An 11-year-old girl, K., was starved, imprisoned, and abused by her legal guardians, Margaret and Charles Breeze. K. was homeschooled. Other children in the home were not reported to be abused.
K. went to live with the Breezes in 2013. Margaret Breeze was the third cousin of K.’s biological mother, who claimed that K. had a mental health condition and thought Breeze could help. In order to gain custody as a foster parent in Bracken County, Kentucky, Breeze falsely claimed to be certified as a foster parent in Ohio. “She claimed she had raised three children of her own and a 1-year-old granddaughter.” Breeze also briefly cared for K.’s biological sister.
While the Breezes lived in a house, they kept K. locked in a trailer in the backyard, which they monitored with a video feed. K. was forced to sleep on a urine-stained mattress and wear a diaper. Her entire food intake consisted of rice each day at midnight; when she was rescued, she weighed only 47 lbs. and was diagnosed with Kwashiorkor, a rare protein deficiency normally only found in famine victims. In 2015, the girl’s biological mother found out that the Breezes were beating and waterboarding K. and allegedly unsuccessfully attempted to regain custody. At K.’s last doctor visit in 2016, she was underweight. In 2017, Joie Jodrey, Charles Breeze’s sister, reported that the Breezes were abusing K.; it is unclear what the results of that report were.
The abuse finally came to light in 2019 when K. told a teacher administering an online test that she was hungry and reported her limited food intake. The teacher reported concerns to the authorities. The Breezes were charged with child endangerment, kidnapping, and assault. K. was hospitalized for several days on the verge of liver failure; she recovered and is “thriving” in her new home, where she gained 15 lbs. in two months.
Date: September 13, 2019
Location: Georgetown, Ohio
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