'13 children held captive in their California home'

MSVforever · 16-01-2018 08:35PM

Total scum and waste of oxygen. Should get the death penalty.

georgina toadbum · 16-01-2018 08:38PM

whoopsadoodles wrote: »

Not normally one to speculate but I've an awfully sick feeling that at least one of the younger children will turn out to be a child of the older ones and their father

This is exactly what I thought when I read it. *shudder*

RDM_83 again · 16-01-2018 08:39PM

Candie wrote: »

Home schooling is a red flag. 90% + of homeschoolers are fundamental religious types who are often completely paranoid about their kids coming in contact with anything that might contradict their world view.

Have you lived in the USA because if your making that statement about the UK/Ireland you don't have a clue as it's way way off.

It's generally harmless (potentially clueless) hippy dippy types who are about as far from the fundamentalist Christian bogeyman you can get.

Spanish Eyes · 16-01-2018 08:40PM

MSVforever wrote: »

Total scum and waste of oxygen. Should get the death penalty.

I do not agree with the death penalty. They will be given 40 years to life in an orange suit, that is a much more severe penalty for them.

And their children will live on and hopefully enjoy life and not have to visit them ever.

Could be happening on any street in fundie Christian America. And I agree, home schooling should be a big fkn red flag and require regular inspections. But this is America. Everyone is free to do what they want including killing people at will with guns everywhere.

They chose California carefully I think.

splinter65 · 16-01-2018 08:42PM

castletownman wrote: »

Well I saw pictures on the lunch-time news earlier of what appeared to be a family day out. And every one of them were wearing matching clothes. Like literally decked out as if they were part of an Olympic team during the opening ceremony. With #1, #2 etc printed on each individual kids top. Immediately screamed out to me as "religious nutjob parents" when I saw it.

The poor children couldn't have had any sort of life. The phrase "you never know what goes on behind closed doors" is particularly relevant here.

Those t-shirts are replicas of the ones from “The Cat in the Hat” by Dr Seuss

splinter65 · 16-01-2018 08:47PM

wakka12 wrote: »

I find it so hard to believe nobody noticed anything though. 14 people living in a suburban house is a very unique and noticeable thing in of itself. Surely at least one of the neighbours must have noticed that they never ever seen any of these 12 children outside at all anymore

At least one of the neighbors interviewed by news teams on the street outside the house claimed to have had suspicions, never saw the kids in the front yard, kids seemed very thin etc but don’t appear to have acted on those suspicions.
I’ve lived next door to some odd activity myself over the years but never raised any flags myself.

splinter65 · 16-01-2018 08:49PM

9or10 wrote: »

From the Beeb

When we lived in the UK - commuter town - we saw one set of neighbours for the first time the day we left, and we lived there 16 years. Everyone just gets on with there own thing.

UK, especially the sth east, is a great place if you want to be private.

16-01-2018 08:53PM

RDM_83 again wrote: »

Have you lived in the USA because if your making that statement about the UK/Ireland you don't have a clue as it's way way off.

It's generally harmless (potentially clueless) hippy dippy types who are about as far from the fundamentalist Christian bogeyman you can get.

For a long timd I never heard about it in Ireland to the point I thought it wasnt allowed here, but the first and only time I've read about a home school, they were exactly that, a crazy religious evangelical family.

Spanish Eyes · 16-01-2018 08:58PM

splinter65 wrote: »

At least one of the neighbors interviewed by news teams on the street outside the house claimed to have had suspicions, never saw the kids in the front yard, kids seemed very thin etc but don’t appear to have acted on those suspicions.
I’ve lived next door to some odd activity myself over the years but never raised any flags myself.

Problem is privacy laws, and if you get it wrong, you are vilified, so most people just stay schtum. Unless they have visible evidence of something, and even then it is very difficult to make a complaint.

I don't know what the solution is. But with all this Data Protection and privacy stuff it is no doubt difficult to raise a suspicion.

Terrible, and it is no doubt replicated in lots of places, thankfully this family is free, but may need years of therapy and beyond to be ok.

Unusual that relatives didn't visit either. They must have put on such a show in Disney and so on, cannot understand how someone of the thirteen didn't leg it there, but anyway, control can probably feck you up big time.

Add to that, the fact that this controlling parent set up who ostensibly were Fundamental Christians (surprise surprise) chose to renew their wedding vows with a plastic Elvis. Jaysis.

Ralf and Florian · 16-01-2018 09:04PM

They don't look at all nuts.

pri_65749242.jpg?w=748&h=427&crop=1

Spanish Eyes · 16-01-2018 09:23PM

Scary thing is it could be happening in lots of places.

The home schooling thing is a big flag. The children are not seen by anyone.

BattleCorp · 16-01-2018 09:27PM

riffmongous wrote: »

For a long timd I never heard about it in Ireland to the point I thought it wasnt allowed here, but the first and only time I've read about a home school, they were exactly that, a crazy religious evangelical family.

I know people from my town that were home schooled by their parents and they seem quite normal and certainly aren't religious nuts. The kids all did very well academically and are doing well in life.

Spanish Eyes · 16-01-2018 09:30PM

BattleCorp wrote: »

I know people from my town that were home schooled by their parents and they seem quite normal and certainly aren't religious nuts. The kids all did very well academically and are doing well in life.

But you obviously saw them and interracted with them to know this.

The case we are talking about had none of that.

BattleCorp · 16-01-2018 09:37PM

Spanish Eyes wrote: »

But you obviously saw them and interracted with them to know this.

The case we are talking about had none of that.

That's true but America isn't as sociable a place as here. There are millions of people over there who wouldn't know or interact with their neighbours. And I'd say there are millions more who barely even know what their neighbours look like.

It would be harder to get away with that carry on here but I can see how it could happen over there. People don't go poking their nose into other people's business lest they get it shot off.

Spanish Eyes · 16-01-2018 09:41PM

BattleCorp wrote: »

That's true but America isn't as sociable a place as here. There are millions of people over there who wouldn't know or interact with their neighbours. And I'd say there are millions more who barely even know what their neighbours look like.

It would be harder to get away with that carry on here but I can see how it could happen over there. People don't go poking their nose into other people's business lest they get it shot off.

To be fair, this family of fifteen people were not living out in the wilds either. They had neighbours next door judging by the pics I've seen.

I think it could happen here too no problem. The days of dropping into the neighbours is long gone now given the hours people have to work, and no one wants to interrupt other people's lives.

That's the way it is now. But I accept that maybe here it might be noticed, only because home schooling is not the norm and kids might be missed at school.

America is a strange place.

JP Liz V1 · 16-01-2018 09:45PM

Ralf and Florian wrote: »

They don't look at all nuts.

Which is the mother

father looks like Joan Bruton

Such despicable act by parents, those kids scarred for life

16-01-2018 11:15PM

RDM_83 again wrote: »

Have you lived in the USA because if your making that statement about the UK/Ireland you don't have a clue as it's way way off.

It's generally harmless (potentially clueless) hippy dippy types who are about as far from the fundamentalist Christian bogeyman you can get.

I went to college and worked in California for years. While there's a huge amount of hippy types who homeschool there, the great majority of American homeschoolers are fundie religious types.

The only person I know in Ireland who homeschooled their kid said it was because they hated their kid having to conform to the rules of behaviour, but it was quite clearly because they hated getting up in the morning and sticking to a schedule.

I don't know why you think I'd be making the statement about Ireland when the case is in California.

splinter65 · 17-01-2018 12:23AM

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

Which is the mother father looks like Joan Bruton

Such despicable act by parents, those kids scarred for life

I think the police were implying that she’s a fruit loop.
She was “perplexed” as to why her kids shouldn’t be starving and chained to radiators.
That’s enough .

KKkitty · 17-01-2018 12:36AM

Did not one relation see the kids over the years and not think something was up? I kinda get why their neighbours said nothing though. That might come across as bad but some people once they go home leave stuff like that at the door. I still can't believe that some of the kids are in their 20's. They look half that.

Peregrinus · 17-01-2018 02:13AM

KKkitty wrote: »

Did not one relation see the kids over the years and not think something was up? . . .

Reportedly, the family was estranged from the kids grandparents (I don't know whether that was on the mother's side or the father's side) who lived in another state.

Chrongen · 17-01-2018 03:06AM

Fann Linn wrote: »

It will be interesting to see how many times health and social care officials called to this home over 29 years and found no problems!

Bet you're hoping for that.

KKkitty · 17-01-2018 03:16AM

Peregrinus wrote: »

Reportedly, the family was estranged from the kids grandparents (I don't know whether that was on the mother's side or the father's side) who lived in another state.

It just seems far fetched to me that not one close family member saw these kids and said to themselves that something isn't right here. I know people can look younger than they are but none of them look old enough to buy alcohol here let alone in America. I'm just hoping there wasn't Josef Fritzl style abuse going on here. I feel so bad for those kids who will undoubtedly have to go through so much to get back to some semblance of normality after all that they've been through.

previous user · 17-01-2018 03:23AM

There really should be a test that you have to study for to have kids maybe even a psychopath test.

Peregrinus · 17-01-2018 05:28AM

KKkitty wrote: »

It just seems far fetched to me that not one close family member saw these kids and said to themselves that something isn't right here . . . .

I understand your point, but it really depends on their having been close family members around to see the kids in the first place. And the media reports suggest that this couple lived a long way from their extended family. His parents live in West Virginia; they last saw their grandchildren four or five years ago. She has a sister living in Tennessee. Contact was maintained through Facebook and the like, where the family projected a more-or-less normal image. OK, a bit weird, but not chained-to-the-bed abusive.

There's an article on the case by a forensic psychologist here; largely speculative, since at this point we know so little, but he does have some insight into how situations like this develop. Isolation is definitely part of it, and in modern suburban living isolation is very easy to achieve.

BattleCorp · 17-01-2018 07:30AM

I've looked at the family's FB page and this family wasn't really like the Fritzls. They weren't locked up 24/7. Occasionally they were out and about in public places in some of the pics. They had plenty of opportunities to run away. The parents must have had mad control over them.

Cunning Stunt · 17-01-2018 07:54AM

Chrongen wrote: »

Fann Linn wrote: »

It will be interesting to see how many times health and social care officials called to this home over 29 years and found no problems!

Bet you're hoping for that.

Social services have never been there according to a quote from sheriffs office in the article on breakingnews.ie

For those talking about who gave birthto the ypunger kids, Sky news says police confirmed at a press conference that they are all the biological kids of the two suspects.

Fann Linn · 17-01-2018 07:59AM

Chrongen wrote: »

Bet you're hoping for that.

Why do you reckon that?
I was surmising whether this was like the Rose West case where Social care officials had raised some prior issues but never acted on them.
Thats all.

_Dara_ · 17-01-2018 09:39AM

Ush1 wrote: »

Brings to mind the Jaycee Lee Duggard case. Some truly evil people out there.

And the quite well known case of Genie, the victim of child neglect in LA in the '70s:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genie_(feral_child)

_Dara_ · 17-01-2018 09:46AM

Lollipops23 wrote: »

it's pretty unlikely the ma gave birth at 46....

Well, I dunno, my husband's granny had her last child at 46! :eek: But yeah, it's a bit unlikely.

Peregrinus · 17-01-2018 09:48AM

Media are reporting that the police have confirmed that all 13 children are the biological children of the two parents.

Obviously, they had the same suspicions as have been voiced in this thread, since they tested. But the suspicions seem unfounded.

'13 children held captive in their California home'

Comments