Homeschooling’s 

Invisible Children

Holly, Kyla, and Corrie Snyder

Wesley Snyder shot his wife, Ruth, and his three daughters, Holly, 12, Kyla, 10, and Corrie, 8, before turning his gun on himself. The family was found dead by Ruth’s mother, who lived in a mobile home 100 yards away from the family’s mobile home. The family ran a ranch and homeschooled. Neighbors described Wesley […]

Laree Slack

12-year-old Laree Slack died from internal bleeding after being beaten with rubberized electrical cable by her parents, Larry and Constance Slack. Larry and Constance were devout Jehovah’s Witnesses who homeschooled their six children and followed interpretations of Biblical discipline that included whippings. The incident that led to Laree’s death, as well as the severe beating […]

Child of Stephen Douglas James

The sexual abuse suffered at the hands of her adoptive father, Stephen Douglas James, began when she was 11, the girl reported, but she did not initially tell anyone of the abuse because she was afraid that her father would hurt her or her brothers. She finally told her adoptive mother, who confronted James about […]

6 Children of Patrick McMullen

Patrick McMullen raped his daughters, beat his wife and sons, and isolated his family in a converted nightclub with an eight-foot double fence from 1995 to 2001. Patrick, who was active in the John Birch Society, covered the windows with dark cloth and held his family hostage, confining them in what media described as a […]

Sadie Plum, Luke Hayden, and Jessica Gutweiler

Amanda Gutweiler Hypes (later Kelley) left her three homeschooled children, Sadie, 10, Luke, 6, and Jessica, 3, home alone while she ran an errand. When she returned, the three had perished in a house fire. Kelley was originally accused of arson and was convicted in 2002 of three counts of first-degree murder. However, this conviction […]

Noah, John, Paul, Luke, and Mary Yates

Noah, 7, John, 5, Paul, 3, Luke, 2, and Mary, an infant, were drowned in the family’s bathtub by their mother, Andrea Yates, one after another. Yates believed that she had to kill her offspring as children lest they come of age and turn away from God. Yates had long suffered from depression, and was […]