(from left) Danny, Marissa, Ty, Jesse, and Caleb some time after they were rescued; B. is not pictured

Six children—B. (b. 1988), Danny (b. 1990), Marissa (b. 1992), Tyler “Ty” (b. 1993), Jesse (b. 1995), and Caleb (b. 1996)—were imprisoned, starved, and tortured by their biological mother, Mary Rowles, and her partner Alice “Jamie” Jenkins. The children were homeschooled.

Rowles gave birth to B. when she was in high school; B. and Danny were the only two of the children who had the same biological father. Rowles was reported to child services when B. was three months old; following this, she moved in with her maternal grandmother and the case was closed. Rowles met Jenkins in 1996 when Caleb was two months old. Rowles was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis around the same time and soon became addicted to opioids, giving Jenkins free rein of the children.

Jenkins beat the children with belts and hammers, forced them to eat animal feces and vomit, and kicked their genitals with steel-toed boots. The children were fed only dry cereal and peanut butter sandwiches and suffered from extreme malnutrition that stunted their growth. They were kept locked in dark closets for months at a time. The abuse permanently damaged their eyesight, and Jesse developed trichotillomania. Jenkins singled out the boys for abuse, abusing Marissa less frequently.

Rowles knew about the abuse and did nothing to stop it. In 2000, she fled to a friend’s house with the children, but soon returned to Jenkins. The family was reported to child services in November 2002, but authorities didn’t visit until February 2003. According to child services, they received “numerous” reports about the family over several years. However, the abuse did not come to light until B., Ty, and Jesse escaped out a second-floor window in April 2003 and reported it to authorities who found them wandering the streets.

“Rowles and Jenkins pleaded guilty in October 2003 to numerous offenses, including kidnapping, felonious assault and child endangering.” They were sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Date: April 28, 2003
Location: Kenmore, Akron, Ohio

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Patricia Hyler

A 14-year-old boy, M., and his three adopted siblings, were abused by their adoptive mother, Patricia Hyler. The children’s adoptive father, Tommy Hyler, worked long hours outside the home and was not charged in connection with the abuse. The children were homeschooled.

Hyler adopted M. around 2012. She worked as a teacher at a church daycare center and at a school for disabled children. In April 2018, she began abusing the children and shortly afterwards pulled all four out of school to homeschool them. She beat all four children with various implements. Hyler singled out M. for abuse, reportedly because she didn’t like redheads. She chipped his teeth with pliers, starved him so that his siblings had to sneak him food, strangled him, stabbed him with knives, forced him to sleep on a dirty concrete floor, and wouldn’t let him bathe but forced him to stand naked outside while she sprayed him with a hose. The abuse always took place after her husband had left for work, and Hyler threatened to hunt the children down and kill them if they ever told anyone, including the child services workers who conducted several welfare checks in the home. Two adults who had grown up as adoptees in Hyler’s home also reported similar abuse.

The abuse came to light when one of the other children texted a witness about it, and the witness reported it to the authorities. Hyler was charged with aggravated child abuse and the children were removed from the home.

Date: May 8, 2020
Location: Pace, Florida

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Christopher Crets and Nicole Crets

A 12-year-old boy, R., was starved, imprisoned, and tortured by his father, Christopher Crets, and his stepmother Nicole Crets. The boy was homeschooled. The other children who lived in the home were not reported to be abused.

Christopher Crets had prior felony convictions for statutory rape and drug trafficking. R. was pulled from school to be homeschooled in early February 2020. The Cretses beat him and kept him handcuffed to a bed at night. They also starved him; he lost approximately 40 lbs. over the course of a few months’ imprisonment, and he suffered from refeeding syndrome after he was rescued.

The abuse came to light when the Cretses forgot to handcuff R. to the bed one night; he escaped and was found by authorities to whom he reported the abuse. The Cretses were charged with child abuse and kidnapping.

Date: May 2, 2020
Location: Warren County, Missouri

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Kimberly Howell

An 11-year-old girl, D., was singled out for starvation and torture by her foster mother, Kimberly Howell. D. was homeschooled. Her four siblings, who were also Howell’s foster children, attended school and were forced to participate in the abuse.

D. was forced to provide childcare for her siblings, including a 1-year-old. She was forced to cook all the family’s meals, but was not allowed to eat them; she was only allowed to eat rice and milk or water. While the other children had beds, D. had to sleep on the floor in Howell’s room, and she was sometimes forced to sleep in the bathroom. As punishment for “stealing” food, Howell forced D. to do push-ups and forced her siblings to beat her. Howell told D. she couldn’t go to school like her siblings because there wasn’t “enough money to pay for [her] ‘tuition’ at Wilson Junior High.” Howell threatened to beat D. in her sleep and did so the week before she was rescued. Howell instructed D.’s mother to cut off her ponytail. D. attempted suicide to escape the abuse.

The abuse came to light after an anonymous source reported it to authorities. Howell was charged with child abuse.

Date: December 16, 2019
Location: Manitowoc, Wisconsin

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Alex Hurley

James Alex Hurley, age 12, who went by Alex, was tortured and murdered by his grandparents, James Sasser, Jr. and Patricia Batts, and their 14-year-old son, J.S. A family friend, Gage Roush, was also charged in connection with Alex’s death. Alex also lived with his 18-year-old aunt M.S. and his 6-year-old uncle H.S. Alex was homeschooled.

Alex originally lived with his mother, Alicia Davis, in Texas. Davis sent Alex to Montana to live with his father, Tommy Tate, but Tate died in early 2018. After Tate’s death, Alex moved in with Batts, who was Tate’s mother. Batts, Sasser, and J.S. claimed that Alex’s behavior became erratic after he moved in with them. However, there is no record that Batts and Sasser ever sought help for Alex, whose behavior was consistent with severe ADHD, according to a school superintendent.

Alex was withdrawn from school in September 2019 and “Batts filed paperwork with the West Yellowstone School District to homeschool” him. “Batts struggled with the task and said she would make Alex do jumping jacks and ‘wall sits’ if she caught him not doing his school work.” Batts, Sasser, and J.S. tortured Alex, beating him, spraying him with water, strangling him, and depriving him of food.

The abuse came to light when Alex died following an altercation with J.S. where Alex sustained blunt force trauma to the back of his head. Batts, Sasser, and J.S. were charged with homicide; Batts and Sasser were also charged with child endangerment, among other charges.

Date: February 3, 2020
Location: West Yellowstone, Montana

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Kaya Centeno

Kaya Centeno (b. 2002) disappeared while being homeschooled. Her sister S. (b. 2003) and brother B. (b. 2005) were physically, emotionally, and sexually abused by the children’s adoptive parents, Gina and Jose Centeno. It is unknown if the children’s twin adoptive siblings P. and Q. were also abused.

The Centenos adopted Kaya, S., and B., who were all biological siblings, in 2008. Kaya was enrolled in John Reed Elementary School in Rohnert Park, California, in 2010-2011 for second grade, but she was withdrawn from school to be homeschooled. She was last seen between 2010 and 2012. Around the time of Kaya’s disappearance, the Centenos began abusing the other children. Jose Centeno repeatedly sexually abused S., and both Centenos physically abused S. and B. At some point, the Centenos adopted twins P. and Q. In early 2019, the now separated Centenos sent S. and B. to live with their relatives in Mexico, while P. and Q. continued to live in California with Gina Centeno. This arrangement was reportedly part of a fraudulent scheme “to access adoption assistance funding.”

The abuse came to light in summer 2020 when S. and B. reported it to Mexican authorities. They were returned to the United States and the Centenos were arrested on several counts of kidnapping, torture, and sexual abuse.

Date: August 19, 2020
Location: Rohnert Park, California

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Josie Ann Abney

Josie Ann Abney, age 10, was starved to death by her parents, Randall and Susan Abney. Josie was homeschooled.

Josie was born in 2010 and adopted by the Abneys in 2013. She was the first of “12 or 13 children” that the Abneys fostered. According to her obituary, “Josie was a cute little redhead who was full of life and had an amazing personality. Josie was a ray of sunshine, beautiful inside and out, always had a smile to share and was a blessing to all.” She attended public school until she was withdrawn from school to be homeschooled. The Abneys kept the refrigerator locked and all food in the kitchen was stored too high for Josie to reach. They kept her locked in her bedroom and placed an alarm on the door. Josie’s bedroom contained only “a single mattress on the floor, one lamp and a clothes basket.” In September 2020, the Abneys reported that Josie stopped eating and complained of constipation. The Abneys did not take her to a doctor. By early October, Josie was covered in bruises and weighed 40 lbs. with an extremely low blood sugar and extreme dehydration; investigators said she looked like a “Holocaust victim.”

Josie collapsed at home on October 3. She was rushed to the hospital but doctors could not save her. The Abneys were charged with felony child abuse resulting in death.

Date: October 3, 2020
Location: Salem, Missouri

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Trinity Love Jones

Trinity Love Jones, age 9, was murdered by her mother, Taquesta Graham, and Graham’s boyfriend Emiel Hunt. Trinity was homeschooled.

Graham experienced child abuse or neglect and was performing sex work around age 18. Graham “pleaded no contest in 2009 to enticing a girl [under 16] for prostitution in San Bernardino County” and was placed on probation and the sex offender registry. Trinity was born in January 2010. In 2011, child services investigated Graham for abusing Trinity; the allegations were deemed unfounded/inconclusive. Trinity’s relatives described her as a social butterfly who loved fashion. Her father, Antonio Jones, said she was “full of character, full of life, full of joy.”

In 2016 Graham’s probation was revoked and she was sentenced to two years in prison. In December 2017, Graham began her relationship with Hunt, who had been convicted of torture and felony child abuse in San Diego County and “sentenced in 2005 to 12 years in state prison.” In May 2018, Hunt, Graham, and Trinity moved out of a relative’s home in Long Beach and lived in motels and in their vehicle for the next ten months. The couple pulled Trinity out of school to homeschool her and kept her isolated from family and friends, who called child services for help to no effect. Hunt and Graham starved Trinity and beat her, leaving her “scarred from head to toe.” She had a foot infection that made it hard for her to wear shoes, and in early 2019 Trinity experienced a head injury that caused her eyes to swell and made her lethargic.

Around the evening of February 28, 2019, or the morning of March 1, Trinity stopped breathing as a result of blunt force trauma and neglect. Hunt and Graham did not seek medical attention for her; instead they concealed her body in a duffel bag and dumped it in a wooded area. Trinity’s body was discovered by workers on March 5 and it took nearly a week to identify her. “Graham was arrested on an unrelated warrant March 8 at a Border Patrol checkpoint in Texas. Hunt was arrested a day later after he was found sleeping in his SUV near San Diego International Airport.” Graham and Hunt were charged with torture and murder.

Date: March 1, 2019
Location: Hacienda Heights, California

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Joseph and Jennifer Wolfthal

Three children–Rose* (b.c. 2010), Mason* (b.c. 2012), and Sophie* (b. 2013)–were starved, tortured, and imprisoned by their adoptive parents, Joseph and Jennifer Wolfthal. The children were homeschooled.

The Wolfthals adopted the children in 2014. Jennifer Wolfthal had spent eight years as a 4th grade public school teacher before resigning in order to homeschool her adopted children and become a children’s book author, publishing her book entitled A Real Friend in November 2020. Rose reported that she was starved, fed only bran flakes, water, and vegetable puree. Rose also reported that she was frequently beaten with an object until she bled. The children were kept locked in their bedrooms to prevent them from interacting with each other or with any other adult, and each night Jennifer Wolfthal would douse them in cold water as they lay in their beds (which consisted only of a plastic mattress cover) and then blow them dry with a box fan. The children were only infrequently allowed to use the bathroom or bathe. Rose was forced to spend all day exercising in her room and writing lines, including “My body stays flat on the bed at all times. I was never given permission to move or say anything. Now I get to write about this along with everything else. I’m a fool.” Each time she was punished, Rose was told it was because she “couldn’t stop sinning.”

Joseph Wolfthal claimed he worked 10-hour days as a software analyst at Lockheed Martin and left his wife primarily in charge of childcare. He also reported that his wife had beaten and imprisoned him when he tried to intervene in her abuse of the children. However, the children reported that both parents participated in the abuse, and that Joseph Wolfthal had refused to provide medical care when they had requested it from him.

The abuse came to light when Joseph Wolfthal took Sophie to the hospital, where she had to be transferred for treatment of “staph infection, sepsis, renal and liver failure, open infected wounds on both legs and pneumonia in both lungs.” After healthcare workers reported their concerns to the authorities, Rose and Mason were both hospitalized for treatment of “open wounds, skin infections and malnutrition.” The Wolfthals were both charged with aggravated child abuse, child neglect, and false imprisonment. Joseph Wolfthal also filed for divorce.

*These names are pseudonyms.

Date: January 1, 2021
Location: Casselberry, Florida

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Robert and Stephanie Duncan

Five children–Noah* (b. 2005), Elijah*, James* (b. 2009), William*, and Ella* (b. 2014)–were imprisoned and tortured by their adoptive parents, Robert and Stephanie Duncan. The children were homeschooled.

The Duncans moved into their home around 2009. They began fostering the children shortly thereafter. Three of the children were half-siblings and the other two were half-siblings. At some point the children were pulled from school to be homeschooled. Around 2014 the children’s adoptions were finalized through a private agency and the abuse began to escalate. The Duncans created a caste system among their children; James was singled out for the most extreme abuse, and the Duncans abused the other two older boys more severely than the two youngest children. The Duncans beat and strangled the children, locked them outside in bad weather, and forced them to exercise as punishment. The older children were kept in individual rooms in the basement with no bedding and alarms on the doors, and the Duncans used security cameras to watch the children and punish them if they did not follow their rules about how to sleep and eat.

James was forced to eat hot peppers, soap, and his own vomit, was deprived of access to a bathroom and then forced to clean up his urine, had bleach dumped over his head, and was fed only oatmeal, carrots, and peanut butter. When he was given less than a bottle of water per day, the Duncans punished him for “stealing” water. He was locked in his bare, unheated concrete basement room for approximately two years before he was rescued; he did not interact with his siblings after Christmas 2019, where the Duncans gave him a letter from Santa saying he was on the naughty list and would not receive any presents. At least three different neighbors called child services to report concerns between 2017 and 2019, but there was no investigation.

The abuse came to light when Stephanie Duncan took James to the emergency room in January 2021. He was hypothermic and covered in bruises; his blood pressure was abnormally low and he had “low potassium levels, an electrolyte disturbance and an excessive amount of sodium.” He nearly died several times while being treated. The Duncans were charged with aggravated assault and child endangerment, among other charges.

*These are pseudonyms.

Date: January 13, 2021
Location: North Annville Township, Pennsylvania

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Akemi Cox (L) and Valerio Garcia

An 8-year-old boy, W. (b. 2013), was starved, physically abused, and medically neglected by his mother, Akemi Cox, and her fiance Valerio Garcia. W. was homeschooled.

Cox had a social services history dating back to 2002; five of her children had previously been removed from her care. Garcia had a social services history dating back to 2006. The couple last took W. to the doctor in 2014 or 2015 when he was around 2 years old. Between that time and his rescue in February 2021, W. gained a total of seven pounds. Cox and Garcia beat W. with a belt and kept him on a strict meal plan. When he was rescued, he was still the size of a 2-year-old, his belly was distended, and his skin was sagging. W. attended virtual school which, according to journalists, prevented the abuse from being caught earlier.

The abuse came to light when a neighbor spotted W. “climbing in and out of his window at night, searching for food in a dumpster.” Cox and Garcia were charged with child neglect and W. gained 15 lbs. in two months while in foster care.

Date: February 2021
Location: Edmond, Oklahoma

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Jacqueline Barbour and Jason Carroll

Nora* (b. 2010) was starved and tortured by her father, Jason Carroll, and her stepmother Jacqueline Barbour. The household also included Nora’s stepbrother and her half-brother. Nora was homeschooled.

Barbour and Carroll isolated Nora from family members; Carroll’s mother R. last saw Nora in person in August 2016. Carroll and Barbour claimed that Nora had “behavioral issues” beginning in February 2017, admitting her to a psychiatric hospital at least four times and obtaining a Valium prescription for her; however, authorities believe that Nora was a victim of medical child abuse and was forced to receive unnecessary care. In 2018, Barbour and Carroll asked Nora’s school to prevent her from purchasing lunch so that they could control her behavior. It is unclear exactly when Nora was withdrawn from school to be homeschooled. Nora reported that Barbour threw her into the snow in her underwear, forced her to do jumping jacks, and threw her into a fan when she was unable to continue. Nora also reported that her brother punched her and that Barbour “preferred” Nora’s brother. Nora was given very little to drink and only received bread and peanut butter for dinner “if she was behaving.” Nora was repeatedly punished by being confined to a clear plastic bucket or tote during the day, and she was forced to sleep there at night, curled in a fetal position. Carroll told R. that Nora was being confined to a bucket, but R. did not see the bin or understand its small size; R. told police “Looking back at all of this, I wish I would have seen the signs a little more clear, but at the time I could not have imagined anything like this would ever happen.” When Nora was rescued, she had injuries to the skin on her lower legs and an enlarged liver consistent with chronic severe malnutrition; she gained 14 lbs. in eight days.

The abuse came to light in January 2020 when Carroll brought Nora to the hospital, claiming that she had mental health issues. Staff noticed her condition and reported the abuse to the authorities. After being placed in a foster home, Nora ate voraciously, did well after being re-enrolled in public school, and did not display the reported behavioral issues. Barbour and Carroll were charged with child cruelty and endangering a minor.

*Nora is a pseudonym.

Date: January 2020
Location: Pomfret, Connecticut

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Brandon Gray, age 14, was starved to death by his mother, Terra Wells, and several other family members. Brandon’s 12-year-old sister K. was also starved and physically abused. The other eight children in the home were not reported to be abused. All ten children were homeschooled.

Brandon lived with three generations of his family: his grandmother Yvette Charleston, his mother Terra Wells, his uncle and aunts (Melvin Wells, Tamera Dishmon, Tessa Dishmon, Amanda Dishmon, Tabitha Sharp, and Breanna Wells), K. and three other siblings, and 5 cousins. In 2015 when Brandon was 9, he was accused of abusing one of the other children in the home; police investigated but the outcome of the investigation is unknown. Following this incident, Brandon was forced to live locked in a closet in the unheated garage with a mattress, portable toilet, and bleach jug for a urinal. He was fed a bran/corn mixture and V8 and at the time of his death weighed only 60 lbs. At some point K. was also forced to sleep in the garage while the rest of the children slept in beds in bedrooms inside the house. When she was rescued K. was malnourished and had patterned bruising on her body.

The abuse came to light in January 2020 when one of Brandon’s family members called 911 to report he was unresponsive and refused to administer CPR. Wells and her siblings were charged with murder, child abuse, and child neglect; Charleston died before she could be indicted.

Date: January 7, 2020
Location: Bartlett, Tennessee

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Serah Bellar

Serah Bellar (b. 2003) was physically and sexually abused by her family members. Several of her siblings were also abused. Serah was homeschooled.

Serah’s parents, Robert and Deborah Bellar, had 18 biological children and 1 adopted child. The family may have espoused Quiverfull ideology; Deborah Bellar told law enforcement that “God would give her all the children she was meant to have.” The family belonged to the Dove Outreach church, a new religious movement of around 8 adults led by Robert Bellar’s brother James “Jim” Bellar. Serah and her siblings were forced to attend Dove Outreach, which Serah characterized as a cult; Jim Bellar preached in favor of sibling incest in anticipation of the apocalypse and ran a church-affiliated online gaming association.

Serah attended an online homeschool. In the Bellars’ home, Serah was physically abused by her father, and her brothers systematically sexually abused their younger siblings with the knowledge and protection of their parents. Serah’s brother Josiah (b. 1997) raped two of his sisters between 2011 and 2016, and Serah’s brother Jonathan (b. 1994) sexually assaulted one of the same two girls between 2008 and 2016. In January 2016, Serah’s oldest brother Benjamin Bellar (b. 1991) was arrested and sent to prison for cooking meth in the Bellars’ home. Later that year, in October 2016, Serah’s brother Jacob Bellar (b. 1998) was arrested and sent to prison for severely physically abusing his 10-month-old son. The following month, in November 2016, Josiah was arrested and sent to prison for theft. Beginning in February 2017, multiple sexual abuse reports were filed with child services. On May 7, 2018, Serah attempted to run away from home but was stopped by a police officer. She reported that she was afraid of one of her incarcerated brothers who would be soon released from prison, explaining that he had sexually abused her and that she was at risk of self-harm. Serah’s mother denied the abuse claim, and when a social worker called to follow up, Serah’s father claimed Serah was lying and refused to allow the caseworker to speak with other children in the home.

Following these events, Serah reported the abuse to a school counselor at her online homeschool. Child services visited the home to investigate; as soon as they left, Serah’s parents disowned her and had her forcibly admitted to an inpatient mental health facility in Cleveland. Eventually the facility staff transferred Serah to foster care and she began to attend school, where she encountered Athens County Sheriff Sgt. Jimmy Childs, a school resource officer and friend of her parents’. Childs repeatedly asked Serah where she was living, implying that he would report this information to the Bellars, and refused to help Serah after she told him her family members were harassing her. Fearing that neither the police nor child services would protect her from her family, Serah ran away from home in April 2020 with the help of Jerry and Shayna Chadwick. Serah had met Jerry Chadwick through Dove Outreach’s online gaming association in 2018; Chadwick sexually groomed Serah and exchanged nude photos with her. After the Chadwicks helped Serah run away, they took her to Georgia where they sexually abused her, claiming to be in a relationship with her. Meanwhile, Serah was declared an “endangered runaway”.

This “absolute systematic failure” on the part of everyone to help Serah finally came to light on April 26, 2021, Serah’s 18th birthday, when she made a public Facebook post about the abuse she had experienced in the Bellars’ home. Robert and Deborah Bellar were charged with corrupt activity and child endangerment. Josiah Bellar was charged with rape and both he and Jonathan Bellar were charged with gross sexual imposition. The Chadwicks were charged with interfering in custody. Childs was charged with obstruction of justice and tampering with evidence.

Date: April 3, 2020
Location: Amesville, Ohio

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Seven children—six girls A. (b. 2007), Ru. (b. 2009), L. (b. 2011), Ro., S., and D. (b. 2018), and a boy W. (b. 2016)—were physically, medically, and educationally neglected by their parents, Matthew and Rebecca “Becky” Hibicki. The children were homeschooled.

The Hibickis operated a small dairy farm; Matthew Hibicki was also a rural mail carrier while Becky Hibicki worked full-time for the Wisconsin Farm Bureau. The family was active in the Green Lake County 4-H program, which was apparently the “only real outside contact” the children had. The children lived in a home filled with feces and trash, slept in shared soiled beds, were forced to use a bucket for a toilet at night and to wear torn and dirty clothes, and were rarely allowed to bathe because Matthew Hibicki “did not like the kids to have showers every other night”. The children “did not know they needed to wash their hands after using the bathroom”. Some of the children had diabetes and “were largely responsible for monitoring each other’s calorie count and insulin dosing as it related to their diabetes”. Several of the children had other medical problems: at least one had significant dental problems, one had a nail stuck in her foot, W. sustained a head injury in a three-wheeler accident, one suffered from frequent headaches and dizziness, and one had significant eye problems requiring the assistance of an ophthalmic surgeon. The Hibickis refused to seek medical treatment for all of these medical issues. The children may also have been forced to labor on the farm to the detriment of their educations; following Matthew Hibicki’s injury the family stated that “The farm is being managed by an amazing crew of neighbors along with their oldest child,” who was 13 at the time.

Becky Hibicki filed the required forms each year to notify the district she was homeschooling. However, prior to June 2020, the children had not received much education for a year; according to Matthew Hibicki, “the kids only need to know how to milk cows and be good wives.” All were significantly behind on their education with difficulties in reading and basic math: according to court documents, 11-year-old Ru. was “unable to read, wants to attend school and ‘is enthusiastic about learning more,’…only after being removed from her parents’ custody is the girl working on a kindergarten book and has learned to write her name. She can count to 13 but didn’t know the month of the year. ‘Based on [her] age and no known developmental delays, had she attended school or been taught regularly she would likely know how to read, count and be working at a much higher grade level.”

On June 22, 2020, Matthew Hibicki was hospitalized due to a farm accident which left him permanently disabled, necessitating the sale of the family’s dairy herd. This event coincided with social services receiving a tip about the children’s living conditions, and on June 26, two sheriff’s detectives and two social services employees toured the Hibickis’ house and determined it was unsafe for the children. The Hibickis were charged with 22 counts of felony child neglect.

Date: June 26, 2020
Location: Ripon, Wisconsin

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Kaya Centeno

Kaya Centeno (b. 2002) disappeared while being homeschooled. Her sister S. (b. 2003) and brother B. (b. 2005) were physically, emotionally, and sexually abused by the children’s adoptive parents, Gina and Jose Centeno. It is unknown if the children’s twin adoptive siblings P. and Q. were also abused.

The Centenos adopted Kaya, S., and B., who were all biological siblings, in 2008. Kaya was enrolled in John Reed Elementary School in Rohnert Park, California, in 2010-2011 for second grade, but she was withdrawn from school to be homeschooled. She was last seen between 2010 and 2012. Around the time of Kaya’s disappearance, the Centenos began abusing the other children. Jose Centeno repeatedly sexually abused S., and both Centenos physically abused S. and B. At some point, the Centenos adopted twins P. and Q. In early 2019, the now separated Centenos sent S. and B. to live with their relatives in Mexico, while P. and Q. continued to live in California with Gina Centeno. This arrangement was reportedly part of a fraudulent scheme “to access adoption assistance funding.”

The abuse came to light in summer 2020 when S. and B. reported it to Mexican authorities. They were returned to the United States and the Centenos were arrested on several counts of kidnapping, torture, and sexual abuse.

Date: August 19, 2020
Location: Rohnert Park, California

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Josie Ann Abney

Josie Ann Abney, age 10, was starved to death by her parents, Randall and Susan Abney. Josie was homeschooled.

Josie was born in 2010 and adopted by the Abneys in 2013. She was the first of “12 or 13 children” that the Abneys fostered. According to her obituary, “Josie was a cute little redhead who was full of life and had an amazing personality. Josie was a ray of sunshine, beautiful inside and out, always had a smile to share and was a blessing to all.” She attended public school until she was withdrawn from school to be homeschooled. The Abneys kept the refrigerator locked and all food in the kitchen was stored too high for Josie to reach. They kept her locked in her bedroom and placed an alarm on the door. Josie’s bedroom contained only “a single mattress on the floor, one lamp and a clothes basket.” In September 2020, the Abneys reported that Josie stopped eating and complained of constipation. The Abneys did not take her to a doctor. By early October, Josie was covered in bruises and weighed 40 lbs. with an extremely low blood sugar and extreme dehydration; investigators said she looked like a “Holocaust victim.”

Josie collapsed at home on October 3. She was rushed to the hospital but doctors could not save her. The Abneys were charged with felony child abuse resulting in death.

Date: October 3, 2020
Location: Salem, Missouri

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Trinity Love Jones

Trinity Love Jones, age 9, was murdered by her mother, Taquesta Graham, and Graham’s boyfriend Emiel Hunt. Trinity was homeschooled.

Graham experienced child abuse or neglect and was performing sex work around age 18. Graham “pleaded no contest in 2009 to enticing a girl [under 16] for prostitution in San Bernardino County” and was placed on probation and the sex offender registry. Trinity was born in January 2010. In 2011, child services investigated Graham for abusing Trinity; the allegations were deemed unfounded/inconclusive. Trinity’s relatives described her as a social butterfly who loved fashion. Her father, Antonio Jones, said she was “full of character, full of life, full of joy.”

In 2016 Graham’s probation was revoked and she was sentenced to two years in prison. In December 2017, Graham began her relationship with Hunt, who had been convicted of torture and felony child abuse in San Diego County and “sentenced in 2005 to 12 years in state prison.” In May 2018, Hunt, Graham, and Trinity moved out of a relative’s home in Long Beach and lived in motels and in their vehicle for the next ten months. The couple pulled Trinity out of school to homeschool her and kept her isolated from family and friends, who called child services for help to no effect. Hunt and Graham starved Trinity and beat her, leaving her “scarred from head to toe.” She had a foot infection that made it hard for her to wear shoes, and in early 2019 Trinity experienced a head injury that caused her eyes to swell and made her lethargic.

Around the evening of February 28, 2019, or the morning of March 1, Trinity stopped breathing as a result of blunt force trauma and neglect. Hunt and Graham did not seek medical attention for her; instead they concealed her body in a duffel bag and dumped it in a wooded area. Trinity’s body was discovered by workers on March 5 and it took nearly a week to identify her. “Graham was arrested on an unrelated warrant March 8 at a Border Patrol checkpoint in Texas. Hunt was arrested a day later after he was found sleeping in his SUV near San Diego International Airport.” Graham and Hunt were charged with torture and murder.

Date: March 1, 2019
Location: Hacienda Heights, California

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Joseph and Jennifer Wolfthal

Three children–Rose* (b.c. 2010), Mason* (b.c. 2012), and Sophie* (b. 2013)–were starved, tortured, and imprisoned by their adoptive parents, Joseph and Jennifer Wolfthal. The children were homeschooled.

The Wolfthals adopted the children in 2014. Jennifer Wolfthal had spent eight years as a 4th grade public school teacher before resigning in order to homeschool her adopted children and become a children’s book author, publishing her book entitled A Real Friend in November 2020. Rose reported that she was starved, fed only bran flakes, water, and vegetable puree. Rose also reported that she was frequently beaten with an object until she bled. The children were kept locked in their bedrooms to prevent them from interacting with each other or with any other adult, and each night Jennifer Wolfthal would douse them in cold water as they lay in their beds (which consisted only of a plastic mattress cover) and then blow them dry with a box fan. The children were only infrequently allowed to use the bathroom or bathe. Rose was forced to spend all day exercising in her room and writing lines, including “My body stays flat on the bed at all times. I was never given permission to move or say anything. Now I get to write about this along with everything else. I’m a fool.” Each time she was punished, Rose was told it was because she “couldn’t stop sinning.”

Joseph Wolfthal claimed he worked 10-hour days as a software analyst at Lockheed Martin and left his wife primarily in charge of childcare. He also reported that his wife had beaten and imprisoned him when he tried to intervene in her abuse of the children. However, the children reported that both parents participated in the abuse, and that Joseph Wolfthal had refused to provide medical care when they had requested it from him.

The abuse came to light when Joseph Wolfthal took Sophie to the hospital, where she had to be transferred for treatment of “staph infection, sepsis, renal and liver failure, open infected wounds on both legs and pneumonia in both lungs.” After healthcare workers reported their concerns to the authorities, Rose and Mason were both hospitalized for treatment of “open wounds, skin infections and malnutrition.” The Wolfthals were both charged with aggravated child abuse, child neglect, and false imprisonment. Joseph Wolfthal also filed for divorce.

*These names are pseudonyms.

Date: January 1, 2021
Location: Casselberry, Florida

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Robert and Stephanie Duncan

Five children–Noah* (b. 2005), Elijah*, James* (b. 2009), William*, and Ella* (b. 2014)–were imprisoned and tortured by their adoptive parents, Robert and Stephanie Duncan. The children were homeschooled.

The Duncans moved into their home around 2009. They began fostering the children shortly thereafter. Three of the children were half-siblings and the other two were half-siblings. At some point the children were pulled from school to be homeschooled. Around 2014 the children’s adoptions were finalized through a private agency and the abuse began to escalate. The Duncans created a caste system among their children; James was singled out for the most extreme abuse, and the Duncans abused the other two older boys more severely than the two youngest children. The Duncans beat and strangled the children, locked them outside in bad weather, and forced them to exercise as punishment. The older children were kept in individual rooms in the basement with no bedding and alarms on the doors, and the Duncans used security cameras to watch the children and punish them if they did not follow their rules about how to sleep and eat.

James was forced to eat hot peppers, soap, and his own vomit, was deprived of access to a bathroom and then forced to clean up his urine, had bleach dumped over his head, and was fed only oatmeal, carrots, and peanut butter. When he was given less than a bottle of water per day, the Duncans punished him for “stealing” water. He was locked in his bare, unheated concrete basement room for approximately two years before he was rescued; he did not interact with his siblings after Christmas 2019, where the Duncans gave him a letter from Santa saying he was on the naughty list and would not receive any presents. At least three different neighbors called child services to report concerns between 2017 and 2019, but there was no investigation.

The abuse came to light when Stephanie Duncan took James to the emergency room in January 2021. He was hypothermic and covered in bruises; his blood pressure was abnormally low and he had “low potassium levels, an electrolyte disturbance and an excessive amount of sodium.” He nearly died several times while being treated. The Duncans were charged with aggravated assault and child endangerment, among other charges.

*These are pseudonyms.

Date: January 13, 2021
Location: North Annville Township, Pennsylvania

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