Homeschooling’s 

Invisible Children

Hannah Davenport

Hannah Davenport, age 6, died of malnutrition and dehydration after her caregivers failed to give her proper treatment for her medical condition. Hannah had a birth defect known as ectopic anus and required a special diet of soft food and frequent doctor visits, which her mother Karen Davenport (later Karen Chandler) and grandmother Linda Walsham […]

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 […]

Son of David and Pamela Martin

A 17-year-old boy was imprisoned in a basement and starved by his father, David L. Martin, and his stepmother, Pamela S. Martin. The boy had lived in the basement since September 2012, when his father pulled him out of school to reportedly homeschool him. The Martins claimed to have imprisoned the boy for safety reasons […]

GW by Jeffrey "Adam" Kraft and Michele L. Buckner-Kraft

An 8-year-old girl identified as GW was starved, imprisoned, and abused by her uncle, Jeffrey “Adam” Kraft, and his wife, Michele L. Buckner-Kraft, for approximately four years. Before GW and her half-sister KN (age 5) came to live with the Krafts in 2008, GW attended kindergarten and was a normal weight for her age, though […]

Aidan Edward Bossingham, and 2 siblings

Aidan Edward Bossingham, age 13, was starved to death by his mother, Jessica Lee Jensen. He weighed 21 pounds when he died. Though Aidan was diagnosed with a human growth hormone deficiency, Jensen refused to give him medication and had not taken him to a doctor since 2008. She treated him differently from his siblings, […]

Jaelen Edge

13-year-old Jaelen Edge and his sister, 9-year-old Faith Edge, were found dead in a Santa Ana, California, hotel room the day before their mother, Marilyn Edge, was to turn over custody of the two children to their father, Mark Edge. Around a week earlier, a judge had settled the couple’s long custody dispute. Rather than […]

Cheyenne Noell Wolf

Cheyenne Wolf, age 11, died from an untreated head injury. Her sisters, S.E. (age 16) and S.M., reported that Cheyenne was routinely beaten by their stepmother, Denise Wolf, and tied to a chair and bed. Cheyenne had spina bifida, wore leg braces and was incontinent. She had been withdrawn from school in January 2008 to […]

Shane Graham and 10 Siblings

Shane Graham, age 11, disappeared in 1999 or 2000. He had autism, Down’s Syndrome, and sickle-cell anemia. His adoptive mother, Judith Leekin, is believed to have murdered him and buried him in the yard of one of her houses, although his body has not been found. Leekin also abused 10 other adopted special needs children. Leekin adopted eleven […]

Minnet and Jasmine Bowman and Sister

Minnet (age 9) and Jasmine (age 7) Bowman were murdered in 2006 by their adoptive mother, Renee Bowman, their bodies stored in her basement freezer. The murders were discovered two years later when their then-7-year-old sister jumped out of a second-story window to escape imprisonment in her room. She was found by authorities with open […]

Hannah, Noah, Mollie, and Josiah Carroll

On September 21, 1992, six year old Hannah Carroll died of severe bleach burns, which covered one third of her body and were left untreated for three days. Hannah, who had Down syndrome, was one of ten special needs children adopted by Kathleen and Timothy Carroll, a fundamentalist Christian homeschooling couple. In the three months […]