There's a "guidebook" out there somewhere. I'd like to find it and destroy it. These cases all start to sound exactly alike. One child scapegoated, the identical sick methods of abuse, isolation, a different face shown to the public. With Jeanette Maples' sad case so close to my home and heart, it kills me to have to start this thread. Bless those children....both of them. They will both carry the scars for the rest of their lives--the child who was abused and the one who was favored.
http://www.orientation.laurentian.ca/NR/rdonlyres/CEA7C81F-F7E7-4020-85B8-DD742FA50640/0/1990_13.pdf
CLINTON, NC -- A Clinton grandmother is accused of prolonged sexual and physical abuse of two children in her care. Investigators with the Sampson County Sheriff's Office arrested Veletta Wilkins Edwards, 55..."
and
"...A neighbor said Edwards called herself a religious leader who had turned her mobile home into a church with a cult-like following. "I think they called it Smiling Courtyard, and they had a couple members up there always dressed in white saying that white was symbol of purity..."
and
"....Investigators took two children - aged 8 and 9 - to the Sampson Regional Medical Center for evaluation. Deputies say the 8-year-old had scars all over the majority of her body and numerous burns that were infected due to lack of medical treatment...."
and
"....it was discovered that Edwards allegedly locked the 8-year-old in a room, without a bed or food, for several days at a time with only a bucket as a toilet. Tools were allegedly used to inflict physical injury, and the child was sometimes forced to sit in scalding water as punishment. The 8-old-child was also allegedly subjected to sexual abuse. The abuse was hidden from authorities because the children were homeschooled. Deputies said the older of the two children was not subjected to any physical harm...."
more at link
http://www.orientation.laurentian.ca/NR/rdonlyres/CEA7C81F-F7E7-4020-85B8-DD742FA50640/0/1990_13.pdf
CLINTON, NC -- A Clinton grandmother is accused of prolonged sexual and physical abuse of two children in her care. Investigators with the Sampson County Sheriff's Office arrested Veletta Wilkins Edwards, 55..."
and
"...A neighbor said Edwards called herself a religious leader who had turned her mobile home into a church with a cult-like following. "I think they called it Smiling Courtyard, and they had a couple members up there always dressed in white saying that white was symbol of purity..."
and
"....Investigators took two children - aged 8 and 9 - to the Sampson Regional Medical Center for evaluation. Deputies say the 8-year-old had scars all over the majority of her body and numerous burns that were infected due to lack of medical treatment...."
and
"....it was discovered that Edwards allegedly locked the 8-year-old in a room, without a bed or food, for several days at a time with only a bucket as a toilet. Tools were allegedly used to inflict physical injury, and the child was sometimes forced to sit in scalding water as punishment. The 8-old-child was also allegedly subjected to sexual abuse. The abuse was hidden from authorities because the children were homeschooled. Deputies said the older of the two children was not subjected to any physical harm...."
more at link