KS - Alex & Jennifer Wood for starving 6 & 7yo girls, Wichita, 2006

[raisincharlie]

How could anyone treat innocent children like this? There is a special place in hell for this mother and the girls' father. I am always interested in seeing pictures of the parents because they are usually big, fat pigs who haven't missed a meal.

nanandjim,

I so appreciate your directness, you always make me smile

Let us hope there is indeed a special hell for these miserable excuses for human beings. I cannot even begin, nor do I want to understand such individuals - they need to be locked away and placed on a special diet IMO.

 

[shdbepaintin]

These kids were singled out and starved on purpose. Sure they could have fixed something for themselves, but they were locked in the basement. Her own biological children were well fed, so obviously, she had food in the house. Whenever we hear about cases like this, there is usually one or more other children in the house who are treated just fine. This woman must have resented the fact that this "baggage" from his other relaionship had to live with them, so out of sight, out of mind.

I agree 100%. What I meant in reference to a child getting something for themselves is just what you are saying, they were not allowed. So it wasn't just she wouldn't do for them, she wouldn't let them either, yet took care of her own. Just awful.

 

[kwatson696]

Tidy home masked girls' abuse

BY TIM POTTER AND CATHERINE HO

The Wichita Eagle

Neighbors say they would have called police had they suspected that two children were deliberately kept from food and water in the basement of this house.


It is a well-kept house stocked with plenty of food, police say.

Potted plants line the porch. Plastic playground equipment crowds the backyard. The family's SUV bears a "God Bless America" sticker and a Kansas National Guard license plate.

But something terrible happened there, police say, and some neighbors say they feel guilty for not noticing something might have been wrong.


More at link below:
http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/15115228.htm

 

[mom3dd]

Doesn't make any sense not to show her picture and name they do it all the time when someone is arrested. And I wonder if the loosley used "father" came home this weekend or might he be on the run. :banghead:

 

[opme]

It absolutely escapes me how anyone would nto have noticed the detoriating condtion of these 2 gilrs... or for that matter fathom how any "parent" could sit eating a meal with the "family" while these 2 children are locked in the basement with no food or water... :furious: I will never comprehend how anyone could day after day inflict such harm on any child regardless of blood ties or not. Those poor children.. all I can say is that I hope they are placed away from the other 2 step kids, in a safe, warm adn loving home with people who truly know the meaning of nuture and love. I hope they are provided with the medical care and counseling they will need... The other 2 children will also need counseling.. I fear that they too have been impacted psychologically by their sick role models..

 

[mom3dd]

Oops should have searched more.
http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/15117782.htm
Investigators arrested the father late Monday night at the offices of the Exploited and Missing Children Unit, whose detectives are investigating the case
The girls, ages 6 and 7, have been released from the hospital and are "doing much better," Landen said.

 

[southcitymom]

It absolutely escapes me how anyone would nto have noticed the detoriating condtion of these 2 gilrs... or for that matter fathom how any "parent" could sit eating a meal with the "family" while these 2 children are locked in the basement with no food or water... :furious: I will never comprehend how anyone could day after day inflict such harm on any child regardless of blood ties or not. Those poor children.. all I can say is that I hope they are placed away from the other 2 step kids, in a safe, warm adn loving home with people who truly know the meaning of nuture and love. I hope they are provided with the medical care and counseling they will need... The other 2 children will also need counseling.. I fear that they too have been impacted psychologically by their sick role models..

That gets me too - didn't these little girls go to school or see people outside the family who would notice that they were deteriorating...or were they just locked in the closet constantly and never came into contact with someone who could have helped.

Mind boggling abuse!

 

[Masissy]

That gets me too - didn't these little girls go to school or see people outside the family who would notice that they were deteriorating...or were they just locked in the closet constantly and never came into contact with someone who could have helped.

Mind boggling abuse!

With it being summer they more than likely were not in school. Is it possible that she started this with them when school was out? She and the father should be put away for a LONG time.

 

[cathieq]

Well, the couple is Jennifer and ____ A Wood...They've released her name and he has also been arrested so I feel free to repeat it. I'll leave out his first name but you can find it by going to Sedgewick County's Appraisal Office.

http://www.kake.com/home/headlines/3414541.html

 

[Floh]

This is a question where i am absolutely not apportioning blame except to the father and the step-mother:

what became of the girls' mother? anyone know?

 

[LovelyPigeon]

What a horror those siblings have suffered through.

Wichita Eagle
Tue, Jul. 25, 2006

Their father was booked into the Sedgwick County Jail on suspicion of two counts of aggravated child endangerment, Landen said.

Their 27-year-old stepmother had been previously arrested in the case, which police say is one of the worst instances of child abuse they have seen. One of the girls also had strangulation marks, police said.

Police have said that the father has been away from the home a lot. But after interviewing him, Landen said, investigators concluded that "he knew or should have known about the conditions of his daughters." - http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/15117782.htm

Does "previously arrested in the case" mean the step-mother, Jennifer Wood, was arrested before this incidence or just that she was arrested yesterday?

 

[concernedperson]

LP, I believe it means she was arrested before the "puke" father, sperm donor.

 

[KrisNine]

I notice that the question has been asked before, but I didn't notice if there was an answer. Weren't these girls in school or anything? Did the neighbors know of their existence? Were they being "home schooled"? That's what worries me about home schooling. Does anyone ever check up on your children?

 

[BhamMama]

I notice that the question has been asked before, but I didn't notice if there was an answer. Weren't these girls in school or anything? Did the neighbors know of their existence? Were they being "home schooled"? That's what worries me about home schooling. Does anyone ever check up on your children?

No, does anyone come into your home and make sure you are feeding your kids according to the food pyramid? Homeschooling doesn't equate with abuse, it's a legal, viable way of educating your children. You are left alone with your kids all weekend or on vacations, or when they are sick, who is there to make sure you are doing a good job?

Many more people who send their kids to school abuse their kids than homeschoolers....heck the most folks who hurt kids don't hurt their own or don't even have kids!

The neighbors saw them out. I'd assume, depending on when they turned the ages they are now, that the youngest wasn't suppose to go to school until this year and the other was prolly in first grade and schools have been out at least 6 weeks or more in some places so it could have started when they were in school then continued during vacation on a more disgusting level. She, and the no good dad, had ample time to do this during the summer when they are not noticed as much by anyone.

Then again, most people don't pay attention to these kinds of things until it's too late. You hear it all the time, I never knew, I never saw, they looked normal. And this is on a level of some of the worst abuse, beatings, sexual and mental...happens right under peoples noses all the time.

 

[mom3dd]

hello i don't know where you live but most schools are on summer break. I am offended by the homeschooling remark check your statistics % wise incidents like these are not from home schooled families. I am thankful that these two little girls were saved. The system seems to have worked for once.

As for the biological mother a police officer said she didn't have much to do with the girls. What about the father of the other two?

 

[felder]

I wonder what lead to the social worker's going to check on the children's welfare?

 

[SewingDeb]

I wonder what lead to the social worker's going to check on the children's welfare?

I hope it was because some concerned citizen called in a tip. I hope we will hear more on this one.

 

[southcitymom]

With it being summer they more than likely were not in school. Is it possible that she started this with them when school was out? She and the father should be put away for a LONG time.

Great point. I doubt it takes very long to starve two young girls to this point. It probably did start after school ended. Such cruelty...

 

[cappuccina]

....families....what about ANDREA YATES?????????

 

[southcitymom]

hello i don't know where you live but most schools are on summer break. I am offended by the homeschooling remark check your statistics % wise incidents like these are not from home schooled families. I am thankful that these two little girls were saved. The system seems to have worked for once.

As for the biological mother a police officer said she didn't have much to do with the girls. What about the father of the other two?

I don't think KrisNine meant to be offensive. In the post, "home schooled" was put in quotes - when I read it I felt like the quotes implied that these people might have been hiding behind it as an excuse and not really doing it.

I'm a home schooling fan and a supporter, but I do believe there is an element of society that uses the term in name only and not in genuine practice to cover up for lackadasical unconcerned parenting lifestyles. Those people are the exception to the rule - most homeschoolers I know are fantastic - but they do exist.

Still, I am completely against anybody ever "checking up" on children who are homeschooled...that's way too Big Brother and most people who choose to homeschool are trying to get out from under the long arm of Big Brother in the first place.