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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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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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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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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A boy and girl, ages 8 and 10, were starved and tortured by their adoptive parents, Samuel Earl Hollie II and Brandi Rae Hollie (both pictured). The children were homeschooled and “isolated from others”. Their younger sibling, the Hollies’ biological child, was not reported to be abused.

The children were in foster care before they were adopted by the Hollies in 2015. The adoption agency’s policies require training, home study, a background check with references, monthly visits for 90 days, and a one-year checkup phone call. It is unclear when the children’s homeschooling began. The boy reported that the Hollies beat him, waterboarded him, and tased him. The girl reported she was forced to sleep in a closet, beaten unconscious with a baseball bat and a belt, tased, and burned. Both children were restricted to a diet of bread, water, and occasional table scraps from the Hollies’ full meals. When they escaped, the children were malnourished, scarred, and disfigured.

The abuse came to light when the Hollies dropped the children off at their uncle’s house while they went to work. The children escaped and ran to a nearby apartment complex, where a concerned resident called the authorities. The Hollies were charged with aggravated child abuse and child neglect.

Date: June 14, 2019
Location: Gainesville, Florida

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Two girls, L. (b. 1998) and M. (b. 2002), were starved and neglected by their adoptive mother, Mary Heller (pictured). The girls were homeschooled.

The girls were adopted as young children, L. from China and M. from Mongolia. Both attended public school until approximately 2006, when Heller pulled them from school to homeschool them, allegedly because they were “shy”. However, according to the girls, Heller only taught them numbers and the alphabet before she stopped educating them. After the girls were rescued in 2017, they were enrolled in middle school, where M. “was found by educators to be capable of doing only the simplest of math calculations and was trailing behind even special-needs students. But by the end of the term, she was doing well, and her teachers regarded her as ‘a very nice girl and a hard worker.'”

Heller did not provide the girls with food and their home had a foul odor. Neighbors were concerned about the family and made multiple calls to child services; Heller coached the girls on how to respond to a child services visit in 2016 and told the girls to hide when anyone visited the home. The girls were not allowed to have friends and were only allowed to leave the home when they walked to the end of the driveway to get the mail.

The neglect came to light in January 2017 when the girls’ cousin asked two women to check on them. The women took the girls shopping, where the girls did not know how to order food and one said, “I always dreamed of this, going to the store.” The next day, Heller called 911 to report that she was injured. While she was hospitalized, authorities interviewed the girls. Heller was charged with neglect.

Date: January 2017
Location: Decatur, Indiana

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Mark McGregor (L) and Melissa McGregor (R)

Twin 14-year-old girls, R. and K., were starved, physically abused, and imprisoned by their adoptive parents, Mark and Melissa McGregor. The girls were homeschooled. The McGregors’ eight other biological children who also lived in the home were not reported to be abused.

The girls were adopted from Bulgaria around 2012. The McGregors previously lived in Washington state, where a child abuse investigation was opened. The family moved several times, eventually settling in Missouri and opting to homeschool, allegedly so they could better “supervise” their children. The McGregors were frequent visitors at the library.

The girls were kept locked in a dark room or a sunroom for hours at a time. Their bedroom contained only a spring bed and a tub of ripped clothing for each girl; they were only allowed pillows for good behavior. Most of their meals consisted of raw vegetables; the family’s food was kept locked up, and the girls’ siblings were allowed second helpings while they were not. The girls were hit with spoons or spatulas in front of their siblings. They were required to ask permission in order to “get dressed, read their Bible, wear shoes or take a shower”, and when they were found, R. had not bathed in several weeks. As punishment for their behavior, the girls were forced to “run a gravel road barefoot or stand outside in the cold.”

The abuse came to light when a neighbor noticed R. walking down a nearby road with bloody feet. R. disclosed the abuse and the neighbor called the authorities. R., who had not been to the doctor or dentist for a long time, was found to weigh 92 lbs. and to have pinworm parasites; K. was found to weigh 76 lbs. and to have a distended stomach due to malnutrition. The McGregors were each charged with two counts of felony child abuse and their other children were removed from the home.

Date: July 8, 2019
Location: Summersville, Missouri

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Melissa Keister

W., a girl born in 2009, was starved, imprisoned, and abused by her foster mother, Melissa Lin Keister. No charges were filed involving Keister’s husband, Allen Keister, or the six other children who lived in the home. W. was homeschooled.

Keister was active in her church and Milton Little League. Keister’s abuse of W. began in 2015. W. was starved for up to a week at a time: she would eat crumbs off the floor and frozen food because she was starving, and the other children would sneak her food. Keister claimed W. had a mental health disorder that prevented anyone else from feeding her; however, W. gained more than 20 lbs. in two months after she was removed from Keister’s home. On at least 50 occasions, when Keister caught W. eating food she was not supposed to, Keister forced W. to drink vinegar until she vomited. W. was also forced to sleep naked inside a square of tape on the floor in her bedroom; her bedroom had an alarm system, was equipped with a baby monitor, and had a boarded-up window. She was forced to take cold showers at night if she slept on her knees; if she “fell asleep while being home-schooled…she had to run laps around the house or do wall squats,” sometimes for up to two hours. W. was also beaten with a back scratcher and paddle, and on one occasion Keister struck W.’s head against the corner of a desk 20 times. Keister also drugged W. to make her sleep.

W. jumped out a window and ran away from home twice in early 2018; the whole neighborhood searched for her and returned her to her home. Neighbors called the authorities several times to report W.’s abuse, but it was finally investigated after “a home health aide called the Childline in April.” Two other social work professionals who had spent time in the home corroborated the abuse. Keister was charged with child endangerment, neglect, and reckless endangerment.

Date: April 7, 2018
Location: New Columbia, Pennsylvania

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Margaret Breeze

An 11-year-old girl, K., was starved, imprisoned, and abused by her legal guardians, Margaret and Charles Breeze. K. was homeschooled. Other children in the home were not reported to be abused.

K. went to live with the Breezes in 2013. Margaret Breeze was the third cousin of K.’s biological mother, who claimed that K. had a mental health condition and thought Breeze could help. In order to gain custody as a foster parent in Bracken County, Kentucky, Breeze falsely claimed to be certified as a foster parent in Ohio. “She claimed she had raised three children of her own and a 1-year-old granddaughter.” Breeze also briefly cared for K.’s biological sister.

While the Breezes lived in a house, they kept K. locked in a trailer in the backyard, which they monitored with a video feed. K. was forced to sleep on a urine-stained mattress and wear a diaper. Her entire food intake consisted of rice each day at midnight; when she was rescued, she weighed only 47 lbs. and was diagnosed with Kwashiorkor, a rare protein deficiency normally only found in famine victims. In 2015, the girl’s biological mother found out that the Breezes were beating and waterboarding K. and allegedly unsuccessfully attempted to regain custody. At K.’s last doctor visit in 2016, she was underweight. In 2017, Joie Jodrey, Charles Breeze’s sister, reported that the Breezes were abusing K.; it is unclear what the results of that report were.

The abuse finally came to light in 2019 when K. told a teacher administering an online test that she was hungry and reported her limited food intake. The teacher reported concerns to the authorities. The Breezes were charged with child endangerment, kidnapping, and assault. K. was hospitalized for several days on the verge of liver failure; she recovered and is “thriving” in her new home, where she gained 15 lbs. in two months.

Date: September 13, 2019
Location: Georgetown, 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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Joshua Vallow (L) and Tylee Ryan (R)

Two children—Tylee Ryan, age 17; and Joshua “J.J.” Vallow, age 7—died under suspicious circumstances while under the care of their mother, Lori Vallow. The children were homeschooled.

Tylee was born around 2002. Lori later married Charles Vallow, and the Vallows adopted J.J., who was autistic. The family lived in Chandler, Arizona, where the children attended school.

Around 2017, Lori Vallow began to become involved with a new religious movement called Preparing A People. In February 2019, Charles Vallow filed for divorce, claiming that Lori was not mentally stable and had threatened to kill him. The divorce was never finalized because in July 2019 Charles was killed, allegedly in self-defense, by Lori’s brother Alex Cox. The children reportedly witnessed their father’s death. Shortly after August 31, 2019, Lori Vallow moved her children to Idaho to be closer to the home of her romantic partner, Chad Daybell, who was a speaker at Preparing A People events. Tylee did not want to leave Arizona and had gotten her GED, but she opted to move with her family.

J.J. began attending school at Kennedy Elementary School in Rexburg on September 3, and he last attended September 23. The next day, Lori Vallow came to the school to tell administrators she was homeschooling J.J. In late September, Lori told a family friend that the children were “zombies” and that she had “an earthly mission to remove zombies from the world.” The children were not seen after September 2019.

On October 19, 2019, Chad Daybell’s wife Tammy Daybell died under suspicious circumstances. Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow married two weeks later; Lori told a witness that Tylee was dead, and Chad told a witness that Lori had no children. The children were reported missing after a requested wellness check in November, where Lori Vallow falsely claimed they were living with relatives in Arizona. The couple subsequently left the state. Cox died of unknown causes in December 2019.

On June 9, 2020, authorities discovered J.J. and Tylee’s remains on Chad Daybell’s farm. Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell have been arrested while authorities search for evidence related to the children’s deaths.

Date: September 23, 2019
Location: Rexburg, Idaho

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Michael Gray (L) and Shirley Gray

Two children–Heather “Sophie” Gray (b. 2006) and Jonathan Gray–died in the custody of their adoptive parents, Michael and Shirley Gray. Three other adopted children–M., a boy born in 2005; L., a girl born c. 2007; and T., a boy born in 2009–were imprisoned, starved, and abused by the Grays. The Grays’ adult children, Anthony “Bubba” and Carolyn Gray, lived with them at various points and knew about the abuse. The children were homeschooled.

The Grays were originally from Mississippi, where Anthony and Carolyn were born in the early 1980s. The family moved to Tennessee in the mid-1990s and began adopting children in Halls, Knox County, after their biological children had reached adulthood. They adopted a total of five children, including one child in 2007, one child in 2008, and two children in 2011. The Grays lived in the basement of the Halls home while Anthony, his partner, and sometimes Carolyn with her children lived on the upper floor of the home.

All of the Grays’ adopted children were starved; when they were rescued, they were amazed at how a refrigerator works, and they reported being punished for “stealing” food. The children last saw a doctor or dentist in 2014. By at least 2015, M. was being regularly kept confined in a cage in the basement. In 2015 or 2016, Jonathan became sick and died of causes yet to be determined; the Grays buried him in the yard, telling the other children he had “gone away to live with another family.”

In 2016, the Grays moved to Ten Mile, Roane County with their four surviving minor children, M., Sophie, L., and T. Within a month, M. and Sophie had both been confined to the basement with little food and a bucket for a toilet. The children were originally locked in a dog crate, then later a concrete room that Michael Gray constructed for that purpose. Sophie died in early 2017 and the Grays buried her in the barn, continuing to collect adoption subsidies on her behalf. At various points, T. was also confined to the basement.

When they were rescued, all of the children were officially considered to be homeschooled by the state; Shirley Gray consistently updated their records, even for Sophie who had been dead for three years. M. never received any education at all.

The abuse came to light when neighbors reported T. for riding his scooter alone. When authorities spoke to him, he reported that M. was confined in his home and that Sophie was dead. The Grays were charged with kidnapping, child abuse, and abuse of a corpse. Additional charges may be pending.

Date: May 22, 2020
Location: Ten Mile, Roane County, Tennessee

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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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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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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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Margaret Breeze

An 11-year-old girl, K., was starved, imprisoned, and abused by her legal guardians, Margaret and Charles Breeze. K. was homeschooled. Other children in the home were not reported to be abused.

K. went to live with the Breezes in 2013. Margaret Breeze was the third cousin of K.’s biological mother, who claimed that K. had a mental health condition and thought Breeze could help. In order to gain custody as a foster parent in Bracken County, Kentucky, Breeze falsely claimed to be certified as a foster parent in Ohio. “She claimed she had raised three children of her own and a 1-year-old granddaughter.” Breeze also briefly cared for K.’s biological sister.

While the Breezes lived in a house, they kept K. locked in a trailer in the backyard, which they monitored with a video feed. K. was forced to sleep on a urine-stained mattress and wear a diaper. Her entire food intake consisted of rice each day at midnight; when she was rescued, she weighed only 47 lbs. and was diagnosed with Kwashiorkor, a rare protein deficiency normally only found in famine victims. In 2015, the girl’s biological mother found out that the Breezes were beating and waterboarding K. and allegedly unsuccessfully attempted to regain custody. At K.’s last doctor visit in 2016, she was underweight. In 2017, Joie Jodrey, Charles Breeze’s sister, reported that the Breezes were abusing K.; it is unclear what the results of that report were.

The abuse finally came to light in 2019 when K. told a teacher administering an online test that she was hungry and reported her limited food intake. The teacher reported concerns to the authorities. The Breezes were charged with child endangerment, kidnapping, and assault. K. was hospitalized for several days on the verge of liver failure; she recovered and is “thriving” in her new home, where she gained 15 lbs. in two months.

Date: September 13, 2019
Location: Georgetown, 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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