Tai-Ling Gigliotti, an accomplished musician who was employed in a local orchestra, adopted her biological nephew from Taiwan when he was four years old. In 2007, she removed him from school, telling school officials she planned to homeschool him. Whether she followed this with the proper paperwork for her state is unclear. Two years later, at age 16, the boy ran away from home and told of horrifying abuse at the hands of his adoptive mother. Gigliotti had regularly stripped the teen naked and beat him brutally with a board and a hose; she locked him in a bathroom at night and during the day when she went to work. When he ran away the boy was covered with bruises and lacerations and had a broken arm. Gigliotti claimed that the teen was rebellious and that she only acted in self defense. Despite these claims, she was sentenced to fifteen years in prison.
Date: February 11, 2009
Location: Spring Hill, Florida
