Homeschooling’s 

Invisible Children

Lucas Ciambrone

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.

Lucas Ciambrone (Credit Kevin Brooks)

7 year old Lucas Ciambrone was forced to sleep in a bathroom with neither towels, toilet paper, or light bulbs. He was fed via a bucket, was thrown to the floor, kicked in the genitals, punched, and had his head held under water. His ears were nearly torn from his body. According to a medical examiner, the blow that ended the boy’s life came at least four hours before his adoptive parents, Heather and Joe Ciambrone, drove him to the hospital. In spite of being 7 years old, he weighed only 32 pounds. Lucas was homeschooled and may have had Reactive Attachment Disorder. The Ciambrones were convicted and are serving life sentences.

Date: May 13, 1995
Location: Rubonia, Florida

Documents: Date:
Lucas Ciambrone
State briefs : Parents tortured boy to death: Police 1995-07-09
COUPLE: ABUSE IGNORED 1995-07-09
STATE BRIEFS: Adoptive dad charged in death of boy,7 1995-07-30
Governor’s Panel on Child Protection Issues. 1996. A Review of the Lucas Ciambrone Case 1996-01-08
A dead child, a troubling defense 1997-07-14
Lucas Deserved Better 1997-12-00
TRIAL PICTURES CREATE FRICTION; THE PHOTOGRAPHS WILL BE SHOWN TO JURORS DURING THE JOSEPH CIAMBRONE MURDER TRIAL. 1997-12-06
Photos reveal battered body 1997-12-06
Lucas Ciambrone’s story 1997-12-10
Father blames abuse on wife 1997-12-12
Lives on Layaway: Faltering system makes fatal mistakes 1998-05-21
Fatal abuse case still awaits trial five years later 2000-05-13
Suffer the Children 2000-07-27
Ciambrone pleads no contest in death; She agrees to 55 years in prison in the death of her beaten, starved, adopted son Lucas 2001-00-00
Attorney says father was victim 2002-09-04
Focusing on Children: Providing Counsel to Children in Expedited Proceedings to Terminate Parental Rights 2004-04-01
DAUGHTER TALKS OF CIAMBRONE’S ABUSE 2007-05-10
Mental health questioned: Defense claims victim, 7-year-old Lucas Ciambrone, had disorder before adoption 2007-05-15
Mom gets life sentence for son’s death; Child-abuse slaying forced changes in child protection system. 2007-05-17
Ciambrone convicted of murder, gets life 2007-05-17
Déjà vu over child deaths in Florida 2011-03-26