Homeschooling’s 

Invisible Children

Boy by Melvin Bledsoe and Joy Anderson

A 6-year-old boy was starved, imprisoned, and tortured by his father, Melvin W. Bledsoe, and his stepmother Joy Tamika Anderson. The boy’s three stepsiblings were not reported to be abused. The boy was homeschooled. Bledsoe and Anderson were half-siblings. In 2012, Bledsoe and the boy were living with Anderson, her husband, and her three children. […]

Daughter of Alan and Aimee Friz

A 14-year-old girl was imprisoned, starved, and sexually abused by her adoptive parents, Alan and Aimee Friz (pictured). The girl and her siblings were homeschooled. The girl and one of her siblings were adopted from the Ukraine; the Frizes later had eight additional biological children and Aimee Friz was pregnant when she was arrested. Alan […]

6 Children of Sara Anne and Jonathan Woody

Two boys (b. 2004 and 2008) were starved and physically abused by their stepmother, Sara Anne Woody. Their father, Jonathan Woody, knew about the abuse but did nothing to stop it. The boys’ siblings–a younger girl and boy who were Sara Anne’s children from a previous relationship, and two younger children who were both the […]

Alysha Quate, and 2 siblings

Alysha Rose Quate (b. 2007) reportedly choked to death after a beating by her father, Jason Scott Quate. Her mother, Elizabeth Odell-Quate, helped conceal Alysha’s body out of fear the Quates would lose custody of Alysha’s two sisters (b. 2004 and 2005), who were also reported to be abused. The children were homeschooled. Alysha attended […]

13 Children of Anna Marie Lloyd

A 10-year-old girl was physically abused by her mother, Anna Marie Lloyd, who also allowed the girl to be sexually abused by her brother. The girl was homeschooled. Lloyd was a member of the Arkansas new religious movement run by Tony Alamo until shortly before it was raided in 2008. Around that time, while living […]

Elizabeth Thomas

Mary Catherine Elizabeth Thomas (b. 2002), who went by Elizabeth, was beaten and imprisoned by her mother, Kimberly Thomas. Thomas also beat four of Elizabeth’s siblings. Elizabeth and her nine siblings were homeschooled. According to Elizabeth’s older sister, Brandy Landauer (b. 1998), the 10 children were homeschooled all their lives “but they played sports and […]

Wesley Jordan

Adam Wesley Jordan (b. 1980), who went by Wesley, was tortured and imprisoned for 18 months by his stepfather, Steve Maynard, and his mother Bonnie Maynard. Wesley’s two sisters (S., b. 1984; and M., b. 1990) were not reported to be abused. The children were homeschooled. Wesley’s parents divorced in 1990 and he moved with […]

Daughter of Jerald Hall

J. (b. 1996) was repeatedly sexually assaulted by her father, Jerald A. Hall. J. was homeschooled. In 2005, J.’s mother sent her to live with her father in Oklahoma. When J. was in fifth grade, her father began homeschooling her. He began to sexually assault her at this time. He moved her to Arkansas, then […]

Boy by RCMP officer

A boy (b. 2002) was imprisoned, starved, and physically and sexually abused by his father, an officer in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and his stepmother. The boy’s two siblings were not reported to be abused. The boy was homeschooled. The boy last attended school in June 2012; his parents began homeschooling him in September […]

7 Children of Austin and Annie Wiggin

Four girls (Helen, b. 1946; Dorothy ‘Dot’, b. 1949; Betty, b. 1951; and Rachel, b. 1954) and three boys (Rick Tenney; Austin Wiggin III; and Robert Wiggin), were isolated and abused by their father, Austin Wiggin Jr. The girls were homeschooled through “a Chicago mail-order outfit called American Home School.” It is unclear whether the […]