Wakefield woman found guilty of locking kids in room, feeding them sparingly
WAKEFIELD, Neb. -- A Wakefield woman was found guilty Thursday of locking two of her children in a bedroom and feeding them only once a day.
A jury deliberated for about two hours before determining Angel Henderson was guilty of two counts of felony child abuse.
Both charges carry maximum prison sentences of 50 years. Sentencing was set for Feb. 19 in Dixon County District Court.
The four-day trial was conducted at the Wakefield Event Center to enable more social distancing because of the coronavirus pandemic. An August trial at the Dixon County Courthouse in Ponca ended in a mistrial after jurors and court personnel were potentially exposed to COVID-19.
Henderson, 44, and her husband, Patrick, were arrested in January 2019 and charged with locking two of their children in a bedroom, allowing them to leave only to go to the bathroom and feeding them only once a day or not at all if they didn't finish their school work.
If the children, who were homeschooled, left their bedroom for any reason, Angel Henderson would choke, kick or hit them, court documents said. The children, ages 9 and 14 at the time, also told authorities they were forced to sleep in pajamas that had the arms sewn to the side and the legs sewn together and wear stocking hats pulled down over faces.
Sheriff's deputies found the then-14-year-old son wearing the one-piece pajamas in the back of a vehicle on Jan. 19, 2018, after Angel Henderson had reported him missing.
Two other children, age 13 and 6 at the time, also were living at the home, but there was no indication they had been mistreated.
All four children, who had been adopted by the Hendersons, were removed from the home and placed into the custody of the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. Court records show that at least one of the children has since been adopted by another family.
Patrick Henderson, 56, pleaded guilty and was sentenced in November 2019 to four years in prison on two counts of child abuse, one of them a felony and the other a misdemeanor.