children were sent to public school). Timothy’s parents were not suspected of murder until a year and a half later, when relatives in Michigan reported that they had not seen the boy. Two years after his death, Timothy’s body was found buried in the family’s basement. Donald Boss was sentenced to fifty years in prison.
Date: 2000-07-01
Location: Remsen, Iowa
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Posted: June 4, 2013 by rachel
2 Children of Richard and Christine Dodson
A 6 year old boy and a 5 year old girl were abused by their adoptive parents, Richard and Christine Dodson. The Dodsons severely starved and beat the boy, and broke the girl’s bones multiple times. The boy was reported to have been beaten with a stick, often forced to run laps around a tree for up to an hour, and made to sleep in a closet. While running laps around the tree he fell and hit his head, was put in the closet by Christine Dodson, and was later rushed to the hospital, where he was in a coma for 3 days. Richard Dodson’s father reported being fearful for the boy’s wellbeing, seeing Richard spank him for eating a potato chip and a piece of bread at a family reunion. A neighbor reported that there was a racial component to the abuse, as the Dodson’s were white, the children they adopted were black, and Christine Dodson had said that that she punished the adopted boy more harshly because she did not want the 6 year old to turn into “a lazy black man.” The couple were charged, convicted, and each sentenced to 45 years in prison.
Date: July, 1995
Location: Round Rock, Texas
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Posted: June 4, 2013 by rachel
Louisa and Swen Swanson
Jeannette Swanson, a homeschooling mother, shot and killed her children Louisa, 10, and Swen, 14, in their sleep a week after she was briefly hospitalized for depression and chronic tiredness. Her remaining two sons, aged 20 and 16, were unharmed. She was sentenced to life commitment in Montana State Hospital.
Date: August 26, 2002
Location: Helena, Montana
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Posted: June 4, 2013 by rachel
Stephen Hill and 1 Sibling
Stephen Hill was 13 years old but weighed only 55 pounds when he died—having gained only 1 pound and grown only 1 inch since he was removed from school to be homeschooled four years earlier at age 9. Stephen’s parents had kept him chained in order to deprive him of food, and he died 13 days after authorities found him emaciated and in cardiac arrest. Stephen and his younger brother, who was also systematically starved but survived the abuse, had been removed from school immediately after a teacher filed a child abuse tip against the family.
Location: Forth Worth, Texas
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Posted: June 4, 2013 by rachel
Ricky Holland
Lisa Holland struck her 7 year old adopted son Ricky in the head with a hammer and didn’t seek medical help while he slowly died. Lisa and her husband Tim dumped Ricky’s body in a swamp and said he had disappeared. Police found the body six months later, and Lisa and Tim were charged in his death and given long prison terms. Lisa had withdrawn him from school to be homeschooled over a year before his death in a dispute over whether he needed special-education services. The child endured a variety of abuse before his death, including food deprivation and being tied up in the family’s basement.
Date: July 1, 2005
Location: Summit Township, Michigan Read More
Posted: June 4, 2013 by rachel
Markea Berry
16-year-old Markea Berry, who was mentally disabled, weighed only 40 pounds when she was found dead in her mother’s home. Relatives reported that Markea’s mother, Ebony Berry, was abusive toward her when the family had lived in Michigan. The family left Michigan for Georgia to avoid investigation by child protective services. Ebony homeschooled Markea along with her siblings, and systematically starved them. Markea’s malnourished look had landed the family on radar of Georgia’s Division of Family and Children Services, but her case was closed in the midst of a push to trim caseloads by referring them to social services rather than taking children into custody. After Markea’s death, neighbors reported that they had not even been aware that there was a teenager living in the home.
Date: June 15, 2012
Location: Atlanta, Georgia Read More
Posted: June 4, 2013 by rachel
Matthew Degner and 4 Siblings
After 14 year old Matthew Degner died, his mother dragged his dead body outside in hopes that officials would not look inside her home and see its squalid condition—or the 200 animals, riddled with disease, she kept there in cages. Matthew’s mother had isolated him and his four siblings, telling officials that they were being homeschooled. Neighbors reported that they had only seen the boy once. She sealed the doors and windows of her home with thick Styrofoam, plastic sheeting, and duct tape to keep the smells of the animals indoors. After Matthew’s death, authorities removed three of his siblings, age 12 through 17, from the home (all three needed medical care) and a fourth, age 18, was hospitalized. Matthew had special needs.
Date: September 2011
Location: Berwyn, Illinois Read More
Posted: June 4, 2013 by rachel
Ramie and Timothy Grimmer
Rachelle Dianne Grimmer shot her two children, Ramie, aged 12, and Timothy, aged 10, in the head in a state welfare office to protest being denied food stamps. Grimmer had been on and off of government programs for years, and had for a time lived with her children in a tent on a beach. Grimmer’s mother said her daughter was mentally ill, and that she had tried to get help for her. Grimmer homeschooled her two children.
Date: December 2011
Location: Loredo, Texas Read More
Posted: June 4, 2013 by rachel
Valerie Smelser
At age 12, Valerie Smelser was beaten to death by her mother and her mother’s boyfriend. Her emaciated body was dumped in a ditch. Valerie’s mother claimed a religious exemption from public schooling and kept the girl home. She requested an application for homeschooling but never returned it. Child abuse tips were lodged against the family on numerous occasions, but each time they moved without leaving a forwarding address.
Date: January 22, 1995
Location: Clarke County, Virginia Read More
Last Updated: August 3, 2017 by rachel
Ame Deal
10 year old Ame Deal died of suffocation after being locked in a footlocker overnight as punishment for stealing a popsicle. Ame’s grandparents, with whom she lived, frequently locked her in the footlocker as a punishment and sometimes threw it around with her inside. Some time before her death, Ame’s aunt had thrown her in a cold pool and held her head underwater while she struggled. Ame had attended public school but teachers became suspicious about her home life and child protective services launched an investigation. Ame’s grandparents responded by moving across state lines and opting to homeschool the girl. Ame’s grandparents and other relatives also beat her, forced her to walk barefoot on searing hot pavement, and forced her to drink hot sauce as punishment. Ame was one of a dozen children living in the house, which was strewn with garbage. The children slept in tents in the garden.
Date: July 2011
Location: Phoenix, Arizona
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