The bodies of Elwyn Crocker, Jr., b. 2002, and Mary Crocker, b. 2004, were discovered in December 2018. The children’s father, Elwyn Crocker, Sr., his wife Candice Crocker, Candice Crocker’s mother Kim Wright, and Wright’s boyfriend Roy Anthony Prater, were arrested in connection with the children’s deaths. The children were homeschooled. The children’s disabled half-brother, who was the child of Elwyn Crocker, Sr., with another woman, was not reported to be abused.

Elwyn Jr. and Mary were enrolled in Effingham County public schools for most of their lives. Several reports were made about the family to child services. In January 2014, Elwyn Jr. was withdrawn from school to be homeschooled. He was last seen in November 2016 at age 14. Mary continued to attend school until May 2018. She was withdrawn from school to be homeschooled in August 2018. She was last seen in October 2018 at age 14.

The children’s deaths came to light when a tipster called in a wellness check, reporting concerns Mary might be dead. The family at first told authorities Mary had gone to live with her homeless mother in South Carolina. Then authorities discovered the children’s bodies buried on the property. The Crockers, Wright, and Prater were charged with child cruelty and concealing a death. Further charges may be filed pending autopsies.

Date: December 20, 2018
Location: Effingham County, Georgia

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Caden McWilliams, age 7, died as a result of abuse by his mother, Elisha Pankey. Pankey claimed to be homeschooling Caden in order to cover up his death. Caden’s sibling, who lived in the home, was not reported to be abused.

Caden’s mother married his stepfather, Leland Pankey, in 2014. Leland Pankey assaulted Elisha Pankey in November 2017. In early 2018 Caden was living with Elisha Pankey and her sister. According to their landlord, Elisha Pankey had recently “changed from a really outgoing person [to a] hermit that just wanted to stay in her house”. The family was evicted in early 2018. During the 2017-2018 school year, Caden attended Ellis Elementary School; his school principal “described Caden as a hard worker who did well academically and who was always positive, caring and lived the Ellis core value of Integrity.” Caden last attended school on May 24, 2018, even though the school year did not end until May 31. Police say that he died around this time and his body was then concealed in a storage unit. In August 2018, Pankey notified Caden’s school that he would be homeschooled that year in order to hide the fact that he was already dead.

It is unclear how Caden’s death came to light, except that the Denver police received a tip from the Aurora police department. Leland Pankey was arrested Dec. 21, 2018 on a warrant from the 2017 assault. Elisha Pankey was arrested the same day on a drug charge, released after Caden’s body was found, and later formally charged with child abuse resulting in Caden’s death. She turned herself in to the police again shortly afterwards.

Date: May 24, 2018
Location: Denver, Colorado

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A girl, L., b. 2005, and a boy, M.*, b. 2007, were medically abused by their parents, Christopher J. Williams and Kathryn A. Williams. The children were homeschooled.

The medical abuse of the children began at least as early as 2007 when M. was born. The Williamses had both of the children’s intestines unnecessarily removed, causing them to rely on oleostomy bags. They gave L. unnecessary medication that permanently stunted her growth. M. was not permitted to walk and was forced to use a wheelchair, resulting in permanent damage to his tendons. The Williamses used the children’s “alleged conditions for benefits, including to an all-expense paid trip to Disney and a dog from the Make-A-Wish Foundation.” The children were also nominated for the Steven R. Stiles Courage Award from the Healing Dreams Foundation in October 2017 and were featured in the news.

The abuse came to light in August 2018, when the Williamses requested hospice care for one of the children and a report was made to child services that the Williamses were providing unnecessary care. The Williamses were charged with 24 counts including “attempted murder, aggravated battery to a child, aggravated domestic battery, reckless conduct, causing a child to be injured and theft by deception.” Since the children’s removal from the home, “both children’s health has greatly improved” and they do not require hospice care.

*Not their real initials.

Date: December 13, 2018
Location: Winnebago, Illinois

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Two children, a 14-year-old boy and a 9-year-old girl, were imprisoned, starved, and beaten by their adoptive parents, Patrick and Angel Henderson (pictured). The children were homeschooled. Their siblings, a 13-year-old and a 6-year-old, were not reported to be similarly abused.

From 2007 to 2019, the Hendersons “have been investigated for child abuse or neglect 18 times…, though only a 2014 allegation was substantiated.” The children last attended school in the Wakefield Community School District during the 2015-2016 school year, but were then pulled from school to be homeschooled. The children were kept locked in a bedroom with an alarm and were only allowed to leave to use the bathroom and visit the doctor. If the alarm went off, Angel Henderson would choke, kick, and beat them with a bat and belt. They were fed only one meal a day and were only allowed to eat if they finished their schoolwork, “which consisted of worksheets.” The children were forced to sleep in homemade straitjackets—one-piece pajamas with the legs sewn together from crotch to ankles and the arms sewn closed and attached to the back, with stocking caps tied over their heads and faces.

The abuse came to light when the boy ran away from home and the Hendersons reported him missing. When authorities found him, he disclosed the abuse to them. The Hendersons were charged with child abuse.

Date: January 9, 2019
Location: Wakefield, Nebraska

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A boy was beaten by his relative, Joel Ronald Lawrence Love (pictured). The boy was homeschooled.

The boy was contacting his friends on social media. When Love discovered this, he “grabbed [the boy] by the throat, choked him, repeatedly hit his head against the floor, pushed him up against a fridge and hit him in the leg with a hammer.”

The abuse came to light when the boy contacted police to report the assault. Love was charged with aggravated child abuse.

Date: January 24, 2019
Location: St. George, Utah

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Olivia Farrell (pictured), b. 2001, was beaten and imprisoned by her adoptive parents, Neil and Janet Farrell. Olivia was homeschooled. Olivia’s three older sisters, who were also adopted, were not reported to be abused.

The Farrells began caring for Olivia when she was 5 months old. Janet Farrell had previously been a certified teacher and homeschooled Olivia K-12. The family were faithful attendees and donors at Life Bible Church in Holly Springs, GA, and their oldest adopted daughter Ashlyn was a missionary to Papua New Guinea. According to the Farrells, Olivia had Reactive Attachment Disorder as well as Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, which allowed them to maintain active guardianship over Olivia even though she was an adult.

The Farrells beat Olivia’s buttocks and feet with 10-inch industrial glue sticks, taking care to hide the bruises. As punishment for non-aggressive behavior, they kept Olivia locked in her room for weeks and months at a time with limited food and only sometimes a bucket for a toilet. “All furniture in the room would be moved out, [and the Farrells] would also monitor Olivia’s activity with video and audio recorders.”

The abuse came to light when Olivia escaped from the Farrells’ home and was declared missing and possibly endangered. During the course of the search, investigators became suspicious of the Farrells’ behavior. Olivia was found the next day, having travelled approximately 15 miles on foot, whereupon she reported the abuse. The Farrells were charged with cruelty to children, false imprisonment, and exploitation of a disabled adult.

Date: June 23, 2018
Location: Bent Tree Community, Pickens County, Georgia

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Damon Decree, Jr. (pictured), age 13, was murdered by his mother, Shana Decree, and his older sister, Dominique Decree. Damon was homeschooled at the time of his death.

Damon lived with his mother; older siblings Naa’Irah Smith (age 25), Dominique Decree (age 19), and Joshua (age 17); maternal aunt Jamilla Campbell; and Campbell’s twin 9-year-old daughters Imani and Erika Allen. Damon attended Morrisville Middle School, where he had many friends and founded a Kindness Club to prevent bullying, until early 2019. Family members reported that the family had recently become involved with an online cult and were talking about demons. Damon’s father, Damon Decree, Sr., said “he had been calling children’s services and the police” for approximately a month before Damon’s death to report concerns about the family.

In early February 2019, Shana Decree withdrew Damon from school, telling the superintendent that she planned to homeschool him and that she would follow up with a plan for Damon’s education. Instead, approximately two weeks later, Decree and Dominique murdered Damon, Naa’Irah, Jamilla, Imani, and Erika. The murders were discovered when authorities arrived for a welfare check. Shana Decree claimed that the murders were part of a murder-suicide pact. Shana and Dominique Decree were each charged with five counts of homicide and conspiracy.

Date: February 25, 2019
Location: Morrisville, Pennsylvania

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Sanaa Cunningham (pictured right with her siblings), age 7, died as a result of abuse and neglect by her father, Germayne Cunningham, and her stepmother Lisa Cunningham. Sanaa was homeschooled.

Sanaa’s biological parents, Germayne Cunningham and Sylvia Norwood, married in 2007. Cunningham was a police detective. Their first daughter X. was born in 2007 and Sanaa was born in December 2009. The couple broke up shortly after Sanaa’s birth and exchanged restraining orders; Cunningham was awarded sole custody of the two girls. In August 2015 Cunningham married Lisa Anderson, whose two children from a previous marriage (Cierra Anderson, b. 1997, and G., b. 2002) also joined the family. The Cunninghams later had two children, E. and J., together.

At the time the Cunninghams married, Sanaa attended preschool, where several people told authorities “they had never seen symptoms of abuse, trauma, or behavioral disorders.” However, according to authorities, in August 2015 immediately after the Cunninghams married, Lisa Cunningham began to claim that Sanaa had behavioral issues. On March 4, 2016, child protective services visited the home in response to an anonymous tip. While Sanaa and her siblings denied any abuse, authorities noted Sanaa had a “severe eating disorder” involving incontinence and pica. In April 2016 the Cunninghams pulled Sanaa out of school to homeschool her. In October 2016 child services investigated again, reportedly as a result of an allegation of sexual abuse by Germayne Cunningham’s mother, Valerie Cunningham, but found the complaint unsubstantiated. By December 2016, Lisa Cunningham was disciplining Sanaa by locking her outside wearing only a diaper. That month, Sanaa was diagnosed with schizophrenia and her biological mother, Sylvia Norwood, attempted to visit her but was prevented from doing so by Germayne Cunningham. As a result of this incident, police visited the home and found Sanaa “partially clothed, sitting in a lawn chair in the closed laundry room. Her knees were badly skinned and bandaged. A camera was mounted in the small room.” Sanaa claimed she had injured herself. A child services case was opened on Sanaa’s behalf but she remained in the home.

In January 2017, Sanaa was prescribed an anti-psychotic, and her condition worsened within weeks. When Lisa Cunningham found Sanaa unresponsive in early February, she waited more than 12 hours to get her medical attention. Sanaa died a few hours after being admitted to the hospital. At the time of her death, Sanaa weighed only 45 pounds and she was covered in over 100 cuts and bruises, including an open septic wound on her foot. The Cunninghams confessed to regularly keeping Sanaa immobilized with zip-ties, a straitjacket, and handcuffs, reporting that these measures were necessary for her protection and that of their other children. However, “many of Sanaa’s symptoms were not witnessed by doctors, only reported by her parents.” Pathologists ruled that Sanaa had died of sepsis “because the restraints prevented her from expelling infected fluid from her lungs.” The Cunninghams were charged with child abuse and murder.

Date: February 12, 2017
Location: Goodyear, Arizona

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Two boys—C.H., b. 2003; and J.H., b. 2005—were beaten and starved by their parents, James and Tina Harbert (pictured). The boys were homeschooled. The Harberts’ daughter was not reported to be abused.

James Harbert used a 2×4, a dog leash, and his fists to beat the boys multiple times a week for as long as they could remember. The injuries inflicted to their buttocks were so severe that they could not sit down or walk normally and they had to wear diapers to contain the bleeding. One beating was so bad that J.H. spent 11 days in the hospital. C.H. attempted suicide because the pain was so severe. Harbert also choked the children until they passed out, deprived them of food for days, and forced them to sleep in the basement dog kennels. In 2009 C.H. went to school with a black eye and child services investigated. Tina Harbert lied to hospital personnel about C.H.’s injuries. Sometime later, the Harberts began homeschooling the children, ostensibly in order to use their labor for their dog kennel business. Tina Harbert also beat the boys with a 2×4 and occasionally dressed their wounds or gave them pain medication, but made no effort to get them medical care. By contrast, she told investigators she did not abuse her dogs “because they did not lie to her or misbehave.”

The abuse came to light in September 2015 when C.H. was sent to live with his maternal grandparents, who noticed the injuries to his buttocks and reported them to child services. Investigators then checked the other children and found that J.H. had “large, open, and weeping wounds across the entire length of his buttocks.” The boys were hospitalized; a month later, J.H.’s wounds still had not healed. James Harbert pleaded guilty to child abuse and was sentenced to 20-40 years in prison. Tina Harbert was found guilty of child abuse and was sentenced to 5-20 years in prison.

Date: September 20, 2015
Location: Spring Arbor, Michigan

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A girl, Jane*, was imprisoned, physically abused, and medically neglected by her adoptive parents, Joseph and Samantha Ferguson. The girl’s sister, Jean*, was also imprisoned. The girls’ four siblings were not reported to be abused. All six children were homeschooled.

Jean and Jane, biological sisters both adopted by the Fergusons, “were undergoing trauma therapy for sexual and physical abuse in their prior home.” The Fergusons disciplined all their children by striking them with a hand or a wooden spoon. Jane was also punished by being forced to stand in a dark utility closet. Samantha Ferguson soon began to handcuff or duct tape Jane’s hands during these punishments. She also kept Jane handcuffed to a bed for several hours each day and bound her hands during a car ride. She covered Jane’s mouth with duct tape. Furthermore, the Fergusons stopped giving Jane her ADHD medication “and halted her in person therapy due to their religious beliefs that they could pray away [her] problems.” Samantha Ferguson also forced Jean to handcuff Jane and forced Jean to stand in a utility closet until she “gave her life to Jesus”. Joseph Ferguson was aware of and approved of the abuse.

The abuse came to light when investigators received a phone tip in October 2018. Jane disclosed the abuse in an interview, but the girls were determined to be safe and left in the Fergusons’ custody. After the investigation was passed to another agency due to a conflict of interest, the girls were removed from the Fergusons’ custody. The Fergusons were charged with endangering the welfare of a child and false imprisonment.

*not their real names

Date: October 10, 2018
Location: Corsica, Pennsylvania

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Seven children, ages 15 to 3, were starved, imprisoned, and physically and sexually abused by their adoptive mother, Machelle Hobson (pictured left). The children were homeschooled. Hobson’s four adult biological children were not reported to be abused; her sons Logan and Ryan Hackney (pictured center and right) knew about the abuse but did nothing to stop it.

The children were forced to participate in videos on Hobson’s popular YouTube channel “Fantastic Adventures” and were abused when they refused or forgot their lines. They were beaten with various objects and doused with pepper spray, forced to take ice baths, and locked in closets for days without food and water. According to Hobson, at least one of the children had a disability. While some of the children originally attended school, they were withdrawn to be homeschooled so they could spend more time filming the series.

The abuse came to light when Hobson’s adult biological daughter reported it to the authorities, prompting a welfare check which revealed the abuse. Hobson was charged with molestation, child abuse, child neglect, and unlawful imprisonment. The Hackneys were charged with failure to report abuse.

Date: March 13, 2019
Location: Maricopa, Arizona

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A 14-year-old girl, Rachel*, was starved, imprisoned, and tortured by her family members, married couple Wesley and Sherry Keen (pictured). Rachel was homeschooled.

Shortly after the Keens became Rachel’s caretakers in early 2017, they withdrew her from school to homeschool her and began keeping her in a padlocked room where she had no food, water, or bathroom access for much of the day. Rachel’s neighborhood friend, Madison Brennan, reported that she tried to visit but was told by the Keens that Rachel was not available. Rachel was only let out for dinner each day. Wesley Keen beat her with a belt buckle and tortured her by breaking her fingers and teeth. She was forced to write “I do as I’m told or get punished” almost 3,000 times. When she was rescued, Rachel weighed only 70 pounds.

The abuse came to light when one of Rachel’s relatives, most likely Wesley Keen’s mother Hazel Byrd, grew concerned that she hadn’t seen Rachel in awhile and called the authorities for a welfare check. Authorities found the padlock on Rachel’s door and removed her from the Keens’ custody. Wesley Keen pleaded guilty to assault, malicious wounding, child abuse, and abduction, and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Sherry Keen pleaded guilty to child abuse and abduction and was sentenced to 5 years in prison.

*Rachel is a pseudonym.

Date: April 23, 2018
Location: Vinton, Bedford County, Virginia

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Angel Dwyer (pictured), b. 1992, was forced by her mother to marry at age 13, whereupon she was physically abused by her husband, X. Angel was homeschooled.

Angel’s birth in New Jersey was not registered. She never visited a doctor or dentist and she was not allowed to use the public library. Angel and her siblings were homeschooled for their entire lives in a secular family. According to Angel, “I never learned more than multiplication. I learned to read and write from the internet so pretty much I didn’t have an education.” After Angel’s father died when she was ten, all education stopped. At some point the family moved to Pollock Pines, California. Angel’s mother was emotionally abusive and controlling. When Angel was 13, at her mother’s urging, Angel’s 16-year-old boyfriend, X., came to live with the family. Days later, Angel’s mother performed a living room wedding without a license for the two children. X., now Angel’s husband, became her legal guardian. “Soon after the wedding, Angel’s husband became violent and abusive,” including in one instance strangling Angel while she was pregnant. Angel’s mother moved the family to Priest Lake, Idaho, to escape scrutiny.

In 2011, when Angel was 19 and pregnant with her third child, she reported the abuse with the help of Priest River Ministries Advocates for Women. X. was jailed for nine months for domestic abuse. Angel, now Angel McGehee, is currently a homeschooling mother who advocates against child marriage.

Date: 2011
Location: Priest Lake, Idaho

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Sarah Dubois-Gilbeau, age 5, was beaten to death by her father, Brandon Reynolds. Sarah was homeschooled.

Sarah liked fishing at Tingley Beach and once won a fishing contest. Her favorite colors were pink, purple, and blue. Reynolds had sole custody of Sarah due to her mother’s drug use. Neighbors described him as “very strict” and stated that Sarah was not allowed to go anywhere or have friends because Reynolds “didn’t want her to grow up in this society.” The neighbors suspected abuse but did not report it.

The abuse came to light when Reynolds beat Sarah unconscious with a shoe because she wouldn’t do her homework. He did not call emergency services until several hours later; when they arrived Sarah did not have a pulse and was covered in bruises. She later died at the hospital. Reynolds was charged with child abuse resulting in death.

Date: April 5, 2019
Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico

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VK, an 11-year-old boy (pictured), was starved and medically abused by his foster mother, Lyubov Korotkova. VK was homeschooled. Korotkova also had an adult son who lived with them and an adult daughter.

Korotkova became VK’s foster mother and removed him from an orphanage in 2009 when he was 3 years old. For eight years, Korotkova habitually starved VK and gave him medication to make him sick so that she could fraudulently claim he was disabled, eventually collecting approximately $65,000 in disability benefits. Korotkova was seen by her neighbors as a hero for raising a disabled child, and when VK was rescued at first the neighbors staged a public campaign for VK’s return. Korotkova’s husband, Andrei, was unaware of the abuse.

The abuse was uncovered by doctor in May 2017. At that time 11-year-old VK weighed as much as a 4-year-old. Korotkova was sentenced to 6 years in prison for torture. VK’s psychologist was granted custody of him.

Date: May 2017
Location: Magadan, Russia

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At least five children were sexually abused by their siblings. Their father, Brian Keene (pictured left), knew about the abuse and did nothing to stop it. The children were homeschooled.

Brian Keene and his wife had at least nine children, including: James (b. 1990, pictured second from left), Elijah (b. 1992, pictured second from right), Megan* (b. 1997), Josiah (b. 1999, pictured right), Samantha* (b. 2000), Emma* (b. 2003), Tyler* (b. 2005), Ava* (b. 2007), and Mason* (b. 2008). The children’s mother left the family in 2014 and later died. Reports said at least some of the children had attended school in the past, but none of the children had attended in years. Brian Keene reported he had not provided instruction to the children since his wife left. The children were not given adequate food and their clothes had holes; the home had no heat, smelled like a “backed up sewer”, had holes in the walls and floor, and was overrun with pests. The family dog was also neglected. None of the children had seen a doctor since at least 2009, since according to Brian Keene “none of them were ever sick”; however, Mason walked with a limp due to an untreated foot injury from unsafe conditions in the home.

Around 2005, when Elijah was about 13, he began repeatedly sexually abusing his sisters Megan (then age 8) and Emma (then age 2). He began molesting Samantha around 2012 (when she was 12). James also sexually abused Emma; and James, Elijah, and Josiah all sexually abused Tyler and Ava. Brian Keene knew about the abuse and attributed it to his sons’ “raging hormones.” The abuse continued for years.

The abuse came to light when Samantha left the home, bringing Emma, Tyler, and Ava with her. In April 2019, police received a suspicious vehicle complaint and found Samantha and the children in the car; she reported their home was unsafe and the children subsequently disclosed the abuse. Brian Keene was charged with child neglect, and James, Elijah, and Josiah Keene were all charged with numerous counts of sexual assault of a child.

*not their real names

Date: April 8, 2019
Location: South Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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Abdul-Ghani Wahhaj (pictured), age 3, died as a result of medical neglect by five of his family members. Their compound also housed 11 related children, ages 1 to 15, who were malnourished and neglected. The children were homeschooled.

Abdul-Ghani, who had hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, was the child of Siraj Wahhaj and Hakima Ramzi of Jonesboro, Georgia. After a trip to Saudi Arabia in 2017, Wahhaj decided he wanted to stop giving Abdul-Ghani his seizure medication and use prayer to treat his illness instead. In November 2017, Wahhaj abducted Abdul-Ghani and took him to a remote area in New Mexico where he established a compound with his second wife Jany Leveille, his sisters Hujrah and Subhanah Wahhaj, his brother-in-law Lucas Morton, and the women’s 11 other children. According to the grandfather of some of the children, “they were homeschooled and the adults moved them to the compound because society wouldn’t accept their Islamic religion.”

“The compound consisted of one small trailer buried in the ground and covered by plastic with no water, plumbing or electricity.” The children were malnourished and filthy, and they later reported the adults had trained them to use firearms in order to attack government institutions. Instead of giving Abdul-Ghani his medication, Wahhaj and his family members “would read verses from the Quran over the boy to rid him of evil spirits.” Abdul-Ghani died December 24, 2017 and the family buried him in a crawlspace, reportedly believing he would come back to life.

The abuse came to light when a family member called the authorities in August 2018 to report that the family was starving. Authorities raided the compound and found Abdul-Ghani’s remains. Wahhaj and Leveille were charged with child abuse, “but after prosecutors missed a deadline to provide a preliminary examination, the cases were dropped” and federal weapons and terrorism charges were soon filed.

Date: August 3, 2018
Location: Amalia, Taos County, New Mexico

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A 9-year-old girl was beaten, starved, and imprisoned by her uncle, Joel Smith (pictured left), Joel’s wife Amanda Smith (pictured center), and their 19-year-old daughter Allison Smith (pictured right). The girl was homeschooled.

It is unclear how the girl came to live with the Smiths, but she thought of them as her parents and sister. The girl was pulled from school in 2017 and the family “claimed to have the girl in a homeschool program, but no one could name the specific program.” The girl reported she was educated by a LeapPad learning tablet. The girl endured extreme abuse, including: being forced to stay outside in all weather; forced to do extreme manual labor such as moving rocks and digging holes; beaten with numerous objects including a livestock sorting stick, including a beating for making a mistake in her schoolwork; forced to take freezing and scalding showers; choked and threatened with death; forced to wear diapers and not allowed to use the toilet; starved so that she ate paper and moldy food out of the trash because she was hungry; and kept handcuffed inside a playpen at night. When she was rescued, she had an infected and untreated laceration from the handcuffs, was covered with bruises, and was severely underweight.

The abuse came to light when the girl ran away from home and was reported missing by the Smiths in early April 2019. When authorities found her she disclosed the abuse. The Smiths, who were later arrested in Missouri, were charged with child abuse and neglect.

Date: April 5, 2019
Location: Salina, Oklahoma

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Megan Walls (pictured, b. 1997) was sexually abused by her father, Michael Walls. Megan and her siblings were homeschooled—Walls distrusted the government and told Megan school would “brainwash” her.

Walls married Megan’s mother M.S. when he was in his twenties and M.S. was 14 years old. Walls and M.S. had four children together: A., B., Megan, and Mi. The children’s mother left the family around 2000, shortly after Mi.’s birth. Within a year or so, Walls began raping Megan, who was then around 4. He continued to rape her multiple times per week until 2013. Megan testified that she didn’t realize there was anything abnormal about the rapes, and that Walls instructed her not to tell anyone about them. According to authorities, the children’s lives included physical and mental abuse, “no socialization, little communication with family, no friendships to speak of, and no schooling, formal or otherwise.” At trial Walls “admitted he neglected his children’s’ homeschooling.” A family member, likely Walls’s mother E.W., also alleged that Megan’s older brother sexually abused Megan. When the children were rescued, Mi. had a speech disability.

The abuse came to light in June 2013 when authorities received a tip about educational neglect and sexual abuse. They interviewed Megan and Mi., who were the only children still living at home, but they denied the abuse. Walls was ordered to surrender custody but instead fled to Florida with the children. He was apprehended and the children were placed in foster homes and began to attend school. Megan finally disclosed her father’s sexual abuse to a teacher in May 2014. In 2016 Walls was convicted on 24 counts of rape, among other charges. After his conviction was overturned in 2018, he was re-tried and again convicted of the same charges in 2019.

Date: June 25, 2013
Location: Sandusky, Ohio

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Eduardo Posso (pictured), age 12, was starved to death by his father, Luis Posso, Jr., and his stepmother Dayana Medina Flores. Eduardo’s 9-year-old sister and his brothers aged 5 and 2 were not reported to be abused. Eduardo was homeschooled.

Eduardo’s family lived in Myakka City, Florida. His mother, Aurea Esmeralda Garcia, did not have custody and last saw him in 2017. Eduardo and his siblings attended local public schools in Florida beginning in 2012. Eduardo was a skilled juggler. Numerous people, including Eduardo’s grandmother, his teachers, and his next-door neighbors, were concerned about Eduardo’s well-being, and child welfare officials investigated reports of abuse at least five times between June 2017 and December 2018. Posso and Medina Flores claimed Eduardo’s bruises were accidental and Eduardo denied the abuse, so the cases were closed. Two days after the last investigation, Posso and Medina Flores pulled the children from school to homeschool them. Shortly thereafter, they took the family on the road for their circus promoting business.

While the family was staying in a motel room in Indiana, Eduardo was kept chained in the bathtub wearing a shock collar, and Posso and Medina Flores monitored him with a camera. The abuse came to light when Posso and Medina Flores brought Eduardo to the hospital where he was declared dead. When he died he weighed around 55 lbs. His body was covered with bruises and contained 0% body fat. Posso and Medina Flores were charged with child neglect, confinement, and battery; murder charges are pending.

Date: May 24, 2019
Location: Bloomington, Indiana

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