Homeschooling’s 

Invisible Children

3 Children of Mary Corrigan

Mary Corrigan, 33, was charged with child neglect after it was discovered that she locked her three children, 6, 8, and 10, naked in a bathroom for long periods of time and forced them to drink vinegar, eat hot peppers, and take cold showers as a punishment for bad language. The children were also malnourished […]

4 Children of Vanessa and Ray Jackson

Vanessa and Ray Jackson systematically starved their four adopted sons, beat them with brooms, rulers, sticks, shoes, and belt buckles, and choked them. When they were found, Bruce, 19, weighed 45 pounds; Keith, 14, weighed 41 pounds; Tyrone, 10, weighed 28 pounds; and Michael, 9, weighed 23 pounds. Vanessa kept the kitchen locked up and […]

Child of Rebecca Long and Jon Pomeroy

Rebecca Long, 44, and Jon Pomeroy, 43, have been charged with first-degree and second-degree criminal mistreatment in what the local sheriff’s investigators called “the worst case of child abuse they had ever seen.” A 14 year old girl, Pomeroy’s biological daughter and Long’s stepdaughter, was deprived of food and water for years, and weighed less […]

Marcus Holloway

10 year old Marcus Holloway died of severe malnutrition after his mother, Candice Holloway, and her boyfriend, Private Connell C. Williams, 32, fed him only water and rice cakes over the course of several months as a punishment for eating too many sweets. During this time, Marcus was locked in a room described as being […]

16 Children of Marcus Wesson

Marcus Delon Wessen was convicted of 9 counts of first-degree murder and 14 sex crimes. He raped and molested his underage daughters, even fathering children with some of them. He homeschooled the children and taught them that he was God and that they must prepare for Armageddon. He taught the girls that they were to […]

Child of Roberto Fortin II

A 7-year-old boy, son of Roberto Fortin II, was brought to the hospital severely malnourished, in diapers, and covered with infected wounds. His stepmother said the boy was being homeschooled. The family lived in Florida. Date: August 2010 Location: Miami, Florida

5 Children of Thomas and Susan Lavery

Thomas Lavery, 57, plead guilty to attempted child endangerment after being accused of bullying his five homeschooled children to win spelling bees and excel academically by beating them and forcing them to study for long periods without sleep or bathroom breaks. Lavery also jumped on his daughter, Marjory, and threatening to kill her after she […]

Child of Paul and Debbie Salvetti

Paul and Debbie Salvetti’s 13 year old adopted son escaped imprisonment in a room of their home by kicking through a wall into another bedroom. He went to his former public school the next day to notify a staff member there about the abuse. He weighed 87 pounds at the time of his escape, two […]

6 Children of Maj. John and Carolyn Jackson

John and Carolyn Jackson homeschooled their three biological children and their three foster or adopted children through their local church. One foster or adopted daughter died in 2008. The Jacksons are not being charged in that death. The five living Jackson children were removed from the home in 2010 after one child was hospitalized with […]

Child of Ernest and Cynthia Davison

Officials responding to a child neglect tip found a 5 year old adopted girl weighing only 21 pounds. Her body showed signs of having been restrained for long periods of time. She and her three siblings, all of whom were adopted and had special needs, were removed from their adoptive parents home and placed in […]