Homeschooling’s 

Invisible Children

1 Child of Rene Tibucio Valenzuela

A 14-year-old girl was physically and sexually abused by her father, Rene Tibucio Valenzuela, and locked in a small, dark empty bedroom for 15 months. The girl was only let out of the room for brief bathroom and meal breaks, and was occasionally allowed to shower. The girl escaped in 2005 by kicking in the bedroom […]

Elizabeth Smart

14-year-old Elizabeth Smart was abducted from her bedroom in Salt Lake City on June 5, 2002. Elizabeth was held captive by Brian David Mitchell, who considered himself a prophet, and his wife Wanda Ileen Barzee. Mitchell threatened, bound, and raped Elizabeth daily, treating her as his second wife and sex slave. The three traveled from […]

Jaycee Dugard and 2 Daughters

Jaycee Dugard was kidnapped from her home town of Lake Tahoe, on June 10, 1991. She was held captive by previously convicted kidnapper Phillip Garrido at his home in Antioch, California. Jaycee was kept handcuffed, locked in a bolted room, and then confined to a backyard surrounded by an 8 foot fence. Garrido sexually assaulted […]

Jessyca Mullenberg

13-year-old Jessyca Mullenberg was kidnapped from her father’s home in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, by her writing teacher, Steven Oliver, on September 16, 1995. Oliver and Jessyca drove to Kansas City, Missouri, and then flew to Houston, Texas. Oliver took Jessyca from motel to motel, presenting himself as her father and physically, sexually, and mentally abusing […]

Shawn Hornbeck

11-year-old Shawn Hornbeck was kidnapped on October 6, 2002, while he was out riding his bike. His abductor, Michael Devlin, kept Shawn captive at his home fifty miles away for four years, sexually assaulting the boy and creating pornography of their encounters. Neighbors were led to believe that the two were father and son. When […]

Two Children of Mother and J.S.

Savannah and Selena, both adopted, were subjected to horrific sexual abuse at the hands of their adult brother, Michael, who was also adopted. The couple, described only as Mother and J.S. in court documents, had three additional young adopted children and four additional older biological children. When Selena told their mother about her abuse at […]

Child by David Allen Goddard

David Allen Goddard homeschooled his wife’s adopted stepsister, T.B., who lived with the family, while his wife worked long hours as a nurse. T.B. came to live with the couple when she was 10, and Goddard’s sexual abuse of the girl began immediately. After years of grooming the abuse went from bad to worse, and […]

6 Children of Zion and Glenda Lea Dutro

Zion Dutro tortured and molested his four biological daughters and two adopted nieces over the course of two decades, with the assistance of his wife, Glenda Lea Dutro. Glenda would choose one of the girls and tell her it was her turn to “cuddle” with Zion. The abuse involved sodomy in addition to other sexual […]

15 Children of Robert Hale (Papa Pilgrim)

Robert Hale served as midwife at the births of all fifteen of his children. The family homesteaded, homeschooled (although little education took place), and lived in isolation in the Sangre de Cristo mountains of New Mexico until 1998, when Hale, who began calling himself Papa Pilgrim, moved his wife and children to Alaska. In 2002 […]

Child of Ardee Verlon Tyler and Penny Sue Tyler

Ardee Verlon Tyler and Penny Sue Tyler adopted five girls from Liberia in 2005. The couple had two older biological children. The second adopted daughter, age 8 when she first arrived in the family and 10 when the children were finally removed, was singled out for abuse by her adoptive parents. They tied her with […]