Vanessa and Ray Jackson systematically starved their four adopted sons, beat them with brooms, rulers, sticks, shoes, and belt buckles, and choked them. When they were found, Bruce, 19, weighed 45 pounds; Keith, 14, weighed 41 pounds; Tyrone, 10, weighed 28 pounds; and Michael, 9, weighed 23 pounds. Vanessa kept the kitchen locked up and the boys were so hungry they sometimes gnawed on wood paneling. Several other adopted and foster children were not mistreated. The abuse came to light when a neighbor saw the oldest Jackson boy, severely malnourished, rummaging in garbage cans. The couple homeschooled all of the children and lived in New Jersey. Vanessa plead guilty and Ray died before conviction.
Date: October 2003
Location: Collinswood, New Jersey
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Posted: May 9, 2013 by rachel Leave a Comment
Zahra Baker
Zahra Baker, a ten year old cancer survivor and amputee living in North Carolina, was reported missing in October 2010. When allegations of child abuse had surfaced the previous year, her parents had withdrawn her from public school at the end of the term, telling officials that they were going to homeschool her. They never filed the required homeschooling paperwork with the state. Zahra’s dismembered body was found in November, and the date of her death was determined to have been late September. Her stepmother, Elisa Baker, is being charged with her murder.
Date: September 24, 2010
Location: Hickory, North Carolina Read More
Posted: May 8, 2013 by rachel
2 Children of Dwayne and Pamela Hardy
Investigators responding to an anonymous tip found two children, aged 6 and 9, malnourished and scarred from beatings. Dwayne and Pamela Hardy had adopted the two children six months earlier, and homeschooled the two just as they had their four biological children, who were now grown. The couple “disciplined” the children by frequently depriving them of food, locking them in their rooms, and beating them with wooden paddles and belts until they bled, and then beating them again before the wounds had time to heal, leaving permanent scars. Most of the abuse was carried out by Pamela while Dwayne was at work. The couple’s supporters insisted that they were loving Christian parents who were simply raising the children according to their strong Christian values. Dwayne was convicted of neglect, and Pamela plead no contest to charges of both neglect and aggravated child abuse.
Date: August 2010
Location: Seminole County, Florida Read More
Last Updated: July 3, 2021 by rachel
Austin and Edward Bryant
In 2000, Edward and Linda Bryant adopted two foster children, Austin and Edward Bryant. Both children were classified as special needs and the Bryants received government subsidies for their care. Over the years, the Bryants took additional foster children and adopted seven other children. In 2011, a young man who had know the Bryant children as neighbors as a kid notified authorities that Austin and Edward, who were biological brothers, hadn’t been seen for years. Officials found that there was no trace of either boy after 2003, when Austin was withdrawn from his Christian school to be homeschooled. The Bryants first dissembled and then claimed that the brothers had run away. Edward (the adoptive father) said that Edward had run away in 2001 (at age 9) and Austin in 2003 (at age 7) while Linda said both had run away in 2003 (at age 11 and 7). The couple never reported that the boys were missing, and continued to receive government subsidies for the boys until their absence came to light in 2011. It was also alleged that at least one of the boys had been abused, being denied food, beaten, locked in a trunk, and possibly even tased. No trace of either boy has been found, and while the case is still open it seems likely that the boys are deceased.
Date: 2001, 2003
Location: Monument, Colorado Read More
Posted: May 7, 2013 by rachel
Andrew Burd
Andrew Burd was 4 years old when he died of salt poisoning. Exactly what happened the day of his death and why he was overdosed on salt remain a question. In her trial, the prosecution argues that Andrew’s foster mother, Hannah Overton, forced him to drink a mixture of water and Cajun spices as a punishment and waited nearly 3 hours, while he vomited and drifted in and out of consciousness, before taking him to the hospital. The defense claimed that Andrew had a rare eating disorder called Pica where the sufferer compulsively eats non-nutritive substances, that Hannah gave him the spice mixture to treat this condition but that the level of sodium in this mixture was low, and that Andrew actually died from eating salt himself as a result of his condition. Hannah, who homeschooled her four older biological children and was pregnant at the time of Andrew’s death, was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to life in prison. However, Hannah and her church, Calvary Chapel of the Coastlands, have continued to appeal the decision, and a number of news outlets have picked up the story, running titles like “Murder or Medical Mystery?”
Date: October 2, 2006
Location: Corpus Christi, Texas
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Posted: May 7, 2013 by rachel
Sadie Plum, Luke Hayden, and Jessica Gutweiler
Amanda Gutweiler Hypes (later Kelley) left her three homeschooled children, Sadie, 10, Luke, 6, and Jessica, 3, home alone while she ran an errand. When she returned, the three had perished in a house fire. Kelley was originally accused of arson and was convicted in 2002 of three counts of first-degree murder. However, this conviction was thrown out in 2006 and the case was returned to court. In 2010 Kelley plead guilty to three counts of negligent homicide.
Date: January 9, 2001
Location: Tioga, Louisiana Read More
Posted: May 7, 2013 by rachel
3 Children of Mary Corrigan
Mary Corrigan, 33, was charged with child neglect after it was discovered that she locked her three children, 6, 8, and 10, naked in a bathroom for long periods of time and forced them to drink vinegar, eat hot peppers, and take cold showers as a punishment for bad language. The children were also malnourished and covered in rashes. They had attended public school until the previous year, when school officials filed a report of suspected child abuse and Corrigan responded by withdrawing the children to be homeschooled. The children were discovered after neighbors reported “banging and screaming” coming from the apartment. Two of Corrigan’s friends, who lived with her and the children, were also charged. The family lived in Indiana.
Date: August 2003
Location: Indianapolis, Indiana
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Last Updated: November 8, 2019 by rachel
4 Children of Vanessa and Ray Jackson
Vanessa and Ray Jackson systematically starved their four adopted sons, beat them with brooms, rulers, sticks, shoes, and belt buckles, and choked them. When they were found, Bruce, 19, weighed 45 pounds; Keith, 14, weighed 41 pounds; Tyrone, 10, weighed 28 pounds; and Michael, 9, weighed 23 pounds. Vanessa kept the kitchen locked up and the boys were so hungry they sometimes gnawed on wood paneling. Several other adopted and foster children were not mistreated. The abuse came to light when a neighbor saw the oldest Jackson boy, severely malnourished, rummaging in garbage cans. The couple homeschooled all of the children and lived in New Jersey. Vanessa plead guilty and Ray died before conviction.
Date: October 2003
Location: Collinswood, New Jersey
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Posted: May 7, 2013 by rachel
Child of Rebecca Long and Jon Pomeroy
Rebecca Long, 44, and Jon Pomeroy, 43, have been charged with first-degree and second-degree criminal mistreatment in what the local sheriff’s investigators called “the worst case of child abuse they had ever seen.” A 14 year old girl, Pomeroy’s biological daughter and Long’s stepdaughter, was deprived of food and water for years, and weighed less than 40 pounds, her growth severely stunted, when she was discovered after neighbors reported hearing someone screaming. At one point, the abuse was so bad that the girl started drinking from the toilet bowl. After that, Long had the girl sleep on the floor in their room to prevent her from sneaking water, and carefully monitored the girl’s showers to keep her from drinking water. She was also locked in her room for extended periods of time. The girl had been enrolled in public school, and in 2005 a teacher called child protective services to report that she suspected the girl was being deprived of food. When Child Protective Services investigated they found no evidence that the girl was being starved, but did not speak to the girl out of her mother’s presence. Long immediately withdrew the girl to be homeschooled, and officials had no more contact with her until her abuse was discovered three years later. The state later admitted to mishandling the case and the girl was awarded a settlement of several million dollars.
Date: October 2008
Location: Carnation, Washington
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Posted: May 7, 2013 by rachel Leave a Comment
Marcus Holloway
10 year old Marcus Holloway died of severe malnutrition after his mother, Candice Holloway, and her boyfriend, Private Connell C. Williams, 32, fed him only water and rice cakes over the course of several months as a punishment for eating too many sweets. During this time, Marcus was locked in a room described as being like a “dungeon.” A physician said the boy’s condition was “consistent with that of concentration camp photos.” By the time he died, Marcus had lost half of his body weight. There were also allegations of physical abuse. The family lived in military housing in Fort Sill, and Candice Holloway homeschooled both Marcus and his sister.
Date: May 5, 2011
Location: Fort Sill, Oklahoma Read More
Posted: May 7, 2013 by rachel
16 Children of Marcus Wesson
Marcus Delon Wessen was convicted of 9 counts of first-degree murder and 14 sex crimes. He raped and molested his underage daughters, even fathering children with some of them. He homeschooled the children and taught them that he was God and that they must prepare for Armageddon. He taught the girls that they were to be his future wives, and “married” some of them in private ceremonies. He kept the boys and the girls separate so that they would not develop attachments. At one point, they lived in a shack and a rundown boat. On March 12, 2004, extended family members descended on the family compound demanding the release of the children. Police were called, and a standoff followed. Wessen then shot and killed nine of his children. The family lived in California.
Date: March 12, 2004
Location: Fresno, California Read More
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