I think many are missing the point of the basement discussion. IMO the point is why were the girls moved to the basement so that a 23 yo man could have their room (or at least Celina's room) in a perfectly normal part of the house. And then you add that the girls were sleeping on air mattresses. We don't know the condition of the basement or if it even had heat, let alone able to be dolled up with sheets on the wall. I have a passion for old houses and look at ones for sale just for the heck of it. My DD loves them to and chooses them for rentals because of their craftmanship inside. However, most of these basements are not liviing spaces whatsoever. And they were never meant to be. IMO there is a good chance that the basement Celina slept in was not ideal. We just don't know yet.
Here is why I want answers about the basement. Were they being punished? Were they being put in their place? I don't know the answer. But I do know it is typical in child abuse cases for those children to be treated lesser than others in the family and made to sleep and live in less than ideal situations. Garages, tents, cold unfinished basements, etc. etc. I think the questions about the basement are valid and reasonable. JMO.
I may be the guilty that brought up the basement as a living space. My thoughts were more about the
convenience of entering & exiting house/basement, with Celina's body, without being heard or seen.
I thought of this because when my youngest son (of 3) was 15 y/o, he wanted a room of his own.
We had an old 3 bedroom house in CT, in which he had been sharing a BR with middle son.
He decided to fix up a section of the basement. We cleaned, scrubbed, painted, hung sheets, & put down a
new area rug. He slept on his mattress/box springs, & used a small chest of drawers for his "night stand" etc.
He never used the basement's cellar doors to enter & exit, because the main back door was right at the top of
the basement stairs, & off of the kitchen... which also had a shower/bathroom right there, also. Even if he wanted
to sneak in & out, while the rest of the fam was asleep in other bedrooms, he would've still used the main backdoor,
without being seen or heard
What I kept thinking about was, if someone did anything to my son, while he was in the basement, and wanted to
take him out, the cellar doors would've definitely been used.
I just kept thinking that Celina's poor little body was taken out through the cellar doors in her house.
