Missouri AG details ‘horrific’ abuse in charges against girls reform school owners
BY LAURA BAUER, JUDY L. THOMAS, AND JEANNE KUANG
Calling the abuse at a southwest Missouri reform school “extensive and horrific,” Attorney General Eric Schmitt announced Wednesday a long list of charges against its owners.
Boyd and Stephanie Householder, who owned Circle of Hope Girls Ranch in Cedar County until it closed in September, have been charged with 102 crimes — all but one are felonies — that include statutory rape, sodomy and physical abuse.
“The charging documents allege extensive and horrific sexual, physical and mental abuse perpetrated by the Householders,” said Schmitt, who held a news conference at noon Wednesday at the Capitol in Jefferson City.
“With 16 victims so far, we believe this to be one of the most widespread cases of sexual, physical and mental abuse patterns against young girls and women in Missouri history.”
Probable cause statements regarding the charges have been sealed. Details of the alleged abuse were “not for the faint of heart,” Schmitt said.
Boyd Householder, 71, was charged in Cedar County with 79 felonies, including six counts of second-degree statutory rape; seven counts of second-degree statutory sodomy; six counts of sexual contact with a student; one count of second-degree child molestation; 56 counts of abuse or neglect of a child; and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child. One count of second-degree child molestation is a misdemeanor.
Stephanie Householder, 55, was charged with 22 felonies, including 12 counts of abuse or neglect of a child and 10 counts of endangering the welfare of a child. She’s accused of using duct tape to bind the wrists of a student.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the couple was still in custody and scheduled to be arraigned later in the day.
“There are no words that I can say here today to describe the mix of great sadness, horror, disgust and sympathy that I feel about these reports of cruel and almost unbelievable abuse and neglect,” Schmitt said. “We intend to do everything within the power of this office to get justice for the 16 victims we’ve identified so far, and their families, and pursue truth and justice vigorously through our courts.”
In an earlier interview with The Star, the Householders denied that they ever abused a student.
The Cedar County Sheriff’s Office opened an investigation of Circle of Hope last year. After reviewing the case, Cedar County prosecutor Ty Gaither requested the attorney general’s help in mid-November, saying his county did not have the resources to handle the case on its own. Missouri Gov. Mike Parson directed the attorney general’s office to assist with the investigation and possible prosecution.
Twenty-two of the charges against Boyd Householder allege repeated statutory sodomy, statutory rape and sexual contact with a student. The charges detail multiple incidents of oral and sexual intercourse with a victim under the age of 17 and several instances in which Boyd Householder allegedly placed his finger in the victim’s vagina.
The charges detail former students’ allegations of physical abuse by the Householders. The incidents included being restrained by Boyd Householder, who would push his knee into the backs of several girls and apply pressure to certain areas of their bodies, handcuff or restrain their hands and feet, and force them to remain in the “push-up position” for long periods.
The charges also allege that Boyd Householder slammed girls’ heads or bodies against walls, slapped or struck them with his hands, a belt or other objects, shoved one girl’s face into horse manure and poured hot sauce down a girl’s throat.
In another incident, Boyd Householder is accused of forcing a girl to drink at least 220 ounces of water, run a mile until she vomited and then run again. And another count says Boyd Householder told several girls that the best way to commit suicide was “by cutting your wrists upwards, not across.”
According to court documents, Stephanie Householder acted with criminal negligence in a manner that “created a substantial risk to the life, body and health” of one former student. Stephanie Householder restrained the girl in a secluded room with no light or sound for an extended period of time on more than one occasion, documents said.
She faces numerous charges that involve restraining students and is also charged with allowing her husband to have continued contact with several girls after he physically assaulted them.
The allegations mirror what former students told The Star, which has been investigating Missouri’s faith-based boarding schools since last summer.
The Householders’ daughter, Amanda Householder, who led the effort to shut down Circle of Hope and has called for an investigation into abuse there and at other Missouri boarding schools, said the charges against her parents were bittersweet.
“It didn’t really hit me until I saw their mug shots,” she told The Star. “I don’t want my parents to go to jail. That’s something that I never wanted. But I’m happy they’re being held accountable.”
She said she believes the girls’ stories of abuse.
“One hundred percent,” Amanda Householder said. “I know what they went through is true.”
Missouri currently has no oversight of Christian reform schools, which has allowed abuse and neglect to go unchecked for decades. The Star’s investigation prompted a Lee’s Summit legislator to request a hearing, which led to legislation now moving through the General Assembly that would for the first time require some regulation of these schools.
Lawmakers and child advocates said they were happy to see the Circle of Hope criminal case progress.
“Now our hope is that we can pair the justice being served in this case with improving the system, which must be done through policy change,” said Jessica Seitz, of Missouri KidsFirst, who has testified at two hearings.
The measure will have a hearing on Thursday, said Rep. Keri Ingle, who pushed for change after reading The Star’s first story on Circle of Hope. She attended Schmitt’s news conference.
“I think that anyone who’s listening to the counts and the details within the counts is going to be absolutely horrified and chilled,” said Ingle, D-Lee’s Summit. “It shocks the conscience what has happened to these kids, these incredibly strong survivors that are willing to come forward and tell their stories where they were essentially tortured, so I don’t know how that would not be compelling.”
In recent years, the state has substantiated four reports of abuse and neglect involving Circle of Hope, according to the Missouri Department of Social Services. One was for neglect, one for physical abuse and neglect and two for sexual abuse allegations.
But because the faith-based facility is exempt from state licensure, the state did not have authority over Circle of Hope’s operations.
The property sits on 35 acres along Highway N about seven miles from Humansville in Cedar County.
The Householders closed the boarding school shortly after authorities removed about two dozen girls in mid-August amid an investigation by the Cedar County Sheriff’s Office.
In a nearly two-hour phone interview with The Star in September, Boyd and Stephanie Householder said the allegations of physical, sexual and emotional abuse were all lies, the machination of their estranged, troubled daughter and a group of girls whose lives didn’t turn out the way they wanted after they left the ranch.
This is the girls’ revenge, the Householders said, their plan to ruin the couple’s lives and shut them down.
“They’re angry and they’re bitter, and they want to blame somebody,” said Stephanie Householder. “They feel like they’re victims, and they just want to take their anger out on somebody.”
Before opening Circle of Hope in 2006, the Householders lived in nearby Stockton, where Boyd Householder worked at Agape Boarding School, a Christian home for troubled boys.
Schmitt said the investigation is ongoing and that the attorney general’s office is continually working to identify and contact victims. He urged anyone who has any information related to the alleged abuse at Circle of Hope Girls Ranch to contact the office at 573-751-0309.