Joseph “Joey” Bishop, age 18, died of Duchenne muscular dystrophy as a result of medical neglect by his mother, Jamie Bishop, and his grandparents Raymond and Sharon Martin. Joey had been pulled from school to be homeschooled two years previously, despite an open case with child services.

Due to his medical condition, Joey required assistance to bathe, eat, and use the restroom. Instead, his family left him confined to a twin-size bed for two years. They never took him to his required doctor visits every six months. They last moved him from the bed six months before his death, and last bathed him six weeks before his death. His death was caused by severe sepsis due to bedsores that covered his back, arms, and legs; he “rotted to death”. Bishop and the Martins reportedly did not seek medical care for him because they feared being charged with neglect. The neighbors did not even know that Joey lived with Bishop and the Martins.

Bishop and the Martins were charged with manslaughter and neglect.

Date: February 11, 2017
Location: Ludlow, Kentucky

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Jack Kirby Garcia, age 9, was beaten to death by his uncle, Jacob Andrew Barajas, and his mother’s boyfriend, Robert Leroy Wilson. Jack’s mother, Oriana Iris Garcia, knew about and sanctioned the beating. After the beating, she delayed getting medical care for Jack, contributing to his death. Jack was homeschooled.

Jack was enrolled in public school in Galeta, California when his mother moved him to Maryland in February 2015. Garcia told her landlord that she “was unable to get [Jack] into school” in Maryland; according to one news report, she “didn’t enroll [Jack] in public schools and considered home-schooling instead.” Instead of attending school, Jack lived in Wilson’s apartment with the unemployed Barajas, who regularly beat him, supposedly in response to “behavioral problems”. Garcia also “planned and participated” in the abuse, including “making Jack eat until he felt sick and forcing him to exercise.” On June 30, according to Barajas, Jack stole a piece of birthday cake intended for Anita, Wilson’s 2-year-old daughter. Barajas called Garcia and she “agreed that Jack needed to be disciplined and gave Wilson permission to carry out the child’s punishment.” Barajas handcuffed the boy to a chair while Wilson beat Jack until he passed out. That evening, Barajas called an ambulance because Jack was having difficulty breathing; Garcia sent the ambulance away to avoid a child abuse charge. Four hours later Wilson called paramedics again, but by that time Jack’s injuries were too severe. He died in the hospital five days later.

Wilson pleaded guilty to murder and is serving 30 years in prison. Garcia and Barajas pleaded guilty to child abuse.

Date: July 5, 2015
Location: Hagerstown, Maryland

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Adam Wesley Jordan (b. 1980), who went by Wesley, was tortured and imprisoned for 18 months by his stepfather, Steve Maynard, and his mother Bonnie Maynard. Wesley’s two sisters (S., b. 1984; and M., b. 1990) were not reported to be abused. The children were homeschooled.

Wesley’s parents divorced in 1990 and he moved with his mother and sisters to live with Steve Maynard, an EMT and candidate for US Congress, that same year. In 1993, social workers investigated the home in response to a complaint that Wesley was being forced to work in the hot sun without water. Shortly after this investigation, in March 1994, the Maynards withdrew the children from school to homeschool them. Around this time Steve Maynard started to beat Wesley regularly. In July 1994, Steve Maynard chained Wesley to the wall of a bathroom. “Wesley’s nose and finger were broken. His foot got so cold one night that the big toenail fell off.” Though his mother and stepfather were both EMTs, they did not treat him. Wesley was starved, and when he snuck food the Maynards forced him to drink bleach and ammonia to vomit it up. The Maynards also sexually assaulted him with pliers. Though Wesley attempted escape several times, Maynard always caught him.

The abuse came to light in November 1995, when Wesley managed to escape and went to his friends’ house for help. Steve Maynard entered an Alford plea to assault and unlawful imprisonment and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Bonnie Maynard entered an Alford plea to unlawful imprisonment and was sentenced to 2 years in prison.

Date: November 11, 1995
Location: Inez, Kentucky

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Mary Catherine Elizabeth Thomas (b. 2002), who went by Elizabeth, was beaten and imprisoned by her mother, Kimberly Thomas. Thomas also beat four of Elizabeth’s siblings. Elizabeth and her nine siblings were homeschooled.

According to Elizabeth’s older sister, Brandy Landauer (b. 1998), the 10 children were homeschooled all their lives “but they played sports and went to church three to four days a week.” Documents show that, in November 2015, Elizabeth “told investigators her mom banged her head into the agitator of the washing machine and said her mother threw her down the basement stairs and locked her down there.” Thomas is also “accused of forcing her children to strip in front of other people.”

Thomas was charged in January 2016 with four counts of child abuse and lost custody of her five youngest children, including Elizabeth. The other five were already adults. The children’s father, Anthony Thomas, was granted full custody, and Elizabeth began attending public school for the first time in September 2016. There she was groomed, sexually abused, and abducted by her teacher, Tad Cummins.

Date: November 2015
Location: Maury County, Tennessee

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David Alfonso ‘Davie’ Martinez, age 8, died of malnutrition and medical neglect. A criminal investigation is ongoing. Davie was homeschooled.

Davie lived with his mother, Rachell Martinez, and his stepfather Steven Zahara. Davie had four siblings. He died from complications of an infection caused by malnutrition and neglect.

Date: September 7, 2014
Location: Lowell, Massachusetts

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A 5-year-old girl was imprisoned, starved, and physically abused by her parents, Ryan Rechtzigel and Angela Stewart. The girl was homeschooled. The girl’s siblings, ages 2 and 7 months, were not reported to be abused.

The girl had been removed from her parents’ home when she was 6 months old due to their methamphetamine use. She was returned to their custody in April 2016. In October 2016, Stewart withdrew her from school stating that she would homeschool her. The girl was kept in an unheated boarded-up room and deprived of food. Her parents beat her, smeared her with feces, and forced her to do squats with a heavy bin on her head. When she was rescued, she had a broken elbow and “cuts, scrapes, burn marks and missing hair.”

The abuse came to light in November 2016 when Rechtzigel’s parole officer could not find him to question him about a parole violation. The police had also received a tip from a family friend concerned that the girl had not attended her parents’ wedding, so authorities went to the home and found the girl locked up. Rechtzigel and Stewart were charged with a combined 12 felonies including child neglect, false imprisonment, and attempted manslaughter.

Date: November 18, 2016
Location: Ostrander, Minnesota

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A 10-year-old girl was physically abused by her mother, Anna Marie Lloyd, who also allowed the girl to be sexually abused by her brother. The girl was homeschooled.

Lloyd was a member of the Arkansas new religious movement run by Tony Alamo until shortly before it was raided in 2008. Around that time, while living in Oklahoma, Lloyd lost custody of many of her 13 children. Lloyd subsequently moved to Wisconsin, where she was living in November 2016 with her 17-year-old son, 10-year-old daughter, and a 2-year-old. The 10-year-old girl was not legally registered as a homeschooler; however her mother claimed to be homeschooling her despite the fact that she “could not read, write or count and would have used a computer program for homeschooling but did not know the password.” Lloyd frequently punched the 10-year-old and the 2-year-old in the head, and stated that she “was aware another one of her sons had sexual contact” with the girl, saying the child was “fine with it.” She also encouraged the girl to smoke marijuana.

The abuse came to light in November 2016 when the girl’s school district notified child protective services that the girl was not being legally homeschooled. Lloyd was charged with child abuse.

Date: November 3, 2016
Location: Juneau, Wisconsin

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Two children, a 13-year-old boy and an 11-year-old girl, were tortured, beaten, and imprisoned by their father, Joseph Myhre. The children were homeschooled.

The abuse began in 2011. Myhre shocked them with electric dog collars, beat them with PVC pipes, “strangled them until they passed out,” and smashed their fingers with pliers. Myhre also forced the children to sleep in “closed-off wooden boxes.”

The abuse came to light when Myhre’s wife went to the emergency room on March 15 after Myhre fractured her skull by beating her. After an investigation revealed abuse of the children, Myhre was charged with assault, unlawful restraint, and child endangerment.

Date: April 7, 2017
Location: Collegeville, Pennsylvania

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Jeffrey Franklin, age 16, who went by ‘JR’, is believed to have been murdered by his adoptive parents, Ernest Franklin II and Heather Franklin. Chenango County District Attorney Joseph McBride confirmed by phone that JR was homeschooled.

Ernest Franklin was an Iraq War veteran and Heather Franklin described herself as a “stay-at-home, homeschooling mom.” JR came to live with the Franklins in 2010 and was formally adopted in 2012. JR was Deaf and autistic. In February 2017, the Franklins watched the film Manchester by the Sea, in which a character accidentally kills his children in a house fire. Within hours after they watched the film, JR was dead from unknown causes, and the family’s home was on fire.

The Franklins were charged with murder and arson.

Date: February 28, 2017
Location: Mount Upton, New York

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Eleven children (b. 2002-2016) were starved and neglected by their parents, Alejandro Aleman and Kristen Meyer-Aleman. The children were homeschooled.

Child services had been aware of the family since 2013. During visits, only the oldest child, a 14-year-old boy, could speak comprehensibly; the other children spoke in grunts and gestures. Neighbors reported seeing the children scavenging in trash cans. When they were rescued, several of the children had scabies and their home was covered with feces. A dog was also found caged and covered in feces.

The abuse came to light in April 2016 when the Alemans’ then-youngest child Tayla (b. 2015) stopped breathing and Meyer-Aleman called paramedics. Tayla died on the way to the hospital due to malnutrition; authorities believe her parents deliberately starved her to death. When she died, Tayla weighed 7 lbs. and had sores, a black eye, influenza, pneumonia, and E. coli. The Alemans were charged with murder and child abuse.

Date: April 1, 2016
Location: Loxahatchee, Florida

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Sabrina Ray, age 16, is believed to have died due to abuse by her adoptive parents, Marc and Misty Ray. Sabrina and her four siblings were homeschooled.

The Rays ran a state-licensed daycare which had been under investigation for inadequate nutrition and corporal punishment since 2013. According to Sabrina’s foster brother Marco Mendez, Sabrina “endured intense physical abuse” and starvation by her parents; she was so hungry she sometimes ate food from the garbage. Her siblings were also reportedly starved.

The abuse came to light when Sabrina’s body was discovered in the Rays’ basement. An investigation is ongoing.

Date: May 12, 2017
Location: Perry, Iowa

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Alysha Rose Quate (b. 2007) reportedly choked to death after a beating by her father, Jason Scott Quate. Her mother, Elizabeth Odell-Quate, helped conceal Alysha’s body out of fear the Quates would lose custody of Alysha’s two sisters (b. 2004 and 2005), who were also reported to be abused. The children were homeschooled.

Alysha attended public school until October 2011. Her older sisters attended school until January 2013. During that time, child protective services investigated at least two tips from school officials, although a neighbor reported that Odell-Quate “would not allow authorities to enter and check the children’s well-being.” Later, the Quates began homeschooling the children and isolating them from their grandparents. Sometime in 2013, according to the Quates, Jason Quate beat Alysha while she had food in her mouth, and she choked to death. The Quates stored her body in a plastic bin to conceal her death. In November 2015, child protective services told Odell-Quate that her family was again under investigation. The Quates panicked, dumped Alysha’s body in Centreville, IL, and moved the family to Las Vegas, NV in January 2016, where Jason Quate forced Odell-Quate to work as a prostitute and abused his remaining daughters. Quate did not allow them to speak to their mother or leave the house, and he beat, burned, and sexually abused them. When they were rescued they were pale, scarred, and one girl was missing chunks of hair.

Alysha’s death came to light when Odell-Quate went to a women’s shelter to report the location of Alysha’s remains and her husband’s crimes. Both Quates were charged with felony concealing of a homicide; Jason Quate was also charged with felony child abuse and sex-trafficking.

Date: 2013
Location: Belleville, Illinois

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Shaelynn A. Lehano-Stone, age 9, was starved to death by her parents, Kevin Lehano and Tiffany Stone (pictured center and right), and her grandmother Henrietta Stone (pictured left). Shaelynn was homeschooled.

Shaelynn and her brother were removed from their parents’ custody in 2007 after Lehano assaulted Tiffany Stone. Later, Henrietta Stone became Shaelynn’s legal guardian, although her parents lived in the same apartment complex and were allowed to have daily contact with her. Shaelynn attended Hilo Union Elementary School until November 2015, when her family pulled her from school to homeschool her. She was forbidden from leaving her home, starved, and deprived of water and medical attention for about eight months until her death.

The abuse came to light when authorities were called and found her emaciated and close to death. She died a few hours later in the hospital. Lehano and the Stones were charged with second-degree murder.

Date: June 28, 2016
Location: Hilo, Hawaii

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A.C., a 10-year-old girl, was starved and tortured with the knowledge of her caregiver, Hyacinth Poouahi (pictured left). A.C. was homeschooled.

A.C., then age 9, was dropped off at Poouahi’s home in November 2004 by her biological mother, Crystal McGrath, who was a friend of Poouahi. Three education professionals at A.C.’s school, Keonepoko Elementary School, all reported suspicions of abuse to the school principal Kathleen Romero, who did not report the abuse to the authorities. After winter break, A.C. did not return to school as Poouahi claimed to be homeschooling her for medical reasons. Instead, Poouahi, her husband Jaime Soares, her 13-year-old son Hans Poouahi Jr. (pictured right), and possibly other people in the home, subjected A.C. to torture. She was starved and deprived of water, “forced to eat cockroaches and Froot Loops mixed with chili peppers,” bound until she developed bedsores, burned with a cigarette lighter, stabbed in the ankle with a steak knife, had her hand broken and her lip and head cut open.

The abuse came to light when Poouahi called paramedics to report A.C.’s injuries. A.C. spent six weeks in a coma and, 5 years later, was “severely speech- and hearing-impaired, blind in one eye, walks with a limp and has facial disfigurement.” Hans Poouahi Jr. “was convicted as a juvenile and housed at the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility until he turned 19 years-old.” Hyacinth Poouahi pleaded guilty to assault, unlawful imprisonment, and child endangerment; she was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Date: February 7, 2005
Location: ‘Ainaloa, Hawaii

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Peter J. Kema, Jr., age 6, often called Peter Boy, was abused and murdered by his parents, Peter Kema, Sr. and Jaylin Kema. Peter Boy was homeschooled. His older half-siblings, Chauntelle and Allan Acol, and younger sister Devalynn ‘Lina’ Acol, were also abused.

In August 1991, when Peter Boy was only a few months old, he and his siblings were removed from their parents’ care after authorities discovered signs of abuse; Peter Boy had broken bones and Allan reported that his parents beat him and his siblings. The children were raised by their grandparents, James and Yolanda Acol, until 1995 when they were returned to the Kemas. According to Allan, the Kemas soon resumed physically abusing their children. Peter Boy’s abuse included being shot with a pellet gun, locked in the trunk of a car, and forced to eat dog feces. Though Peter Boy was enrolled in preschool, he was soon withdrawn from school to be homeschooled. In June 1997, Lina witnessed Peter Boy’s death and the Kemas’ attempts to hide the body.

The Kemas did not report Peter Boy missing until January 1998; the other children were interviewed at this time, reported abuse, and were permanently removed from the home. Peter Kema, Sr., insisted that he had left Peter Boy with a relative who is believed not to have existed. No charges were filed against the Kemas until 2014 because Peter Boy’s body was never found. Jaylin Kema pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 2016 and was sentenced to time served. Peter Kema, Sr., pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 2017 and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Date: June 1997
Location: Keaau, Hawaii

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Savannah Leckie, age 16, was tortured and murdered by her mother, Rebecca Ruud. Ruud’s partner, Robert E. Peat Jr., has not been charged in conjunction with her murder. Savannah was homeschooled.

Savannah was given up for adoption at birth in 2001 and raised by adoptive parents Tamile Montague and David Leckie in Minnesota. She had “a mild form of autism as well as depression and ADHD.” In 2016, after Savannah’s adoptive parents divorced, Montague’s new boyfriend, Cary Steeves, did not get along with Savannah, so Montague sent Savannah back to live with Ruud, her biological mother. After Savannah moved in with Ruud, she was homeschooled and “had almost no social contacts.” Ruud abused Savannah, smashing her phone to isolate her, forcing her to roll in the pig pen and bathe in muddy pond water, and pouring alcohol and salt into a wound on Savannah’s arm to punish her.

Sometime in mid-July, Ruud murdered Savannah and attempted to dispose of her body using a meat grinder and lye from her soap making business. On July 18 firefighters were called to her property to put out a brush fire and treat Ruud for burns. Ruud claimed Savannah was also burned in the fire but would not allow firefighters to see her. Two days later, Ruud reported that Savannah had run away. Police searched for Savannah for several weeks before bringing cadaver dogs to Ruud’s property on August 4 and discovering Savannah’s remains at the site of the fire. Ruud was charged with murder.

Date: July 18, 2017
Location: Ozark County, Missouri

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Two boys (b. 2004 and 2008) were starved and physically abused by their stepmother, Sara Anne Woody. Their father, Jonathan Woody, knew about the abuse but did nothing to stop it. The boys’ siblings–a younger girl and boy who were Sara Anne’s children from a previous relationship, and two younger children who were both the Woodys’ biological children–witnessed the abuse although they were not reported to be targets of it. The children were homeschooled.

The abuse began soon after Sara Anne and Jonathan moved in together around 2014. Sara Anne burned the boys’ tongues with a lighter, beat their genitals with a belt, forced them to go naked as punishment (“because it was the worst thing a Christian fanatic could think of,” according to the prosecution), forced them to lick feces off of a toilet, forced them to vomit up food they had “stolen”, forced them to exercise and beat them when they stopped, and locked them in a closet overnight with a bucket for a toilet. After the boys’ grandparents noticed the abuse, visits to the grandparents ceased, and prosecutors later noted that “the defense never called any…other mothers from their homeschool group to testify, showing an increased isolation of the children.” According to the boys’ grandparents, after they were rescued, “the older boy scored in the sixth percentile in reading and 15th percentile in math…His younger brother has also had to repeat the first grade.”

The abuse came to light after Sara Anne beat one of the boys’ faces with a metal spoon and Jonathan took the boy to the hospital, where his injuries were recognized as caused by abuse. The boys quickly gained weight when they were placed in a different home, and they and Sara Anne’s two children were diagnosed with PTSD. Sara Anne was found guilty on 16 counts of injury to a child and sentenced to 45 years in prison. Jonathan Woody was charged with child endangerment.

Date: March 30, 2016
Location: Burkburnett, Texas

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A 14-year-old girl was imprisoned, starved, and sexually abused by her adoptive parents, Alan and Aimee Friz (pictured). The girl and her siblings were homeschooled.

The girl and one of her siblings were adopted from the Ukraine; the Frizes later had eight additional biological children and Aimee Friz was pregnant when she was arrested. Alan Friz was a dentist and the Frizes were “respected and well-loved” members of Covenant Reformed Church in Evansville, Indiana; according to their minister they had “a very definite 19th century value system”. The girl allegedly had developmental disabilities, although the Frizes “diagnosed her online without ever seeking the advice of a doctor”. Beginning at least a year before his arrest, Alan Friz sexually molested the girl, apparently with the knowledge of Aimee Friz. In September 2017, after the girl allegedly made threats of violence against Aimee, the Frizes began locking the girl in a closet at night without access to food, water, or bathroom facilities. The closet “was fastened with a padlock and chain” and had a sign labeling it as the girl’s “cage”.

The abuse came to light after the girl and her grandfather got into an altercation and the police were called. The girl reported the abuse during a subsequent interview with child services and Alan Friz was immediately arrested. Aimee Friz fled the state with her children but was arrested shortly thereafter. The Frizes’ boarder Kenneth Le Fevre was also arrested. The Frizes were charged with criminal confinement, neglect, and sexual misconduct.

Date: October 4, 2017
Location: Huntingburg, Indiana

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A 12-year-old boy was starved, imprisoned, and tortured by his mother, Brandy Kay Jaynes (pictured). The boy’s father, Russell Orin Jaynes, allegedly did not know about the abuse because he was not often at home and was barred by his wife from seeing the boy. The boy’s twin sister and a younger sibling attended school and were not reported to be abused. The boy was homeschooled.

The boy was pulled out of second grade to be homeschooled in 2012. Jaynes claimed this was due to the boy’s special needs, but state investigators dispute this claim, stating that “he had been caught stealing and was falling behind in classwork because of excessive absences.” Instead of receiving instruction at home, the boy was imprisoned and tortured for four to eight years. At first the boy was imprisoned in a bare bedroom and tortured by having ice water poured on him during the winter. Then he was imprisoned in a stand-up shower, and eventually in a tiny locked bathroom where the light switches and shower drain were covered with duct tape. Jaynes also kept a live video feed of the boy’s condition in the bathroom, where the only place not covered in feces was the place where he lay on a blanket. The boy only received “one meal of a couple of hot dogs every other day for months.” The boy weighed 30 pounds when he was rescued and had, as a result of the abuse, “emotional/developmental delays and the protracted loss of use of his limbs.”

The abuse came to light when the boy’s father “picked the lock on the bathroom door when his wife was gone” and discovered the boy’s condition. Russell Jaynes “drove around for hours, checking into a hotel and bathing his son, and then went to his father’s house in Cedar City asking what he should do before taking the boy to the hospital.” Brandy Jaynes was found guilty of child abuse and sentenced to 45 years in prison. Russell Jaynes was also charged with child abuse.

Date: January 8, 2017
Location: Toquerville, Utah

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Liam Michael Roberts (pictured), age 6, was starved to death by his father, Michael Roberts, and his stepmother Georgena Roberts. Liam’s 7-year-old brother A.P.R. was also starved. Their two siblings and two half-siblings were not reported to be abused. Liam and his siblings were homeschooled, while his older half-siblings attended school.

Neighbors reported that the Robertses kept to themselves and did not play with other neighborhood children. Beginning in December 2015, the Robertses began to use food deprivation as a form of punishment for Liam and A.P.R. In January 2016, social services investigated the family for insufficient food, but a pediatrician “concluded that [Liam’s] low body weight was due to a medical issue” and the case was closed. Liam and his siblings were subsequently withdrawn from school to be homeschooled. Liam weighed 17 pounds when he died in November 2017.

The abuse came to light when Michael Roberts brought Liam’s body to the hospital, where he was declared dead. A.P.R. was subsequently hospitalized. The Robertses were charged with murder and child endangerment.

Date: November 3, 2017
Location: Jerseyville, Illinois

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