Homeschooling’s 

Invisible Children

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Girl by Raul Ochoa

Raul Ochoa kept a young female relative confined in his home until she escaped at age 27 in August 2012. Ochoa first raped the girl when she was 12, and insisted on homeschooling her and tightly controlling her. According to news reports, “he had the victim help him build a backyard shed where he would […]

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 […]

4 children of Juan Carlos Sanchez and Bobbi Sue Pack

Three children, girls aged 11 and 9 and an 8-year-old boy, were beaten, imprisoned, and starved by their stepfather, Juan Carlos Sanchez. Their mother Bobbi Sue Pack and grandmother Edwina Luis knew about the abuse but did nothing to stop it. A fourth child, Sanchez’ two-year-old daughter, was not harmed. The three older children were […]