NJ - Teen Escapes Captivity & Abuse Since 2018 by Brenda Spencer and Branndon Mosley, Gloucester Twnsp May 2025

[caradana]

Media crawling all over again today. They’re relentless.

They’re both still in jail - next hearing is in July

Let them crawl. Sunlight is the best disinfectant.
Go talk to them. Tell them what policy you believe would help prevent this in your immediate community, which you know as well as anyone, in the future. So for example, when a kid is pulled from public school and no other district has asked for records, and it’s six months later, do you think LE should check on that kid and insist on physically seeing them? Or are you more about homeschool rights and parental privacy?
Maybe a loaded question to ask today
I live in NJ like you and I am SICKENED that we do not stand up to defend the weakest kids.

 

[Linda7NJ]

Let them crawl. Sunlight is the best disinfectant.
Go talk to them. Tell them what policy you believe would help prevent this in your immediate community, which you know as well as anyone, in the future. So for example, when a kid is pulled from public school and no other district has asked for records, and it’s six months later, do you think LE should check on that kid and insist on physically seeing them? Or are you more about homeschool rights and parental privacy?
Maybe a loaded question to ask today
I live in NJ like you and I am SICKENED that we do not stand up to defend the weakest kids.

I really would hate to start a debate on this thread, but I’m gonna be perfectly honest. I’m more about homeschooling rights and privacy.
I’m also a realist.
The state can’t keep up with KNOWN cases of child abuse.
Without a REASONABLE SUSPICION of child abuse the state has zero cause to investigate.

IMO

 

[Linda7NJ]

Let them crawl. Sunlight is the best disinfectant.
Go talk to them. Tell them what policy you believe would help prevent this in your immediate community, which you know as well as anyone, in the future. So for example, when a kid is pulled from public school and no other district has asked for records, and it’s six months later, do you think LE should check on that kid and insist on physically seeing them? Or are you more about homeschool rights and parental privacy?
Maybe a loaded question to ask today
I live in NJ like you and I am SICKENED that we do not stand up to defend the weakest kids.

No, I am not going to go out and talk to the media. Hopefully, they’ve taken the hint. No one is going to talk to them anymore.

IMO It’s the right thing to do. Let those girls heal & the story not become a media circus.

The one thing those girls have on their side, very very few people even know what they look like.
I wouldn’t know them if I bumped into them.

 

[NervousNellie]

I really would hate to start a debate on this thread, but I’m gonna be perfectly honest. I’m more about homeschooling rights and privacy.
I’m also a realist.
The state can’t keep up with KNOWN cases of child abuse.
Without a REASONABLE SUSPICION of child abuse the state has zero cause to investigate.

IMO

When people remove their children from society, that is cause to investigate. Privacy is not more important that the protection of children. IMO. Those that refuse any oversight have something to hide. IMO.

 

[Linda7NJ]

When people remove their children from society, that is cause to investigate. Privacy is not more important that the protection of children. IMO. Those that refuse any oversight have something to hide. IMO.

Removing children from society and removing them from public school are two entirely different things.
Children should not simply disappear.

 

[LittleSeaTree]

When people remove their children from society, that is cause to investigate. Privacy is not more important that the protection of children. IMO. Those that refuse any oversight have something to hide. IMO.

100% agree. Sorry monsters-you have a child, you are a member of ‘society’, you are accountable for all kinds of things, like abuse. Homeschooling can be a wonderful thing. Would a homeschooling parent/guardian really be opposed to let’s say bi-yearly visits from someone?

 

[Linda7NJ]

100% agree. Sorry monsters-you have a child, you are a member of ‘society’, you are accountable for all kinds of things, like abuse. Homeschooling can be a wonderful thing. Would a homeschooling parent/guardian really be opposed to let’s say bi-yearly visits from someone?

Yes, I would have been.

 

[LittleSeaTree]

Yes, I would have been.

Even if it meant the person was there visiting with your family and then they visited a nearby house and discovered it to be a house of horrors and a child/children were saved from their abusers. No question mark needed, I have a feeling. IMO

 

[LittleSeaTree]

Removing children from society and removing them from public school are two entirely different things.
Children should not simply disappear.

Well, should someone make sure that doesn’t happen?

 

[Linda7NJ]

Well, should someone make sure that doesn’t happen?

Like who?

 

[NervousNellie]

Like who?

Whoever is best suited to protect the child in question. Parents, other family, the government. Let's face it, we have sick people in our society who think the age of consent should be lowered to 12. Children should be protected from those who don't regard children as vulnerable humans.

Who do you think should have the responsbility to protect children?

 

[Linda7NJ]

Whoever is best suited to protect the child in question. Parents, other family, the government. Let's face it, we have sick people in our society who think the age of consent should be lowered to 12. Children should be protected from those who don't regard children as vulnerable humans.

Who do you think should have the responsbility to protect children?

Their parents. It’s the sole job of every parent to protect their children. They are solely responsible in every way.
If anyone in proximity to the child suspects abuse, it should be reported to the authorities.

IMO

 

[TMich6811]

Their parents. It’s the sole job of every parent to protect their children. They are solely responsible in every way.
If anyone in proximity to the child suspects abuse, it should be reported to the authorities.

IMO

Mother, father and both parents are at the top of the list for perpetrators against children. While it should be, the job of every parent, it isn’t reality.

Which is why children need eyes on them, not just other family who so often hide or disregard what is happening.

IMO as someone in the field - children who attend school aren’t less abused or neglected that those home schooled, we are just more lucky to catch it because more adults not related to the perpetrators see it.

We absolutely shouldn’t make home schooling illegal because it’s actually usually really great.

the [partial] answer to the abuse/neglect of children who attend school and the abuse/neglect of children who are home schooled is to require home visits of some sort - won’t solve the problem but would catch some. The bigger answer to these specific situations is that when a child goes from school to Home school they are required to have visits 1/3/6/9/12 months out.

Sucks to have to big brother our children like this but until the world is more well, it’s the way we protect them.

 

[ErinC]

Their parents. It’s the sole job of every parent to protect their children. They are solely responsible in every way.
If anyone in proximity to the child suspects abuse, it should be reported to the authorities.

IMO

You are assuming that every parent out there could/would protect their children. Unfortunately, we have thousands of threads on here alone to demonstrate that that isn't the case. SHOULD they yes, COULD/WOULD not always.

 

[Linda7NJ]

You are assuming that every parent out there could/would protect their children. Unfortunately, we have thousands of threads on here alone to demonstrate that that isn't the case. SHOULD they yes, COULD/WOULD not always.

I assume nothing. I’m well aware children are most often abused by a relative. I’m also very well aware far too many parents get away with abusing their children even when the abuse is discovered.

I’m not willing to sacrifice civil rights as some sort of knee jerk reaction under the guise of protecting children. More government is not the answer to every problem, it typically makes things worse.

All imo

 

[Aegon_the_Conqueror]

Yeah, no judge is going to grant a search warrant because kids are homeschooled. You need to present evidence of wrongdoing, not simply a prejudice. The self-serving education system has no one to blame but themselves for the rise in homeschooling, especially after COVID. If you want fewer children homeschooled, break the monopoly and allow for better options. Forcing a family to pay for a school district they aren't satisfied with makes about as much sense as continuing to pay a pediatrician after you've already found a better one. Gloucester Twp schools are mediocre at best. It's inevitable that there will be parents who are less than satisfied.

 

[Kittypoo]

Mother, father and both parents are at the top of the list for perpetrators against children. While it should be, the job of every parent, it isn’t reality.

Which is why children need eyes on them, not just other family who so often hide or disregard what is happening.

IMO as someone in the field - children who attend school aren’t less abused or neglected that those home schooled, we are just more lucky to catch it because more adults not related to the perpetrators see it.

We absolutely shouldn’t make home schooling illegal because it’s actually usually really great.

the [partial] answer to the abuse/neglect of children who attend school and the abuse/neglect of children who are home schooled is to require home visits of some sort - won’t solve the problem but would catch some. The bigger answer to these specific situations is that when a child goes from school to Home school they are required to have visits 1/3/6/9/12 months out.

Sucks to have to big brother our children like this but until the world is more well, it’s the way we protect them.

Yes anyone who hasn’t heard of the case in Uk of Sara Sharif look it up. A particularly shocking case. Dad step mum and Uncle all physically abused her and when they couldn’t hide the bruises any longer took her out of school. They were on radar of child social services already and still managed to kill her.
I’ve only just discovered this case today so catching up.

 

[tlcya]

Testa said Mosley sexually abused Spencer's daughter when she was 7 or 8 years old while she was sitting on his lap while watching a football game and again when she was 13. The couple is accused of depriving the girl of her education, and at times, food, during the seven years that she was supposed to be homeschooled.

The victim was punished for talking back and not doing her chores, like cleaning up animal feces, Testa said. There were five Great Danes, one husky, two other dogs and 26 chinchillas in the house, along with birds, snakes and bearded dragons. The victim lived in the home with her 13-year-old sister, who observed some of the abuse, Testa said.

New Jersey couple accused of abusing child for years to stay in jail until trial: "domestic torture"​

 

[sans_soleil]

As we have seen over and over again, close family is most likely to be the ones abusing children. Stranger danger is real but nearly not as common. Homeschooling is not legal in my country so this is not even a particular issue I contemplate often but occasional visits seem to be reasonable. There have been several very prominent, media-covered cases of individuals using homeschooling as a way to abuse, neglect, isolate their children (and that does not even speak to the reality that more often than not parents are not qualified to teach, that's why teachers go through years of study and training!)

 

[rosesfromangels]

Which is bizarre because when she escaped, her head was shaved. She said her mother did it, and did it often.

Sounds like the humiliating tactics of a prison camp.

Amateur opinion and speculation