Homeschooling’s 

Invisible Children

Dennis Gene Merryman

Content note: Case narratives include descriptions of severe violence inflicted on children, including abuse and neglect, sexual violence, torture, and murder, as well as mentions of suicide and domestic violence. They also include photos of victims and perpetrators of violence.

Dennis Merryman
Dennis Merryman was 8 years old when he died of starvation. He had been adopted from Russia some years earlier along with four brothers and sisters. His Maryland parents, Samuel and Donna Merryman, devout Christians who served as Sunday school teachers, homeschooled Dennis and his siblings. When Dennis died in January of 2005, he weighed 37 pounds, 2 pounds lighter than he had when examined by a doctor in October of 2000.

Date: January 22, 2005
Location: Whiteford, Harford County, Maryland

Documents: Date:
NCFA statement 2005-08-05
Russian prosecutors investigating adoption procedure of boy who died in US from starvation 2005-08-05
American family starves 8-year-old boy adopted in Russia to death 2005-08-08
U.S. Couple Charged With Killing Adopted 8-Year-Old 2005-08-08
Child Maltreatment, Child Abuse Fatalities Among Internationally Adopted Children 2007-11-01
Harford couple plead guilty 2008-02-26
Couple plead guilty to abuse in son’s death 2008-02-28
Witnesses defend parents guilty of abusing son 2008-04-16
Prison for child’s death 2008-04-18
Harford couple sentenced to 22 years after guilty plea in son’s starvation death 2008-04-18
Starvation Case Has Senator Asking Questions 2008-04-20
Merryman kids’ fate uncertain after their parents’ conviction 2008-04-22
Adoptions examined after Russian boy dies 2009-01-02