Torture abuse cases

A 15-year-old girl,  an 11-year-old boy, an 11-year-old girl, adopted by Jim and Paige Nachtigal,  were beaten, starved, and tortured by their adoptive parents,  The children were taken out of public school in 2014 to be homeschooled.

Date: 2016-02-16

Placement type: Adoption

Type of abuse: Non-lethal physical abuse, Non-lethal neglect, Non-lethal deprivation

Abuser: Adoptive father, Foster mother

Home schooling: yes

Fundamentalist faith: yes

Location

North Newton, Kansas
United States

See map: Google Maps

Two girls, age 11 and 13, and an adult male, adopted by David and Rejeana Moss, were being kept locked away and were physically abused by their adoptive parents. The two girls alleged sexual abuse by David Moss as well.

Date: 2014-09-12

Placement type: Adoption

Type of abuse: Non-lethal physical abuse, Sexual abuse, Non-lethal neglect, Non-lethal deprivation

Abuser: Adoptive father, Adoptive mother

Home schooling: yes

Location

Dorset Township, Ohio
United States

See map: Google Maps

Actress and talk-show host Pridine Fru was imprisoned and physically and sexually abused by her adoptive parents, Joseph and Evelyn  Djoumessi, from the time she was illegally adopted at age 14 until she was rescued at age 17.

Date: 2000-02-24

Placement type: Adoption

Type of abuse: Non-lethal physical abuse, Sexual abuse, Non-lethal deprivation

Abuser: Adoptive father, Adoptive mother

Home schooling: yes

Location

Farmington Hills, Michigan
United States

See map: Google Maps

A 14-year-old girl adopted by a couple from Sedgwick County, Kansas, was tortured by her adoptive parents, locked in the basement and withheld food.

Kansas Department for Children and Families had received concerns about the girl’s treatment nine time in a little more than five years, but found there was not “clear and convincing” evidence that abuse had occurred.

Date: 2014-03-28

Placement type: Adoption

Type of abuse: Non-lethal physical abuse, Non-lethal neglect, Non-lethal deprivation

Abuser: Adoptive father, Adoptive mother

Location

Sedgwick County, Kansas
United States

See map: Google Maps

16-year-old girl adopted by Richard and Rana Cooper was systematically abused by her adoptive mother. Rana Cooper is accused of forcing the girl to eat used cat litter, attempting to gouge the girl’s eyes out and trying to sew her mouth shut. Allegedly she also forced the girl to run her finger along the rim of the toilet and eat what was on her finger.

Date: 2014-10-09

Placement type: Adoption

Type of abuse: Non-lethal physical abuse

Abuser: Adoptive mother

Location

Avella, Pennsylvania
United States

See map: Google Maps

Two girls, aged 11 and 13, adopted five years prior by  Johann and Kimery Jorg were systematically abused by their adoptive parents. Both girls were made to sleep outside using a bucket for a bathroom, and they were not allowed to wear clothes. They were forced to run barefoot in the heat for hours and beaten with a wooden paddle as punishment for supposed “lying and stealing”. The older girl’s hair was also shaved off as punishment. They were systematically deprived of food.

Date: 2014-05-30

Placement type: Adoption

Type of abuse: Non-lethal physical abuse, Non-lethal neglect, Non-lethal deprivation

Abuser: Adoptive father, Adoptive mother

Home schooling: yes

Fundamentalist faith: yes

Location

Peoria, Arizona
United States

See map: Google Maps

A nine-year-old girl, a seven-year-old boy and a six-year-old boy adopted by Charles and Suzan Sealock were physically abused by their adoptive parents. The seven-year-old boy was being locked in his room.

The Sealocks had a child of their own who showed no sign of abuse.

Date: 2014-09-07

Placement type: Adoption

Type of abuse: Non-lethal physical abuse, Non-lethal neglect, Non-lethal deprivation

Abuser: Adoptive father, Adoptive mother

Home schooling: yes

Location

Dandridge, Tennessee
United States

See map: Google Maps

An adopted girl and foster child in care of Sharon Wilkerson were beaten with various instruments, including an arrow, a plumbing supply line, a curtain rod and hangers.

Date: 2010-10-01

Placement type: Adoption

Type of abuse: Non-lethal physical abuse

Abuser: Adoptive mother

Home schooling: yes

Location

Troy, Missouri
United States

See map: Google Maps

An 11-year-old boy in foster care with Wanda Sue Larson and Dorian Harper was found on the porch in his underwear, handcuffed and a dead chicken tied around his neck. Wanda Sue Larson and Dorian Harper also had four adopted children which were underfed, and regularly chained to pieces of rail road. Larson was a supervisor for the Union County Department of Social Services, North Carolina.

Date: 2013-11-18

Placement type: Adoption

Type of abuse: Non-lethal physical abuse, Non-lethal neglect, Non-lethal deprivation

Abuser: Adoptive mother

Home schooling: yes

Location

Monroe, North Carolina
United States

See map: Google Maps

Adopted at age two, by Christine Morgan and her now deceased husband, Lita Morgan was systematically abused at the hands of her adoptive mother. She was forced to drink bleach from a cloth used to clean toilets and her head was held under the bath water until she couldn’t breathe. Christine Morgan also threatened to kill her adopted daughter, hit her on a regular basis, kept the girl locked in her room and dressed her in dirty clothes.

Date: 2012-10-31

Placement type: Adoption

Type of abuse: Non-lethal physical abuse, Non-lethal neglect, Non-lethal deprivation

Abuser: Adoptive mother

Location

Romsey, Hampshire
United Kingdom

A 12-year-old girl, adopted by Dave and Wonda Dixon, was allegedly sexually and physically abused. She was also deprived of food. The Dixon's had adopted a total of 10 children.

Date: 2013-08-21

Placement type: Adoption

Type of abuse: Non-lethal physical abuse, Sexual abuse, Non-lethal deprivation

Abuser: Adoptive father, Adoptive mother

Home schooling: yes

Location

Lubbock, Texas
United States

See map: Google Maps

age 1       undated

In 1998 Jeffrey Baldwin and a sister were placed by Catholic Children's Aid with his maternal grandparents Elva Bottineau and Norman Kidman, who had been convicted of child abuse in 1970 and 1978 respectively. The grandparents had been given custody of 2 other siblings earlier. Jeffrey died 4 years later, after he and his next oldest sister had been starved, beaten, locked in an unheated room and forced to drink from a toilet. Jeffrey was never toilet trained and denied schooling. The 2 other siblings were trained to treat Jeffrey and his sister as 'pigs'. Jeffrey died at age 5 of septic shock from pneumonia complicated by his starvation. He was covered with wounds and weighed 21 lbs; one pound less than he weighed for his 12 month doctor visit.

There were 6 adults and 6 children under age 10 in the home. Bottineau and Kidman used the children as a source of income.  Bottineau and Kidman were convicted of 2nd degree murder and sentenced to 22 and 20 years, respectively.

See also
Children's Aid Society workers should be reined in, critics say
Kevin Libin: Readers detail rarely-seen ugly side of child-protection agencies

Date: 2002-11-30

Placement type: Adoption

Type of abuse: Non-lethal physical abuse, Lethal neglect, Lethal deprivation, Economic exploitation

Abuser: Foster father, Foster mother

Location

Toronto, Ontario
Canada

See map: Google Maps

A boy, adopted by Lee M Rager and  Diana J. Haley was allegedly tortured by his adoptive parents. He was kept locked in his room and tied up while being beaten. The boy was removed from school twice to prevent further investigations into child abuse.

Date: 2013-07-22

Placement type: Adoption

Type of abuse: Non-lethal physical abuse, Non-lethal deprivation

Abuser: Adoptive father, Adoptive mother

Home schooling: yes

Location

Fort Wayne, Indiana
United States

See map: Google Maps

Five year old boy Faisal died six months after leaving the orphanage in the guardianship of a 33 year old married Saudi Man. The boy was beaten and burned due to incontinence issues. Within a week of placement, Faisal came back to the orphanage and begged to be allowed to return.
He died in the hospital from a brain hemorrhage shortly after being admitted with head trauma, internal injuries and burns. This is a probably kafalah guardianship - the articles list both adoption and fostering.

Date: 2013-06-21

Placement type: Legal Guardianship

Institution: Dar Al Diafa orphanage, government run

Type of abuse: Lethal physical abuse

Abuser: Legal guardian

Location

Riyadh
Saudi Arabia

11-year-old Lucretia and 12-year-old Sabrina, both orphans, adopted by philanthropist Thomas Day, were "trained-up" to become his wife.   Soon after he acquired the girls, he changed the girls’ names and moved to France with the purpose of isolating them from other English speakers and keeping them free from other influence.  Thomas Day quickly abandoned Lucretia because he found her to be "perfectly stupid". Sabrina was kept longer.  In an attempt to make her strong, Day tortured her physically by dripping hot wax on her back and arms while insisting she not scream in pain. Eventually he abandoned Sabrina too.

Placement type: Adoption

Type of abuse: Non-lethal physical abuse

Abuser: Adoptive father

Location

United Kingdom