At least 16 children, but probably many more, were subjected to slavery, educational neglect, and threats of physical violence and starvation by members of a new religious movement known as the McCollum Ranch group, run by minister John C. McCollum. The group claimed to be homeschooling the children, though no education was actually provided.

McCollum has operated the group, previously known as the Holy Tabernacle Church of Fayetteville, since the 1980s. In 1991 he pleaded guilty to child abuse after being charged “with beating children with an automotive fan belt so severely that it left scars;” the same year, two of his followers, Irish Williams and Shirley McNatt, were also convicted of abusing then-9-year-old Shirmitka McNatt. No children were apparently removed. After the group moved to Godwin in the mid-1990s, officials visited their compound to investigate child abuse claims at least four times. In 2008, a mentally disabled 21-year-old man escaped from the compound and claimed to have been kidnapped; no charges were filed.

The children in McCollum’s group were kept in involuntary servitude and forced to perform heavy labor for little to no pay for more than 40 hours per week in McCollum’s fish markets in Fayetteville. The children “often injured themselves while cutting fish for sale in the market.” If the children refused to work, McCallum “would threaten them with physical violence or take away their food.” Tobias Gardner, who lived at McCollum Ranch as a teenager from 1993 to 1997, reported that he was attending school when he first lived there but eventually stopped, instead working in the fish market. Gardner “witnessed McCollum beating children for slight infractions, which could be anything from getting up to go to the bathroom during a worship service to talking back to adults.”

Furthermore, McCallum Ranch member Brenda Joyce Hall operated a fraudulent homeschool, Halls of Knowledge Home School, which provided no education to the compound’s children: many of them “had difficulty reading and writing.” The school did, however, “create fraudulent high school transcripts so young members can get into online degree programs and apply for financial aid, which is then diverted to the group’s operations.”

The abuse finally came to light in February 2017, when a couple living at McCallum Ranch went to police with a complaint about child slavery. On March 2, 2017, a victim of the homeschool financial aid scam came forward to report it. On August 10, 2017, a 15-year-old boy who worked at the Ranch was reported missing by his mother, a member of the group. After police located the boy, he reported “how he and his 13-year-old brother were forced to work in the fish markets for more than 40 hours a week.” Social services went to the compound in October and found that many of the children had been removed to other locations to avoid investigators. On December 12, McCollum and nine of his associates–Hall, Williams, Shirley McNatt, Shirnitka McNatt, Cornelia McDonald, Pamela Puga Luna, Daffene Edge, Kassia Rogers, and Earlene Hayat–were charged with a variety of crimes including human trafficking. Investigators noted that several of those charged, including Shirnitka McNatt, had previously been victims and were now perpetrators.

Date: December 12, 2017
Location: Godwin, North Carolina

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A 6-year-old boy was starved, imprisoned, and tortured by his father, Melvin W. Bledsoe, and his stepmother Joy Tamika Anderson. The boy’s three stepsiblings were not reported to be abused. The boy was homeschooled.

Bledsoe and Anderson were half-siblings. In 2012, Bledsoe and the boy were living with Anderson, her husband, and her three children. Bledsoe slapped the boy, then nine months old, and the boy was briefly removed by child services. Bledsoe pleaded guilty to felony injury of a child after Anderson testified against him. A neighbor witnessed the boy being abused in 2015 and alerted child services, but they did not find enough evidence to remove the boy. By 2017, Bledsoe and Anderson were living together as a couple and abusing the boy together. They tied him face-down to a bed with ropes. Bledsoe threw him against a wall and beat him with a belt; Anderson beat him with a coat hanger and stomped on his belly, causing his pancreas to rupture in half. When he was rescued, the boy “had scars and scabs all over his body…several fresh wounds, dried blood on his body, ulcers on his legs and a cauliflower ear.” He had recently eaten a pillow due to hunger.

The abuse came to light in October 2017 after Bledsoe and Anderson brought the boy to the hospital because his “lips were turning blue and his stomach was bloating” due to the ruptured pancreas. Bledsoe and Anderson were charged with felony injury to a child.

Date: October 8, 2017
Location: Post Falls, Idaho

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Nineteen children were starved, tortured, and imprisoned by their father, Mansa Musa Muhummed. Muhummed’s three wives—Marva Barfield, Laura Cowan, and Adrienne Easter—were also sexually assaulted, beaten, and imprisoned; Barfield participated in the children’s abuse at Muhummed’s instruction, and Cowan has also been accused of participating in the abuse. The children included Delmarcus (b. 1974), Marlon (b. 1980), Sharon (b. 1981; pictured), Michael (b. 1982), Curtis (b. 1983), C. (b. 1989), Felicia, and Tiffany Boddie (Muhummed’s children with Barfield; 14 in total); Ahmed (b. 1992) and Maryam (b. 1994) (Cowan’s children from a previous marriage), a daughter born to Cowan and Muhummed; and Abdullah and Jada (Easter’s children). The children were homeschooled.

Muhummed and Barfield married in 1973 in Virginia; they had 12 children when they moved to California in 1985. Two more were born shortly thereafter. In 1988, when Sharon was in second grade, she was removed from school to be homeschooled “because she kept running away and teachers no longer wanted her there because she stole other children’s lunches.” Some of the younger children were never sent to school at all. When she was rescued at age 18, Sharon couldn’t read. In 1995, Muhummed married Cowan and added her children to the family. In 1998, he married Easter and added her children to the family. The family moved several times within California.

Muhummed starved the children for days at a time and forced them to eat their own vomit and feces when they “stole” food. He kept locks on the refrigerator and cabinets. He beat them, forced them to beat each other, smashed their toes with a hammer, and hung them upside down. He forced them to stand naked in cold water for hours and denied them use of a bathroom for weeks. He imprisoned Cowan, Easter, and their children in the garage. When the children were injured, Muhummed denied them medical attention. Marlon Boddie “said he once smashed a bottle against his head in order to get sent to a hospital and out of the house.” “When police found Sharon Boddie in 1999, she was 18 years old, weighed 48 pounds and stood barely 4 feet tall. Her older brother Marlon weighed 53 pounds. Another brother, Curtis, 16, weighed 42 pounds.”

In early 1999, a social worker spoke to the children, but they were frightened of Muhummed and did not disclose the abuse. The abuse finally came to light when Cowan slipped a note about the abuse to a postal worker, who alerted the authorities. Barfield pleaded guilty to child endangerment in a deal to testify against Muhummed. She served 17 months in prison. “At least two of [Muhummed’s] older daughters and one wife became involved in polygamous marriages again.” Muhummed was sentenced to life in prison.

Date: April 6, 1999
Location: Aguanga, California

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Six children–Markis, 19; Hannah, 16; Devonte, 15; Jeremiah, 14; Abigail, 14; and Sierra, 12–were starved and abused by their adoptive parents, Jennifer and Sarah Hart. The children were homeschooled.

Siblings Markis, Hannah, and Abigail were adopted from Colorado County, Texas in September 2006. Siblings Devonte, Jeremiah, and Sierra were adopted from Harris County, Texas in February 2009. In November 2010, the Harts lived in Alexandria, Minnesota, where Abigail (then age 6) attended Woodland Elementary School. Abigail reported to a teacher that her mother Jennifer had hit her, deprived her of food, and shoved her face underwater. Abigail showed the teacher her bruises, and the teacher called the authorities. When the Harts were interviewed, Sarah Hart confessed to beating Abigail, saying she “let her anger get out of control.” Sarah Hart pleaded guilty to misdemeanor domestic assault and was sentenced to 90 days in jail, although the sentence was suspended. According to the investigating officer, the Harts “didn’t like the school or that the police intervened, and they certainly didn’t like the outcome.” Shortly after this incident, the Harts moved their family to West Linn, Oregon, and began homeschooling the children. Police were called to their home in July 2013 for a human services referral.

The Harts were active in liberal activist causes in their local community. In 2014, Devonte became famous for a viral photo taken of him hugging a police officer, and the Harts joined presidential candidate Bernie Sanders onstage during a 2016 rally in Vancouver. Around February 2017, uncomfortable with the media attention they had received, the family moved again to Woodland, Washington. One neighbor reported the children rarely left home and were not allowed to eat sugar. Another neighbor, Dana Dekalb, reported the children looked thin and small. According to Dekalb, one of the Hart girls had asked for help because she was afraid to go home. In another incident in mid-2017, Hannah showed up at Dekalb’s door in the middle of the night, asking Dekalb to take her away to Seattle and saying “Don’t make me go back” to her home. In March 2018, Devonte began to make regular visits to the Dekalbs’ home, asking every day for food because his parents were withholding food as punishment. He asked Dekalb not to tell his mom. Concerned, Dekalb called child services on March 23. Social workers visited the same day, but the Harts did not answer the door. Hours later, the family piled into their car and left home. On March 26, Jennifer Hart drove their car off a cliff in California, killing herself, Sarah, Markis, Jeremiah, and Abigail. The other children are believed to have been killed as well. The crash appears to have been intentional, although officials are still investigating.

Date: March 26, 2018
Location: Woodland, Washington

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Amina Krouser, age 14 (pictured left), died of Lenierre’s Syndrome as a result of medical neglect by her mother, Aziyza Ababneh (pictured right). Amina and her siblings, ages 16 and 12, were homeschooled.

Ababneh, a US Army veteran, divorced the children’s father around 2007. She remarried but had divorced again by 2015. In 2017, Ababneh and the children lived in a filthy, feces-filled home without heat or running water. The children ate mostly baby food and used a bucket for a toilet. They rarely interacted with anyone outside the family, and Ababneh stated that “she doesn’t have health insurance and doesn’t take her daughter to the hospital so she was unaware as to whether she had any cognitive delays.” On November 26, Amina became sick with cold-like symptoms. As Amina’s symptoms worsened over the next four days, Ababneh—convinced Amina was being “lazy”—beat her with a belt, a paddle, and a “face blade” made of PVC pipe. Amina was taken to the hospital on December 3 where doctors diagnosed that the infection had spread to her brain. They told Ababneh that Amina needed emergency surgery in order to survive, but Ababneh refused, stating that she had “already lost her.” The surgery was performed anyway, but Amina did not recover and died December 10.

Ababneh was charged with child abuse and neglect causing death.

Date: December 10, 2017
Location: Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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Sophia Brito, age 6 (pictured right), was beaten by her parents, Shana Pedroso (pictured left) and Marvin Brito, resulting in her death. Sophia and her 9-year-old brother J.B. were homeschooled.

On April 9, Pedroso beat the children, writing in a note that they were “bad and beaten.” According to J.B, the next morning, Sophia “wouldn’t drink” but his parents told him not to call 911. Pedroso used superglue to close a wound on J.B.’s face. When authorities were called later that day, Sophia was unresponsive and had “extensive bruising of various ages over her entire body.” J.B. had “serious injuries and bruising to his face.” The children were taken to the hospital, where Sophia died.

Pedroso was charged with assault of a child, Brito was charged with permitting injury to a child, and both were charged with reckless endangerment.

Date: April 10, 2018
Location: Fitchburg, Massachusetts

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Matthew Tirado, age 17, was starved to death by his mother, Katiria Tirado. Matthew’s 9-year-old sister was also physically abused. Both children were homeschooled.

Matthew was born in 1999 when Tirado was just 16; Matthew’s father, Pedro Gomez, was 34 years older than Tirado and did not live with the family. Matthew was autistic and intellectually disabled, and received special education services in Hartford Public Schools. Tirado began abusing him at least as early as 2005, when the first CPS investigation occurred on his behalf. Between 2010 and 2014, Matthew was withdrawn from school for months and years at a time, seeing a doctor only once in 2011. In August 2013, Matthew’s sister was enrolled in public school; in October 2014 she reported her mother had physically abused her and Matthew, and Tirado was placed on the state child abuse registry. At this time Hartford Public Schools reported Matthew’s long absence to CPS and he was enrolled in Oak Hill School, “a private, state-approved special education program that delivers services to children,” in December 2014. Though he remained enrolled until his death in 2017, he attended less than 100 days of school during this time. According to Tirado’s friends and neighbors, she claimed to be homeschooling Matthew. He last attended school in January 2016. Matthew’s sister was withdrawn from school to be homeschooled in November 2016 after Tirado was charged with educational neglect for failing to send her to school as well. Tirado’s mother, one of Matthew’s primary caregivers, died in mid-2016. Matthew’s father last saw him in August 2016.

Tirado kept the cabinets and refrigerator locked, and beat Matthew when he tried to sneak food. When he died, Matthew weighed 88 pounds and had “broken ribs, a laceration to his head, several contusions and bedsore-type injuries to his buttocks, and severe malnutrition.” A few days before his death, Tirado held a party at her house, where relatives remarked on Matthew’s thinness; Tirado claimed he had a “fast metabolism.” Texts between Tirado and a relative show she knew he needed medical attention, but chose not to seek it because of fears of CPS. The abuse came to light in February 2017 when Matthew’s condition worsened and Tirado took him to the hospital. He died a few hours later. Tirado pleaded guilty to manslaughter and faces up to 11 years in prison.

Date: February 14, 2017
Location: Hartford, Connecticut

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Three children, ages 14, 13, and 11, were neglected by their parents, Mona Kirk and Daniel Panico. The children were homeschooled.

The family lost their home around 2014 and moved to an RV on a friend’s property. They later moved the RV to Joshua Tree, where Panico lived inside the RV with around 40 cats and Kirk and the children lived in a large wooden box, which the children called a “fort”. The family did not have electricity, running water, or heat as protection from the freezing temperatures. While the children participated in activities such as scouts and sports and were active in their local homeschooling community, their homeschool was not registered and investigators found “no evidence they were being educated.” There was not adequate food at the home, which was unsafe and filled with garbage, and several holes on the property were filled with feces. When officials removed the children from the home, they hadn’t bathed in days.

Kirk and Panico were charged with child endangerment and truancy, and allowed supervised visitation of the children.

Date: February 28, 2018
Location: Joshua Tree, California

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Ten children, ages 12 years to 4 months, were tortured and neglected by their parents, Jonathan Allen and Ina Rogers. The children were homeschooled.

Rogers had a 14-year-old child who did not live with the family. Her 12-year-old and 11-year-old were from a previous relationship, while Allen was the biological father of the 8 younger children. The 10 children slept on the floor in one room of the house; investigators “found spoiled food on the floor and animal and human feces at the house.” Allen punctured the children’s skin, burned them, bruised them, and shot them with a pellet gun. Child services visited the home at least once. Rogers denied the abuse and claimed she was being persecuted for homeschooling.

The abuse came to light when the 12-year-old escaped and Rogers called the police to report him missing. The police investigated and found the other children, who reported the torture. Allen was charged with torture and child abuse. Rogers was charged with neglect.

Date: March 31, 2018
Location: Fairfield, California

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Six children—five boys, ages 16, 15, 14, 14, and 12; and a 13-year-old girl—were tortured and starved by their adoptive parents, Timothy and Barbara Krause. The children were homeschooled, although according to investigators they were at least two years behind in their studies.

The abuse began in 2011. The children were all forced to sleep in one bedroom, some of them without beds. They were beaten with a variety of objects, leaving bruises and scars and in one case an abscess the child had to lance himself. They were threatened with guns and axes; “the 12-year-old said that his mother threatened to shoot him if he touched the phone after he called police to report abuse.” The Krauses used racial slurs against the children and trained their dogs to attack the children during the beatings. Several of the children had scars from untreated dog bites. The children were also forced to do extreme exercise as punishment and to hold stress positions for long periods of time, and they “were only fed eggs and water for weeks at a time.”

The Krauses were charged with child abuse, assault, child endangerment, and terroristic threats.

Date: 2018
Location: Houtzdale, Pennsylvania

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A 15-year-old boy was starved and tortured by his father, Jimmy Jones Sr. (left), his stepmother, Amy Jones (second left), and his two adult stepbrothers, Tyler Adkins (second right) and Jonathan Plank (right). The boy was homeschooled. A 4-year-old girl who lived in the home was not reported to be abused.

The boy and his little sister were raised by their grandfather until approximately 2013, when they were removed by DHS and the boy was placed with his father. Around 2016, the boy was removed from school to be homeschooled, after which time he was not allowed to leave the property. He was forced to live in a barn with farm animals and only allowed into the house to use the bathroom. In 2017, the boy’s father shot him in the leg with a shotgun, leaving the bullets in his leg. The boy also had broken bones and an infected head wound which his father treated with superglue. The boy was starved while others in the home were well-fed; when he was rescued, he weighed only 80 lbs. and his rescuers estimated he was a week from death. Amy Jones claimed the family had not sought medical care for the boy because they lacked insurance, but evidence of insurance was found in the home.

The abuse came to light when a passerby observed the boy’s condition and called child services. Jimmy Jones was charged with child abuse and all four of the perpetrators were charged with neglect.

Date: July 18, 2018
Location: Meeker, Oklahoma

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At least 9 children were abused by their parents, Randy and Katherine Swopes (pictured). Several of the children were homeschooled.

The Swopeses had at least 9 children, including a boy b. 1994, a child b. 2003, a child b. 2005, a girl b. 2008, and a child b. 2011. “In January 2008, Randy Swopes was charged, and later convicted, of abusing” his 14-year-old son. The boy had Crohn’s disease and had developed a rectal fistula. Rather than seeking medical treatment for his son, Randy Swopes sewed the fistula shut himself, causing an infection that required the boy’s hospitalization for almost a month. Randy Swopes took an Alford plea to aggravated battery for the incident and was placed on the child abuse registry. Eight minor children were removed from the Swopeses’ custody at that time; the children were returned more than a year later after April 2009. In 2017, the Swopeses began keeping their 9-year-old daughter locked in the basement due to a belief that she was possessed by a demon. The girl was forced to use a training toilet for a bathroom and shower out of a bucket. She was not allowed contact with her siblings. The girl and her siblings born in 2005 and 2011 were homeschooled while the child born in 2003 attended school.

The abuse came to light after the police received an anonymous tip that the girl was being held in the basement. The four minor children were removed from the home and the Swopeses were charged with child endangerment and unlawful restraint.

Date: July 17, 2018
Location: Waukegan, Illinois

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An 8-year-old girl and a 9-year-old boy were imprisoned, starved, and abused by their adoptive parents, Kenny and Kelly Fry (pictured). They were homeschooled. They were treated differently from the Frys’ five biological children, who were not reported to be abused.

The Frys were respected members of their community; “Kenny is the younger brother of Iowa State Rep. Joel Fry…and Kelly was a ‘standout pitcher’ for Simpson College in the 1990s.” The abused children were adopted from Ghana a few years prior to the discovery of the abuse. The Frys imprisoned the children in bare, plastic-covered rooms with alarms on the doors and only a bucket for a toilet. The children were fed only oatmeal, and when they were rescued they had several signs of malnutrition, including distended abdomens and poorly-healing wounds. “One of the children gained 8 pounds in three weeks after being removed” from the home. The children were also punished with forced exercise. The Frys claimed they imprisoned the children to punish them for bad behavior and to prevent them from “stealing” food; however, since being removed from the home they have not demonstrated these behaviors. The Frys’ other children had normal bedrooms and no food restrictions.

The abuse came to light when the children escaped and ran crying to a neighbor’s house; the neighbor reported the incident to authorities. The Frys were charged with neglect and child endangerment. Many neighbors reported they had not known the Frys had any adopted children.

Date: January 30, 2018
Location: Osceola, Iowa

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Five children–a girl b. 2007, a boy b. 2008, two children b. 2009 and 2011, and a boy b. 2012–were starved, imprisoned, tortured, and medically neglected by their parents, Yenier and Sarah Conde (pictured). Yenier also abused Sarah. The children were homeschooled.

Sarah Conde ran an American Kennel Club breeding program in the home. The oldest boy was diagnosed with neuroblastoma as a baby. The family first came to the attention of child services in April 2009 when someone reported the home was filthy and detrimental to the boy’s health. The boy completed cancer treatment in 2011 and child services investigated the family again in 2012 because the boy had missed multiple follow-up appointments. CPS investigated again four months later when the boy was sent to school without a clean diaper. The boy’s cancer treatment caused him to need diapers, a leg brace, and specialized shoes, but “Sarah Conde requested the school remove him from special education programs and physical therapy treatments.” A reporter with the Lansing State Journal confirmed by email that the children attended school at one point, but were removed to be homeschooled by Sarah Conde. CPS investigated the family at least 12 times between 2009 and 2017.

According to officials, the abuse began in earnest in 2011. The children were imprisoned in a “dungeon” for days at a time and forced to relieve themselves in the closet or in diapers. They were deprived of food and water and beaten with a belt if they tried to escape. “One boy reported that he had been beaten with a piece of wood with nails in it. One of the girls had a scar on her butt from a spanking.” Sarah Conde threatened to shoot the children with a gun after they flooded a bathroom with water. When they were rescued, three of the children had gone so long without dental care that their teeth were rotting and needed to be extracted. Several of the children were also diagnosed with mental illnesses due to trauma.

The abuse came to light after Yenier Conde filed for divorce in April 2017. Sarah Conde responded with an order of protection against her husband and each accused the other of child abuse. The children were interviewed in May 2017 and removed from the home in June 2017. Both of the Condes were charged with 10 counts of child abuse, unlawful imprisonment, and other charges.

Date: May 2017
Location: Lansing, Michigan

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An 11-year-old boy was beaten, tortured, and sexually assaulted by his mother, Jennifer Renee Franklin, and her boyfriend, Randell Howell (pictured). The boy was homeschooled.

The boy previously lived with Franklin and his biological father; Howell began living with them after the death of the boy’s father. Howell regularly beat the boy, leaving him covered with bruises, while Franklin laughed. Franklin claimed her health problems prevented her from disciplining the boy herself. The boy was given only one meal a day and Franklin took away most of his clothes. The boy was forced to clean the toilet with his personal toothbrush, and Franklin sexually assaulted the boy, ordering him not to tell anyone. She pulled him out of school to homeschool him, claiming it was due to his problems in the classroom, but the boy told investigators he was homeschooled to prevent teachers from noticing his bruises and keep him from reporting the abuse to them.

The abuse came to light when the boy escaped and ran to the home of a neighbor, who called the authorities. Franklin was charged with sexual battery and child cruelty. Howell was charged with child cruelty.

Date: August 4, 2018
Location: Key Largo, Florida

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Three children—a 12-year-old girl, and two boys ages 11 and 10—were imprisoned by their adoptive parents, Travis and Amy Headrick. The household also consisted of a fourth adopted child; the Headricks’ biological daughter; and a disabled adult. The adopted children, several of whom had disabilities, were neglected, starved, and tortured. They were homeschooled while the Headricks’ biological daughter attended school.

The abuse began at least as far back as 2009; the Headricks were reported for child abuse at least 20 times between 2009 and 2015 while they were fostering children. They were never charged with anything because the children were coached not to disclose the abuse. At some point, probably around 2015, the children were adopted. According to the Headricks’ biological daughter, who was charged with caring for the adoptive children and called their conditions “inhumane”, the Headricks were motivated by reimbursement checks. The 10-year-old boy was confined in a metal horse trough covered with metal fencing and secured with zip ties. The 11-year-old boy was locked in a cage, and the 12-year-old girl was kept locked in a room. Many of the rooms in the house were equipped with alarms. The Headricks claimed the imprisonment was for the children’s own good due to their cognitive disabilities and incontinence. The Headricks kicked the children and waterboarded them as punishment. Each of the adopted children received three bologna sandwiches per day. There were no toys in the home.

The abuse came to light when the children’s babysitter showed photographic evidence of the imprisonment to police. The babysitter, who had worked for the Headricks since March 2018, did not come forward sooner because the Headricks owned the rental unit where she lived and she did not want to risk eviction. The Headricks were each charged with nine felony counts of child neglect, false imprisonment, and reckless endangerment.

Date: August 24, 2018
Location: Melvina, Wisconsin

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Three children—a 19-year-old girl, A.; a 9-year-old girl, B.; and a 7-year-old boy, C.*—were physically and sexually abused by their parents, Arthur and Jenny Peterman. The two youngest children were homeschooled.

Arthur Peterman began sexually abusing A. daily when she was four years old. He also regularly sexually abused B., who told police “it happened because he thought she was his wife.” The sexual abuse of B. occurred in front of C. and in front of Jenny Peterman, who did nothing to stop it. Peterman also watched pornography in front of his children. Both parents physically abused all three children, and when C. was rescued he had cuts and burns on his body. Arthur Peterman bragged about burning C. with his methamphetamine pipe. B. tested positive for methamphetamines when she was rescued. The children reported being starved as punishment. Though the children attended school at some point, “police said both children were regularly kept home from school, and a witness said the children had not completed a full year of school yet”; Jenny Peterman claimed to be homeschooling the children, but “couldn’t show police any books because they were “put up.”” A family member reported regularly delivering food because the Petermans did not have food or hot water in their home. The children were instructed not to tell anyone about the abuse.

The abuse came to light in April 2018 when someone requested a wellness check on the children and authorities discovered them in filthy condition. The children were removed from the home and later revealed the extent of the abuse in interviews. Arthur Peterman was charged with statutory rape, child molestation, child abuse, and child endangerment, among other charges. Jenny Peterman was charged with child abuse and child endangerment.

*Pseudonymous initials used for clarity.

Date: April 2018
Location: Kansas City, Missouri

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A 15-year-old girl, O., was imprisoned by her adoptive parents, Thomas and Denise Atkocaitis (pictured). O. was homeschooled.

The police had contact with the Atkocaitises twice before: in 2010, when Denise Atkocaitis was accused of abusing one child, and in 2017 when she was arrested for assaulting a different child. Around early July 2018, the Atkocaitises imprisoned O. in an 8-foot by 8-foot room in their basement with no light. The room was alarmed and the window was covered with wire mesh. O. was only allowed to leave the room for an hour each day to get food and use the bathroom.

The abuse came to light when O. escaped and the Atkocaitises reported her missing. When authorities found her, she reported the abuse. The Atkocaitises were charged with criminal restraint, kidnapping, and child endangerment.

Date: September 5, 2018
Location: New Boston, New Hampshire

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Charlie*, age 12, was neglected by his mother. Charlie was homeschooled.

Charlie was born in 2003 to a white mother and a First Nations father. Charlie began showing signs of autism around age three, shortly before his parents separated, although he was not diagnosed until age six. Charlie and his older brother stayed with their mother after the separation. Child services came to the home several times and Charlie was hospitalized twice, where he showed signs of neglect. In school, Charlie “thrived, working with a one-on-one aide and following an Individual Education Plan (IEP).” However, after enrolling, he “missed more than 100 days of school over two school years before he was withdrawn for homeschooling in 2011.” When he was rescued in 2016, he weighed 65 pounds, had tooth decay, and was “naked and filthy, unable to walk and living in a bedroom covered in garbage and feces.”

The abuse came to light when police responded to Charlie’s home after reports of screaming. Charlie and his brother were removed from their mother’s custody. Charlie subsequently flourished in foster care; in 2018 reports stated he was “back in school, well nourished and healthy. He is described by those who know him best as affectionate, clever and observant.”

*Charlie is a pseudonym

Date: January 2016
Location: Lower Mainland, British Columbia, Canada

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A 15-year-old girl was imprisoned, tortured, and starved by her father, Kevin M. Boon (pictured left), and her stepmother Felicia Boon (pictured right). The Boons also enlisted the girl’s step-siblings, ages 15, 14, and 12, in the torture. Four additional younger children were not reported to be abused. The girl was homeschooled.

The girl was pulled from school in November 2017 to be homeschooled, but “she said the lessons mostly consisted of Felicia Boon making her copy passages from the Bible.” The abuse escalated dramatically. The girl was deprived of food and water for days. She was only allowed one set of clothes, and Felicia Boon made her shower in them while spraying her with bleach. The girl was prevented from showering for weeks at a time. “After Felicia Boon was tired of dealing with” the girl, she placed the girl’s 15-year-old step-sibling in charge of torturing her. In August 2018, the girl was confined to her room, where she had no mattress, blankets, or pillows, and Kevin Boon installed an alarm on the door and held it closed with zip-ties, forcing her to use an ice cream container as a toilet. The girl’s step-siblings also tied her to her bed with zip-ties and beat her with a metal pole and belt. In November 2018, with the consent of Kevin Boon, the girl’s step-siblings began scalding her by throwing hot water on her, telling her “this is how hell feels.” When she was rescued, the girl had “bruising to her right eye and upper lip, and lacerations on her face and head.”

The abuse came to light when the girl obtained a cell phone and called her aunt, who called the police. The Boons were charged with abuse, neglect, and false imprisonment. The girl’s step-siblings were charged in juvenile court.

Date: December 5, 2018
Location: Cudahy, Wisconsin

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