Pridine Fru
Actress and talk-show host Pridine Fru (right) was imprisoned and physically and sexually abused by her adoptive parents, Joseph (seated) and Evelyn (left) Djoumessi, from the time she was illegally adopted at age 14 until she was rescued at age 17. During this time, she was forced to live in the Djoumessis’ basement and work […]
Child of August and Jeanine Halbesleben
Tommy Halbesleben, age 10, was starved by his father, August James Halbesleben, and his stepmother Jeanine Marie Halbesleben, from the summer of 1999—when the Halbeslebens began homeschooling him due to “conflicts with his second grade teacher and school officials”—until February 2000. Jeanine had been convicted in 1999 of misdemeanor injury to a child after she […]
Rainbow Lord, and 2 siblings
Yahweh Lord (born c. 1983), Rainbow Lord (born c. 1985), and Angel Lord (born c. 1988) were abused by their father, John Lamont Davis (who also went by “Rajohn Lord”), their mother Carrie Lee Davis, and Faye Alice Potts, who lived with the Davises. “The boys were schooled at home, but not under any official […]
Lindsay Tornambe and Others by Victor A. Barnard
Lindsay Tornambe’s family moved from Pennsylvania to Minnesota when she was 11 to be closer to the ministry of pastor Victor A. Barnard. Tornambe had already been homeschooled for some time, and she first met Barnard when she was 9. In 2000, when Tornambe was 13, Barnard announced before the congregation that she had been chosen […]
Jared, Joshua, Emily, and Hannah Wood
Raymond Wood shot and killed his pregnant wife, Tina, and four of his six children, Jared, Joshua, Emily, and Hannah, aged 10, 8, 7, and 5. Moriah and Katlin, aged 3 and 18 months, were wounded but survived. Wood was a religious man who was described as a loving father and was devoted to his […]
Joseph Beebe
8 year old Joseph Beebe was beaten to death with a bamboo rod by his adoptive mother, Edith Beebe. Joseph was one of six disabled children adopted by Edith and her husband Brian; all were homeschooled. The Beebes were deeply religious and believed that they must discipline their children with what they called a “holy […]
Viktor Alexander Matthey
Viktor Matthey was only 6 years old when he died of cardiac arrest due to hypothermia after adoptive parents Robert and Brenda Matthey locked him overnight in a damp unheated pump room. Viktor was also severely beaten by his adoptive father. The Matthey’s attended a Pentacostal church and homeschooled their four biological children; beginning in […]
Timothy Boss
In July 2000, 10 year old Timothy Boss was beaten to death by his adoptive parents, Donald Boss Jr. and Lisa Boss. He spent the night before his death bound to a chair in the family’s basement. Timothy Boss and three other special needs children were adopted by Donald Jr. and Lisa Boss in Michigan; […]
6 Grandchildren of Gordon Winrod
In 1995 and 1996, Gordon Winrod, a antisemitic Christian Identity leader, kidnapped six of his grandchildren and held them on his extensive compound. The children did not go to school during this time, or leave the compound; instead, they were homeschooled by a relative. In 2000, police finally broke into the compound and freed the children, who […]
Child of Andrew and Carolyn Mayer
Andrew and Carolyn Mayer sent two of their children off to church alone one Sunday so that they could be alone with their 16 year old daughter. Carolyn watched as Andrew, the girl’s stepfather, raped the girl and successfully impregnated her. Carolyn, a mother of three, was unable to conceive and the couple devised a […]
