Homeschooling’s 

Invisible Children

Hana Grace-Rose Williams

Content note: Case narratives include descriptions of severe violence inflicted on children, including abuse and neglect, sexual violence, torture, and murder, as well as mentions of suicide and domestic violence. They also include photos of victims and perpetrators of violence.

Hana Williams

Hana Williams was adopted from Ethiopia in 2008; three years later, at 13 years old, she was dead at the hands of her parents. Hana was denied food by her adoptive parents as a punishment, leaving her too thin to retain sufficient body heat when her parents put her out of the house in the cold Washington state weather as yet another punishment. She was found unresponsive, naked, and face down in a puddle. Larry and Carri Williams’ seven biological children and one other adopted child were taken into protective custody after Hana’s death. The couple had been homeschooling all nine of their children.

Date: May 12, 2011
Location: Sedro Woolley, Washington

Documents: Date:
To train up a child
Hana Grace-Rose Williams – Obituary 2011-05-12
Coroner: Adopted teen died of hypothermia in backyard 2011-08-01
Death of adopted girl outside in cold yard prompts CPS probe 2011-08-01
Questions Surround Death Of Hana Williams 2011-09-12
‘I think my daughter just killed herself,’ mother tells dispatcher 2011-09-27
Skagit County Sheriff Office Affidavit 2011-09-28
Case file: Parents starved and beat girl, locked her out in the cold 2011-09-30
Anderson Cooper 360: Interview with Michael Pearl 2011-10-26
Parents accused of killing adopted Ethiopian daughter ‘were inspired by religious discipline book 2011-10-27
Did Hana’s parents ‘train’ her to death? 2011-11-27
State officials investigating several cases of abuse of adopted children 2012-01-14
Mom accused in daughter’s abuse death is back in jail 2012-04-20
Report links rash of abuse, state adoption policy flaws 2012-10-20
Prosecutors file new charges against Williams couple 2012-11-22
Parents plead not guilty to killing adopted daughter; body to be exhumed 2012-11-28
Williams couple pleads not guilty in daughter’s death; Prosecutors’ request to exhume daughter’s body granted 2012-11-28
Local parents plead not guilty to killing adopted daughter 2012-11-29
Prosecutors take issue with defense expert in Williams case 2013-01-17