Cases

Four children adopted by Benito and Carol Gutierrez where locked inside a room for a minimum of 12 hours at a time. The were being denied food and water and access to the bath room.

Three children adopted by Donald and Sharon Windey were physically and sexually abused by their adoptive parents. The biological son of the adoptive parents was also involved in the abuse.

A 10-year old girl and an 11-year old boy from Ghana, adopted by Kenny and Kelly Fry were starved by their adoptive parents. They also punished the two children with physical exercise, including squats and push-ups and locked them up in their bedrooms where they were forced to sleep on a small plastic mat with a blanket.

The Frys they were sentenced to two months of probation, 100 hours of community service and a fine of $12,500. Kenny Fry is the younger brother of Iowa State Rep. Joel Fry.

12-year-old boy adopted by Jonathan James Hay and Debra Ann Hay was handcuffed to a bed in a locked bedroom or cuffed by his hands and feet to a milk crate in a bathtub. The Hays' also put tape over the boy's mouth, taped socks to his hands to prevent him from trying to pick the locks and often fed him only oats and collard greens. The Hays were sentenced to 13 years in prison.

Michael Rivera was found dead in his crib. Two months later his younger sibling was also found dead. Both children were adopted by Anthony Rivera and his wife. A medical examiner labeled both deaths as homicides from blunt force trauma. Anthony Rivera was scheduled to go on trial February 2023, but a judge disqualified the prosecutors working on the case due to a potential conflict of interest.

3-year-old girl adopted from India by Wesley and Sini Mathews was found dead in a culvert in Richardson, Texas. She was reported missing by her adoptive father Wesley Mathews on October 7, 2017. Her body was found October 22, 2017, under a road in a culvert near her home. Mathews admitted to the disposing of her body on the same day the body was found.

14-year-old girl adopted from Ukraine by Alan and Aimee Friz was imprisoned, starved and sexually abused by her adoptive parents. Both adoptive parents pleaded guilty to neglect of a dependent after which they both received a suspended sentence of two years probation.

At the time 7-year-old girl adopted by Byron and Gwendalyn Buthman was deprived of food by her adoptive parenst, forced to sleep in a laundry room. She went into cardiac arrest due to being forced to stand outside in nothing but a diaper in cold temperatures. They received four years of probation and 300 hours of community service and were allowed to keep 4 other adopted children in their care.

Nine children adopted by John Elmer Bell and Joyce Marie Bell were physicially abused by their adoptive parents. They were given two years probabtion.

16-year-old girl adopted by Marc Ray and his wife, Misty Jo Bousman-Ray was tortured and starved to death. She was also sexually abused by her adoptive father.