Homeschooling’s 

Invisible Children

Desirae, Deondra, and Melody Brown

Desirae (b. 1979, right), Deondra (b. 1980, center), and Melody (b. 1984, left) Brown were sexually abused by their father, Keith Scott Brown, who was also their business manager. The girls were part of the piano chamber ensemble The 5 Browns and were homeschooled, primarily by their father, while their mother Lisa was in charge […]

Anna Farmer

Anna Nicole Farmer, 12, was tortured, starved, and beaten to death by her stepfather, James Kevin Yost. Her mother, Bridget Nicole Farmer, knew about the abuse and did nothing. Anna was homeschooled and was singled out for torture. Farmer had three other children (ages 9, 8, and 20 mo.). Yost kept Anna locked in her […]

Michaela and Caleb Parker

Kimu (left) and Blair Parker starved and medically neglected their three children, Michaela (age 11), Caleb (age 9), and Zion (age 3). The children were homeschooled. The Parkers were fundamentalist naturopaths who practiced homebirths and shunned vaccines and medical checkups. The children were fed a vegan diet and the Parkers set time limits for the […]

6 children of Lora and Aubrey Thomas

T.T. (a 15-year-old boy), G.T. (a 14-year-old girl), B.T. (a 14-year-old boy), and E.T. (a 13-year-old girl), were tortured, starved, and sexually abused by their adoptive parents, Lora (or Laura) and Aubrey Thomas, and their older brother Garrett, the Thomases’ biological son. The Thomases also had at least two other older biological children, who did […]

3 children by Iliana, Rogelio, and Tim Archuleta

10-year-old twins, a boy and a girl, and their 8-year-old brother, were tortured, imprisoned, and starved by their adoptive mother, Iliana Archuleta, and her brother-in-law Rogelio Archuleta (center). The children’s adoptive father, Tim Archuleta (right), knew about the abuse but did nothing to stop it. The Archuletas’ two biological children, a 13-year-old girl and a […]

2 children of Erin and Jennifer Pickel

Erin and Jennifer Pickel abused and imprisoned two of their five children, a 15-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl, starting in 2008. There were also two younger children and one child over 18 in the home. All the children were homeschooled. The children, who were both adopted (the boy in 2005 and the girl in […]

3 children of Lev Dzyuba

Three of Lev Dzyuba’s children, ages 15, 10, and 8, were starved and imprisoned for months by their father and his sisters Alina Dzyuba and Natalia Mellon. The children were adopted from Ukraine in 2012. According to the children’s maternal aunt, their mother Larisa died shortly after the adoption, and they were subsequently homeschooled by […]

2 children by Albert and Nancy Cusson

A 13-year-old boy was tortured, beaten, and starved by his grandfather, Albert Cusson, and Cusson’s wife Nancy. A 9-year-old girl who lived with the family was also tortured. The boy was homeschooled. As punishment for poor performance on his schoolwork, he was forced to kneel in a stress position for 10 days straight and was […]

5 children of Sinhue Johnson and Louann Bowers

In 1993, 16-year-old Louann Bowers ran away from home, allegedly to be with her uncle, Sinhue Johnson. Together they had five children who were hidden from the world and raised in squalid conditions without electricity or running water. The children, who included Sinhue Johnson Jr., 13, and Quatonnia “Nae” Johnson, 11, did not have birth […]

Boy by Christina Thomas and Peggy Starr

Christina Thomas and her mother, Peggy Starr, abused Erin Albin, a developmentally-disabled woman under their care, and abused, starved, and imprisoned Albin’s son between 2006 and 2010. When the boy was rescued at age 6-1/2, he weighed 23 lbs. The boy was enrolled in preschool in September 2008, and his teachers and paraprofessionals noticed that […]