Child of Rebecca Long and Jon Pomeroy

Rebecca Long, 44, and Jon Pomeroy, 43, have been charged with first-degree and second-degree criminal mistreatment in what the local sheriff’s investigators called “the worst case of child abuse they had ever seen.” A 14 year old girl, Pomeroy’s biological daughter and Long’s stepdaughter, was deprived of food and water for years, and weighed less than 40 pounds, her growth severely stunted, when she was discovered after neighbors reported hearing someone screaming. At one point, the abuse was so bad that the girl started drinking from the toilet bowl. After that, Long had the girl sleep on the floor in their room to prevent her from sneaking water, and carefully monitored the girl’s showers to keep her from drinking water. She was also locked in her room for extended periods of time. The girl had been enrolled in public school, and in 2005 a teacher called child protective services to report that she suspected the girl was being deprived of food. When Child Protective Services investigated they found no evidence that the girl was being starved, but did not speak to the girl out of her mother’s presence. Long immediately withdrew the girl to be homeschooled, and officials had no more contact with her until her abuse was discovered three years later. The state later admitted to mishandling the case and the girl was awarded a settlement of several million dollars.

Date: October 2008
Location: Carnation, Washington