At first glance, she looked like any other little girl — bright eyes, blonde hair, a shy smile.
But behind that innocent face was a childhood filled with pain, neglect, and secrets dark enough to twist anyone’s soul.
Her mother disappeared
The mother later said that it was probably “the biggest mistake” she have ever made in her life.
Almost at the same time, her 23-year-old father, already behind bars for the kidnapping and assault of a young girl, took his own life in prison.
From that moment, the children were left in the care of their grandparents. But instead of safety, their new home became another nightmare.
Her grandmother struggled with alcoholism, and her grandfather was said to be violent, even predatory.
”I should have . . . adopted them to strangers. We, in our family, suffered a form of child abuse. My father was verbally abusive. My mother was verbally abusive, and we were always told we were no good,” the girl’s mother later told The Tampa Bay Times.
Became wards of the state
By the age of 13, she was pregnant after being assaulted. Some even whispered that her own brother might have been the father. But according to many others, she was allegedly assaulted by a friend of her grandfather.
She gave the baby up for adoption, hoping to give him a better life than the one she’d been handed.Continue reading…
