A 12 year old boy was brutally abused at the hands of his mother, Dendra Patrick, 43, and her boyfriend, Reginald Carr, 42. When the police arrived after a tip from a neighbor, they found the boy laying on the floor, his skull fractured and nose broken, surrounded by feces and dried blood. Carr had beaten the boy and had burned his arm by holding it against a hot stove burner. Scars on the boy indicated that the abuse had been going on for some time. Carr and Patrick had also kept the boy locked in a room with only a plastic bucket for a toilet, and Carr had regularly whipped him with an extension cord and beaten him with fists. The boy had been in school until he was withdrawn to be homeschooled a year before. School officials said they had not noticed any signs of abuse at the time. The boy’s only allowed reading material was a Bible, and it doubtful what, if any, actual education was taking place. The family lived in Florida.
Date: September 2007
Location: Pinellas Park, Florida Read More
Posted: May 7, 2013 by rachel
Child of Roberto Fortin II
A 7-year-old boy, son of Roberto Fortin II, was brought to the hospital severely malnourished, in diapers, and covered with infected wounds. His stepmother said the boy was being homeschooled. The family lived in Florida.
Date: August 2010
Location: Miami, Florida Read More
Posted: May 6, 2013 by rachel
5 Children of Thomas and Susan Lavery
Thomas Lavery, 57, plead guilty to attempted child endangerment after being accused of bullying his five homeschooled children to win spelling bees and excel academically by beating them and forcing them to study for long periods without sleep or bathroom breaks. Lavery also jumped on his daughter, Marjory, and threatening to kill her after she took second place in the national spelling bee, and forced his children to lick spilled food off of his shoes. The family lived in Ohio.
Date: 1995
Location: Akron, Ohio Read More
Last Updated: February 8, 2016 by Heather Doney
Child of Paul and Debbie Salvetti
Paul and Debbie Salvetti’s 13 year old adopted son escaped imprisonment in a room of their home by kicking through a wall into another bedroom. He went to his former public school the next day to notify a staff member there about the abuse. He weighed 87 pounds at the time of his escape, two pounds less than he had weighed two years prior. The teen gained 10 pounds in four days after being removed from his adoptive parents’ home. He stated that his adoptive parents had removed him from public school and homeschooled him in order to prevent him from telling administrators about his treatment. An investigation had previously been opened when he told school officials that he had been fed poisoned food and hit with a baseball bat and a frying pan. He reported that the only homeschooling he had done was journal writing and that he was expected to earn food as a privilege for obedience. He had been locked in a room with only a mattress and a bible, allowed out for brief dinnertime meals. The room’s windows had been painted black and boarded up, the door locked from the outside. All four of the Salvetti’s other minor children were removed from the home. Paul and Debbie Salvetti lost an appeal and were sentenced on felony child abuse charges.
Date: May 2008
Location: Kernersville, North Carolina Read More
Last Updated: February 8, 2016 by Heather Doney
6 Children of Maj. John and Carolyn Jackson
John and Carolyn Jackson homeschooled their three biological children and their three foster or adopted children through their local church. One foster or adopted daughter died in 2008. The Jacksons are not being charged in that death. The five living Jackson children were removed from the home in 2010 after one child was hospitalized with high levels of sodium in her blood and found to have previously untreated broken bones. The parents allegedly beat the children so forcefully that two had broken bones, which were left untreated, and employed “hot saucing” as a punishment, forcing the children to drink hot sauce or eat red pepper flakes or raw onion. The parents also have been charged with occasionally depriving the foster or adopted children of water and food, and are said to have forced a biological child to be complicit in the abuse by guarding the bathroom to ensure that the dehydrated children did not try to drink from the toilet bowl. John and Carolyn Jackson have claimed that they are innocent victims of persecution against Christians and against homeschoolers.
The Jacksons were found guilty of child abuse.
Date: April 2010
Location: Mount Holly, New Jersey Read More
Posted: May 6, 2013 by rachel
Child of Ernest and Cynthia Davison
Officials responding to a child neglect tip found a 5 year old adopted girl weighing only 21 pounds. Her body showed signs of having been restrained for long periods of time. She and her three siblings, all of whom were adopted and had special needs, were removed from their adoptive parents home and placed in protective custody. The girl in question had Down syndrome. Ernest Richard Davison and Cynthia Joan Davison, the parents, were charged and convicted to 3 and 4 years in jail, respectively. Cynthia had been homeschooling all four of the children.
Location: Beachwood, New Jersey
Date: December 2004 Read More
Posted: May 6, 2013 by rachel
Child of Sabrina Smith and Amanda Wills
A 6 year old girl was hospitalized weighing only 18 pounds. She was unresponsive at the time. She had been systematically starved by her mother, Sabrina Smith, 41, and her guardian, Amanda Wills, 30. While she was initially in critical condition, the girl ultimately recovered. In addition to being severely malnourished, her body was covered with bruises and other injuries. Smith and Wills admitted to restraining the child with zip ties in a car seat for long periods of time. Smith said she homeschooled the girl. The girl had five siblings, age 13 to 5, but was apparently singled out for abuse. The mother denied abuse, claiming the child had a medical condition, but detectives said this was the most severe case of abuse they had seen in 20 years. The girl and her five siblings were taken into protective custody.
Date: September 2010
Location: Beckley, West Virginia Read More
Posted: May 6, 2013 by rachel
Child of Dendra Patrick and Reginald Carr
A 12 year old boy was brutally abused at the hands of his mother, Dendra Patrick, 43, and her boyfriend, Reginald Carr, 42. When the police arrived after a tip from a neighbor, they found the boy laying on the floor, his skull fractured and nose broken, surrounded by feces and dried blood. Carr had beaten the boy and had burned his arm by holding it against a hot stove burner. Scars on the boy indicated that the abuse had been going on for some time. Carr and Patrick had also kept the boy locked in a room with only a plastic bucket for a toilet, and Carr had regularly whipped him with an extension cord and beaten him with fists. The boy had been in school until he was withdrawn to be homeschooled a year before. School officials said they had not noticed any signs of abuse at the time. The boy’s only allowed reading material was a Bible, and it doubtful what, if any, actual education was taking place. The family lived in Florida.
Date: September 2007
Location: Pinellas Park, Florida Read More
Posted: May 6, 2013 by rachel
Child of Rhonda Renee Johnson
Rhonda Renee Johnson, 37, was arrested after she allegedly sprayed her 12 year old son’s eyes with cleaning fluid and locked him out of their apartment. Police found the boy after a neighbor called them to report that the boy wandered around his apartment complex rather than being in school. The boy told police that he was homeschooled, and that his mother frequently beat him because of her belief that he “lies all the time.”
Date: October 2009
Location: Gwinnett County, Georgia Read More
Posted: May 6, 2013 by rachel
3 Children in Liberty County, Texas
An 8 year old boy was found locked inside an abandoned church, with only a paint can and a roll of toilet paper, after neighbors told Child Protective Services that the boy’s mother often left the child there. The mother, who told investigators that the boys were homeschooled, regularly isolated the boy and his brothers, aged 11 and 1, in the abandoned building as a form of punishment. The family lived in Texas.
Date: May 2010
Location: Liberty County, Texas Read More
Posted: May 6, 2013 by rachel Leave a Comment
Joshua and Luke Laney
Joshua and Luke Laney were eight and six when their mother smashed in their skulls with rocks. Deanna Laney, 39, believed God had called her to stone her sons. Laney was described by neighbors as a loving and devout homeschool mother, and was found not guilty by reason of insanity. Joshua and Luke’s younger brother Aaron suffered brain damage but survived the attack. The family lived in Texas.
Date: May 9, 2003
Location: Tyler, Texas Read More
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