February 9, 2025 • 42 mins
A successful children's author and her husband are arrested after their adopted daughter is hospitalized with open wounds, sepsis, liver and kidney failure. Jennifer and Joseph Wolfthal have been accused of child abuse, child neglect with bodily harm, and domestic violence battery. The pair plead guilty to their charges.
Joining Nancy Grace today:
- Randy Kessler - Atlanta Trial Lawyer, Emory Law School Professor, Past Chair ABA Family Law Section, Author: "Divorce, Protect Yourself, Your Kids and Your Future", www.KSFamilyLaw.com, Instagram: @rkessler23, Twitter: @GADivorce
- Caryn Stark - NYC Psychologist, www.carynstark.com
- Robert Crispin - Private Investigator “Crispin Special Investigations” www.crispinsinvestigations.com
- Dr. Michelle Dupre - Forensic Pathologist and former Medical Examiner, Author: “Homicide Investigation Field Guide” & "Investigating Child Abuse Field Guide", Ret. Police Detective Lexington County Sheriff’s Department
- Daphne Young - National Chief Communications Officer, www.Childhelp.org, @childhelp
- Alexis Tereszcuk - CrimeOnline.com Investigative Reporter,
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
In the last Day's a bomb shiver. In the case
of a Florida children's book author and her husband accused
of horrific abuse of her adopted children, i'man I see grace.
This is crime stories. Thank you for being with us.
Did a successful Florida children's book author, Jennifer Wolfthal and
(00:22):
her husband Joseph Wolfthal, execute a year's long campaign of
horrific abuse, including beating her adopted children with a so
called whacker, forcing them to write lines over and over
and over like Harry Potter had to do, and feeding
them only a mixture of cereal and vegetable puree. The
(00:47):
little eight year old daughter rushed to the hospital critically ill,
put in ICU with a litany of medical emergencies such
as kidney and liver failure, sepsis, a staff infection, open
infected wounds on both legs, and pneumonia in both lungs.
(01:15):
According to an AFPHI David we obtain, the child also
suffered sores on her leg, infected and ruptured, a chipped,
two black eyes, and this little girl weighed only forty
pounds at age eight. There were also two other victims,
a nine year old boy and an eleven year old girl?
(01:40):
What more do we know about the abuse? Joining me
an all star panel to make sense of it all
if we can. First of all, a renowned defense attorney,
Atlanta trial lawyer Randy Kessler, Professor Emory Law School, past
cheer in the ABA, author of Divorce Protectors Elves Your Kids,
(02:01):
Your Future, and you can find Randy Kessler at Ksfamilylaw
dot com and on Instagram at r Kessler twenty three.
Karen Stark joining US psychologist out of Manhattan at Karenstark
dot com. Former comp now private investigator, started his own
PI firm, Crispin Special Investigations, and you can find him
(02:25):
at Crispin Investigations dot com. Special guests joining us from
child Help National Child Abuse Hotline as well, Daphne Young
and you can find her at Childhelp dot org. Renowned
pathologists joining us Doctor Michelle Dupree, forensic pathologist and author
of Homicide Investigation Field Guide and importal for today Investigating Child.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Abuse Field Guide.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
Alexis Terestshut to you, first investigative reporter with Crime Online
dot com. Alexis, tell me about the injuries to this
little child?
Speaker 2 (03:01):
What are they?
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (03:03):
My goodness, this little girl was taken to the hospital.
She had open wounds on her legs, So that means
not just you know, a scrape when you fall down
and fall at your bicothyr roller streets, but open bleeding
wounds that had not been taken care of. She had
sexist she had pneumonia in both lungs and multiple bruises.
(03:24):
In fact, on her neck and on her back there
were red marks as if she had been tied up.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
You know, I'm trying to take in all the ailments
to this little girl, all the suffering she was going
through to you.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Randy Kesseloorer, Atlanta trial lawyer.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Isn't it true that if a teacher notices anything wrong
with a child, like bruises or a lot of cuts,
or anything to suggest a child has been abused, they
have to report it under the law.
Speaker 5 (03:55):
Yes, so what we call a mandated reporter. Therapist, physicians, teachers,
if you notice something that leads you to think that
the child has been abused, it's your job to report
it to the authorities. So this is sort of the
whole world upside down that she got reported on instead
of being one reported Just incredible.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
You know what it reminds me of Randy in case
I tried not too far from your office in the
Fulton County Superior Courthouse, and the defense name was Walter Gates,
and he at the time owned nearly all the horse
drawn carriage and livery trade in the city of Atlanta,
(04:38):
bottom line, rolling in money. And he was charged with
molesting two little girls aged three and five. I can
still remember them so well, just beautiful Randy. And I
got to investigating him, and you know how I love
similar transactions. I found out mister Walter Gates's oldest daughter,
(05:05):
who I later tracked down. Took me a long time.
She was living in a flophouse out into cab County.
I found her sitting in a bedroom in her slip
smelling like booze, not her breath, her skin and the
room smell like.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Cigarettes, old cigarettes.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
There was a reason for that. Back when she was
in the seventh grade. I found a school detective had
filled out a report that this little girl thirteen at
the time, had come to school with a black eye
and a busted open lip. And she said her father,
(05:47):
Walter Gates, did it.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
You know how many.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
Little girls I found out he molested. That's the case
I got held in contempt for that case right there,
and all of you and you're ill. Defense attorneys all
piled into the courtroom, and it's just like amazing how
they found out so quickly to see me get fingerprinted. Well,
what I'm saying is an open wound. And the teacher
(06:15):
told a school detective. But guess what, nothing was done.
Sounds like the same thing in this case, Randy Cassel.
Speaker 5 (06:23):
It does. And the worst thing that happened to him,
and the best things to that victim is that you
were assigned to prosecute that case. Fancy, But you know,
even worse is.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
That pos is behind bars and let me just tell
you that's a technical legal term.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Go ahead.
Speaker 5 (06:37):
And even worse, these parents are adoptive parents. I mean,
there's something special we think. Adoptive parents in my world
are very special human beings that take in children that
don't have a family. To that, I mean, talk about
adding insult to injury. It's just unbelievable. The setup fact is,
I can't comprehend it.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
But you know what I think, I'm remembering a very
critical fact to Alexis Teschuk. They weren't reported by school teacher,
But weren't they homeschooled. Exactly.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
These three children, all under the age of twelve, are homeschooled.
And here's the thing. She was also an elementary school teacher.
So of course, wha.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
Wha wait, I know that the mom is a very
well known author of children's books. The big hit for
her was called quote a Real Friend by Jennifer Wolfthall.
That is mommy's name. They adopt three children. I'm looking
at their home. It looks like, you know, a ranch house.
(07:38):
They've got an enclosed backyard, a lot of nice grass,
it's landscaped. It looks great. You know what you can do,
tree lined neighborhood.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
What you know?
Speaker 4 (07:49):
What you cannot see in that picture that the police
said was a terrifying detail inside that house, the children
were at their bedroom. The handles on the door were
reversed in the was outside, so the parents could lock
them inside this house. That's what you don't see in
the House of Horrors from the outside.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
You know. Alexis terrashuk.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Do you remember how much I wanted the twins.
Speaker 6 (08:12):
Yeah, and there.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Were a lot of close calls.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
Can you even imagine someone tracing these children this way?
Speaker 4 (08:20):
No, they adopted them too, even extra extra steps to
take care of and love children, and these kids were
actually telling these people, we don't want to go back there.
We don't want to be there.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace in the Last Days a
bombshell in the case of a very successful Florida children's
book author, she and her husband learned their fate for
years of horrific abuse heaped upon her adopted children tried
(09:00):
after charges of aggravated child abuse and neglect with great
bodily harm. They will serve twelve years and ten years, respectively.
Twelve for her, ten for him. This is pursuit to
a plea deal. What does that mean? They would likely
get much worse if they went to trial. I frankly
(09:21):
think they should have gone to trial and each one
get twenty to life. But going forward, prosecutors now say
the children are living with another family and the wolf
Thals will spend quote significant time in prison while the
other family protects the already traumatized victims from the stress
of having to testify. I don't know about that. I'd
(09:44):
like to see him go to jail for life. This
case shocked and sickened the Florida community where they lived.
Catch this the adopted dad, Joseph Wolthaal, initially tried to
claim the little eight year old daughter that ended up
in the intensive care unit got her injuries by falling
over and quote brushing her teeth too hard. Oh my stars.
(10:08):
When Seminole County Sheriffs arised at the home, they found
two other severely malnourished children. Discovered their bedrooms had locks
from the outside. The children described regular daily beatings by
their appearance, including the use of a whacker. They only
got a mixture of cereal flakes, water, and vegetable mush
(10:32):
to eat. When they did get that, the children were
forced to write out humiliating phrases thousands of time, and
one example, deputies found over eleven hundred written paragraphs saying,
my body stays flat on the bed at all times.
I was never given permission to move or say anything else.
Now I get to write about this along with everything else.
(10:55):
I am a fool. That's what the child had to
write over and over and over. Oh what more do
we know? Take a listen to our friend Jackie Howard
at crime online dot com.
Speaker 7 (11:08):
Growing up in Florida, the now forty one year old
woman loved playing teacher, She says she would line up
her stuffed animals for students in a class. As an adult,
she followed that early trend, graduating from the University of
Central Florida with a BA in elementary education and for
eight years taught fourth grade in public school. She met
(11:28):
and married Joseph Wolfthal. While Jennifer Wolfthal taught school, her
now thirty nine year old husband worked as a software
analysts had Lockheed Martin. In twenty fourteen, the couple adopted
three children, and the school teacher became an author. Jennifer
Wolfthal published a children's book entitled A Real Friend. The
picture book, intended for ages four and up, is about
(11:50):
best friends who get into a fight and.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
How they patch up their quarrel. You know, it's amazing
to me at Karen Stark, a New York psychologists. You
can find her at Karenstark dot com. Karen how someone
doesn't just get pregnant and have children. It's no accident.
They go through so.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Much to adopt these three.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
She Jennifer Wolfall and the husband, Joseph, they go through
all that to have these children. Then they turn up
at the hospital and in this advance state of illness,
kidney failure, liver failure. Hold on, doctor Michelle Dupree, what
is exactly kidney failure and liver failure and sepsis? What
(12:32):
are those three things? Don't you have a long time
lead up to that? Can't you tell something is wrong?
Speaker 6 (12:42):
Nancy? Yes, exactly. That'sis actually is a form of blood
poisoning or an infection that has gone awry in the
body that gets into the bloodstream and basically goes to
every organ in the body, including the brain, the lungs,
the liver, the kidneys, everything that is supplied by blood.
Sepsis can actually be fatal or lethal within twelve hours
(13:06):
if it's severe enough, so that's a very serious complication.
Renal failure again, the kidneys shut down. They do not
then process the waste and the toxins in the body,
allowing them to build up. Liver failure of the same thing,
The liver doesn't work anymore. All of these things can
(13:26):
actually be caused by malnutrition, which we know that this
child suffered.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
How can you look at a child until it's malnutritioned,
I mean, other than obviously we would know that child
was thin.
Speaker 6 (13:39):
But other than that, there are a lot of subs fancy.
One of course, is muscle wasting because the body begins
to eat the muscle to have something to survive on.
Sunken eyes, retractions in the lung or the rib area
and in the neck area as well. The skin becomes
very we call it turbid, which is very sort of
(14:01):
pasty look and very dehydrated.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
Guys, what happened to these three children, ages eight, nine
and eleven. Renal failure, liver failure, sepsis, malnutrition, open wounds.
Take a listen to our cut one. This is Amanda
Duke's a Wesh two Wesh.
Speaker 8 (14:20):
Forty one year old Jennifer Waffall of Castlebury was arrested
New Year's Day on charges of aggravated child abuse and
neglect after investigators say a child in her care was
hospitalized in critical condition. According to the arrest, AffA David,
an eight year old girl was brought to the hospital
with a variety of injuries. Seminole County Sheriff's deputies interviewed
(14:43):
a relative who told them Waffthaal had claimed the child's
injuries came from a series of accidents and falls, but
the arrest Affi David says investigators determined the girl's bruises
and severe cuts were not from injuries. They found the
girl to be critically ill and took her to the
pediatric Intensive care unit at Edventelth Accidents.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
They found the girl was critically ill, but the mom
says the bruises and severe cuts were just from accidents
and falls. As a matter of fact, take a listen
to our cut forward. Dave McDaniel wish to forty one year.
Speaker 9 (15:22):
Old Jennifer wolf Fall was back in front of a
judge at the Summoner County Jail Wednesday afternoon, exactly where
the children's book author was a few weeks ago. She
now has new charge as a false imprisonment. Early January,
her rest came after an eight year old allegedly in
her care needed to be hospitalized with severe injuries. Injuries
wolf false had came from slips and falls, and explanation
(15:44):
medical staff didn't believe.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
Slips and falls.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
An eight year old slips and falls and gets kidney failure.
You know the dichotomy, Randy Casseler. I guess you see
it in court all the time, the public image that
someone gives off compared to what's really going on with them. Here,
You've actually got a children's author, an elementary school teacher
(16:12):
who is clearly beating her children and starving them. But
no one would know that. Nobody at the schools, nobody
in the neighborhood obviously, not her publisher or people that
buy her books.
Speaker 5 (16:25):
Incredible, even a degree in elementary education. It's you know,
we always hear when you interview the neighbors of the
dependents and perchs, they always say, oh, he was the
nicest guy. They would never have done that, over and
over and over. You know, when you're a lawyer like
I am, you see behind closed doors people walk in,
they look normal, and they start to tell you the facts
of their situation. It's incredible. It makes me jaded. I
(16:46):
walk around the world sometimes and I look at people
and I think I want to do what they really like,
because it is just unbelievable what is behind the facade
of so many people. It's a sad thing.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
It's hard. Have you ever felt that same way?
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Robert Crispin, former law enforcement now with his own PI firm,
Crispin Special Investigations. After all we see all you see,
do you ever have a hard time excepting that anybody's
really as they present.
Speaker 10 (17:15):
Absolutely, it's tough. You know, you try to compartmentalize these
and put them behind you. But when you work these cases,
and I've worked a lot of these cases. I worked
a lot of crimes against children in my day, you know,
it's tough. And like your last guest just said, you
walk around and you kind of look at people and
you wonder what's going on behind closed doors. But you
know what, that's what that's what we signed up for.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
That's what we did.
Speaker 10 (17:36):
We helped a lot of people. But yeah, it absolutely
does change your thought process and to try to compartmentalize it.
But it's tough sometimes, guys.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
I want you to take a listen to our cut
nine Dave McDaniel that wish to and married with McDonald.
Speaker 9 (17:48):
Jennifer Wilfall told authorities the injuries to the child were
from a series of falls and mishaps, but medical experts
didn't agree. The arrest report for Joseph Wolfall indicates that
the doorknobs on the children's bedrooms we're installed with the
locking mechanism on the outside of the room backwards, and
that papers found at the home included someone writing my
(18:08):
body stays flat on the bed at all times, Nan
never given permission to move or say anything. The Sheriff's
office isn't commenting at this time, saying the reports speak
for themselves, and the report investigators indicate they don't want
to have Joseph Wilfall have any contact with Jennifer Wilfall
if he's released from jail, or any contact with the
three children. He's quoted as saying, can I call my attorney?
Speaker 1 (18:32):
So that's what he's got to say. The dad, Can
I call my lawyer? Not how are my children? How's
my daughter in intensive care? But can I call my lawyer?
One child in intensive care, the other two starving, the
one in intensive care, kidney liver failure, septs is, staff infection,
open infected wounds on both legs, pneumonia in both lungs,
(18:54):
a long list of ailmut's, malnutritions, bruises, skin infections. In interviews,
one of the little girl's told deputies her parents would
constantly tell her she quote couldn't stop sinning, that she
would be disciplined for not going to the bathroom at
quote proper times and not performing her exercises or refusing
(19:16):
to eat the vegetable puri and serial mix oh. The
little eleven year old girl a nine year old boy
both told deputies that every night they would have cold
water poured over them while they lay in bed as punishment,
and then have to lay there in the cold, wet
sheets all night. One little girl, who had not interacted
(19:36):
with her brother and sister or any other adults in years,
said she quote tried to keep track of the days
and months by counting in her head that she had
not taken a bath in months and was denied band
aids for open wounds on her arms. If you could
see this book, the mother wrote, called a real friend
(19:58):
with children hugging on the front this woman. The deputies
stated it was evident that children were scared to leave
their rooms, even to go to the bathroom at night,
resulting in them wetting their pants and sleeping in urine
every day rather than risk leaving their rooms or communicating
with each other. What more do we know? Straight to you,
(20:21):
Alexis teresta crime online dot Com investigative reporter, Why can
you tell me about a device?
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Call the quote whacker.
Speaker 4 (20:29):
So the children have told the police that they were abused,
they were beaten with someone called the whacker, and it's
described as like an oblong object, a wooden object that
was covered with a thin piece of material and they
were just hit over and over and over again in
the exact same spot, which is how there were open wounds.
We cause them to bleed, and this is what these
(20:50):
children were beaten with.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
It's my understanding that when finally interviewed, the other two
siblings stated that they would have cold water poured them
while they lay in bed as punishment.
Speaker 4 (21:03):
Every night. They said this would happen. They were in
so much trouble that parents would come in and they
would throw the cold water when they had no blankets.
They were not allowed to get up and clean up
or do anything like this. These kids were tortured, and
the mom told them that the children told the investigators
that what they were told is that they were sinners.
(21:24):
They kept spinning and that's why they had to be punished.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
Joining you right now, the national chief Communications Officer with
Child Help dot Org. Our friend Daphne Young. Daphne, you know,
sometimes I agree with Robert Crispin and Randy Kessler. It's
hard to look at the world and see good when
you find out about people like Jennifer Walthall and Joseph Walthall.
(21:48):
Another thing I found out Daphne, as the children were
so afraid to leave their rooms at night, they would
be forced to wet the bed or urinate in their
own clothing. I would be forced to sleep in it
all night through the next day, that have to wear it.
Speaker 3 (22:05):
This is so upsetting because the viciousness and the premeditation
of so much of this abuse is It's familiar to.
Speaker 4 (22:13):
Me in many ways.
Speaker 3 (22:14):
But oftentimes the parents that do this depersonalize their children right.
They look at them as things that they can act upon.
And one shocking window into this woman's psyche comes from
reading a real best friend.
Speaker 4 (22:26):
I reviewed her book. I looked through it.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
And little kids get in a fight, one goes away,
another builds a robot version of that kid, and it
doesn't bring him joy because that thing doesn't respond. So
she understood depersonalizing a child, turning a child into a thing,
and that a real child is a joy. And so
the fact that she literally wrote the Book of Right
(22:50):
and Wrong on depersonalization is a disturbing look at a
certain kind of person living a double life. Here you
see me on Twitter and I've got butterfly eyes and
flowers in my hair, and here I am behind the door,
and that face of the mugshot is probably what those
kids saw over their beds.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
I'm looking at the photo you're talking about.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
It was a bio posted on Amazon dot com that
Walthall had a degree in elementary ed and spent eight
years teaching the fourth grade. And she's pictured in a pale,
pinkish purple outfit, kind of lavender, and all around her
are azalea's purple bright fusia looking azaleas, and she's wearing
(23:32):
one in her hair, and she looks like the penultimate
earth Mother. And you think she'd be a great mom.
As a child's author, do you remember other cases to
Daphne Young with child help dot Org where the children
(23:53):
suffered prolonged abuse that resulted in pneumonia in both lungs,
were basically waterboarded in their beds at night with cold
water to the point they had kidney and liver failure.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
I don't remember a case with those specifics, but I
do remember a lot of cases where you had a
parent that showed one face to the world, an educator,
somebody that looked like a kind person teaching CPR in
the community, and we got a little boy exactly as
your medical examiner described that, or your doctor described that,
was so malnourished, his hair was falling out, his belly
(24:30):
was distended, and he was close to death, and all
those organs were shutting down. So we have seen that
write in our Child Health Children's Center, and if we
didn't have a doctor who had been doing this for
twenty three years, immediately.
Speaker 4 (24:42):
Take that child to the hospital. He would have died
within forty eight hours. That's how close this little girl
was likely to death.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
Oh, I should take a listen to our cut eight.
This is Jeff Love to look at WFT.
Speaker 11 (24:55):
I'm told that the abuse described in the arrest report
just scratches the surface of what happened to the children
inside that Home's not known how long the alleged abuse
was going on.
Speaker 10 (25:06):
Are you aware of the charges against you?
Speaker 11 (25:09):
Yes, And those charges Joseph Wolfthol faces are aggravated child abuse,
child neglect with great bodily harm, and false imprisonment of
his three adoptive children. His wife, Jennifer, the author of
children's books, is also accused of abuse. Two of the
children told investigators that they were punished every night because
they couldn't stop sinning. They would spank the children utilizing
(25:32):
a specific item called a whacker, drawing blood by hitting
the same spot each time. The food was a mixture
of brand flake, cereal, water, and vegetable puree. One of
the children told investigators there were days she was fed
twice and sometimes she didn't eat her first meal until
three o'clock in the afternoon. She also described being locked
(25:53):
in a room for weeks and months. She spent the
entire day writing sentences at the desk in her room.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Just be so much to hear it. So I guess
alexis Terestak crime online dot com. She or her siblings
were the ones writing I have to stay flat on
my bed. I can't speak without permission. Do you remember
all those pages and pages of handwriting and also the
same thing, yes.
Speaker 4 (26:18):
And this was their form of punishment. The mom would
the parents would make them write out with thousands of
sentences the same one over and over again as part
of their punishment. On top of their punishments that were
they were forced this is the strangest thing. They were
forced to do squats and this is you know, where
you're standing and you just bend your legs, bender kneas
(26:38):
down and you don't hit the ground, You don't sit
on a chair anything. You up and down over and
over and over again. This is the torture that these
children were subjected to. Forced to do squats is exercise.
Speaker 10 (26:50):
You know.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
I'm looking at additional evidence. Apparently, according to all three
children who were questioned separately, they had not taken baths
in months, and they will be denied bandages for the
open wounds caused by the quote whacker a device I
guess the parents made up to spank the children, drawing
(27:13):
blood by hitting the same spot every time. Doctor Michelle Dupree,
do you think that is how the child got sepsis?
Speaker 6 (27:23):
Absolutely, Nancy, It certainly could be. Not taking a bath
for months is going to allow bacteria to build up
on your skin. It's going to enter the body through
the nose, the mouth, the eyes. Absolutely, that could cause
the beginning of sepsode.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
Trying to understand what this quote whacker would be to
Daphney Young with child help dot Org. It was specifically
designed to hit the child at the same spot to ultimately.
Speaker 3 (27:51):
Draw blood over and over again, and then they be
doused with the water and then these giant fans, which
probably made them freeze as they lay on plastic covers
with no blankets, a plastic cover over the mattresses. And
I remember the little girl saying that she counted days
and weeks, just trying to get her head straight as
(28:13):
to what day of the week it was, what month
it was. This is like a prisoner would do on
the side of a prison wall, trying to remember where am.
Speaker 4 (28:21):
I, what day of the week it is. So you know,
she was trapped.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
In that room in pain, but also just trying to
maintain some sanity.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
A whacker device, you know. Randy Kessler, Atlanta trial lawyer,
that device shows clear intent not to discipline, but to
torture the children.
Speaker 5 (28:43):
I intent, it's not really very hard to prove and
reckless disregard about of mind. These people can't go before
a jury, right can you imagine any jury giving them anything?
But the horses comes in. The charge with horse is
kind of charge with the intent. You know, you're right,
And especially they can't claim they can't claim they didn't know,
(29:05):
they didn't understand that there was just a mistake. I mean,
considering the combination of what they did and who they are.
You know, the fact that they have she has a
degree in education, she teaches, she writes children's books. Oh
my god, there is obvious contemps all.
Speaker 6 (29:19):
Over the place.
Speaker 5 (29:20):
It's I'm almost prised it not an insanity defense coming.
But there's no way, there's no way.
Speaker 1 (29:26):
I don't think that they can both be declared in
saying that's just a little bit too much of a
coincidence and a very interesting thing. The husband in this case,
Joseph Walthall, is an engineer. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace
(29:49):
Now catch this. Jennifer Wolfthal's publisher, Clavis Publishing, released a statement,
quote at Clavis, we believe children are beautiful and deserve
our utmost respect and care. Then they stated they would
cease further commercialization of the book. To write a children's
(30:10):
book while you're torturing your own children. What more do
we know? Kidney failure, liver failure, double pneumonia, and sepsis,
open wounds, all three, malnutrition, waterboarding in the home. They
all three separately tell the same story, and it reminds
(30:31):
me very much of a case that we just covered.
Take a listen to our cut eleven This is Tiger
Huck at WYFF News.
Speaker 12 (30:42):
For Ariel Robinson sat down with WYFF News four in
August after winning the Food Network show Worst Cooks in America.
She told us then the winnings from the show would
go a long way to help her and her husband,
who recently adopted three more children.
Speaker 13 (31:00):
Know that the Lord had his hands on me and
he had a purpose for me to go on there.
Speaker 12 (31:03):
The former middle school teacher was an aspiring comedian booked
by Justin Williams to perform at a Pickens County barbecue
event back in November.
Speaker 14 (31:10):
She was hilarious, She was super sweet to everybody around her,
and she expressed the passion for working with children and
working with just the community in general.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
The reality star Ariel Robinson won Worst cook in America,
got twenty five thousand dollars and bragged about her blended
family and using the money to help raise her adopted children. Well,
Tory Rose is dead. The three year old little girl
was found covered in bruises and they actually tried to
(31:42):
tell nine one one it's because she drank too much
water and the bruises were from CPR. She's charged with
murdered by child abuse and there she is a reality
star on TV. Of course, the husband said he could
hear the beatings and he finally told his wife, you've
gone too far. Well, the child is dead and according
(32:06):
to Facebook photos of the little girl that they posted,
she had been covered with bruses many times before. She's
not the only one where what you see is not
what you're getting. Take a listen to our cup fourteen
Jessica Stone ACGTN needs you shall say.
Speaker 15 (32:21):
When they entered the Turpin home, they found a modern
day horror foul smell, extremely dirty conditions, and they say
it was immediately clear that the siblings were malnourished. Authorities
say they found three of the children shackled to their
beds with chains and padlocks, kept in dark and unclean
conditions inside this Riverside County, California home. Deputies located twelve
(32:44):
children inside the house as young as two years old.
While the family kept this active Facebook page which appears
to show a happy group trips, vacations, smiling faces. Authorities
discovered that seven of the children pictured appeared so malnourished
that they did look like children, they were actually adult.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
The oldest is twenty nine years old. Those children chained
to their beds. But if you look at their Facebook,
they're all dressed in matching red Disney shirts.
Speaker 2 (33:12):
The you know thing number one, thing number two.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
They had all matching outfits on various trips. They were
all there at a revival of the vow ceremony with
the parents. I mean, it goes on and on. Who
would have ever thought these children were being so horribly treated.
One finally escape called out a window and called nine
(33:39):
one one to save her sister's horrible, horrible conditions.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
Inside one of.
Speaker 1 (33:46):
The closets in the Turpin home, there were scratches on
the wall where the children had tried to get out.
Straight back to Daphne Young with child help dot Org,
one of our favorite organizations. I know, you remember the
Turpen case in the House of Horrors.
Speaker 3 (34:04):
Absolutely, and a lot of the kids that you know,
while we have to protect the anonymity of all of
our children, a lot of the kids that we see
in these headlines come through child health And it's horrible
enough to deal with the child abuse that comes from
drug addicts, the child abuse that comes from mental health cases,
the child abuse that comes from people that are you know,
(34:25):
completely sort of out of it in terms of finances
and otherwise. But the scariest ones, the ones that I'm
still trying to figure out, how do we detect these
folks are those that have this great facade, those that
have good educations, those that have resources, they live among us.
These are people that aren't our neighbors and people that
(34:46):
we interact with potentially and don't recognize, and those are
the scariest abusers, and they create houses of horrors. And
the children. It takes the years for these kids to
recover and be put on a path of hope and.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
Healing abezures you would never expect. Take a listen to
our friends over at the New York Times.
Speaker 13 (35:10):
Hundreds of women say Larry Nasarus sexually abused them. It's
one of the worst sexual abuse scandals in the history
of sports, and it went on for more than two decades.
Nasar's patients felt honored to be treated by the best
of the best. Nasa typically carried out his abuse under
the guise of a medical treatment. He hijacked a rare
pelvic therapy that involves vaginal penetration and used it to
(35:33):
treat all.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
Sorts of ailments.
Speaker 13 (35:35):
He ignored protocols such as using a glove, asking consent,
or having a medical chaperone present.
Speaker 16 (35:42):
And when I was fourteen years old, I saw my
hamstring in my right leg.
Speaker 17 (35:45):
This was when he started performing the procedure that we
are all now familiar with.
Speaker 16 (35:49):
The next visit was from my shoulder, which I then
phoned out my hips thread alignment, which then made my
spine and my pelvic phone out of alignment as well.
And this is when Larry decided that it was medically
acceptable to violate a sixteen year old girl.
Speaker 1 (36:06):
So from a well respected couple in the community that
had a house of horrors going on homeskilling their children
in order to abuse them, to now a well known
book author to an Olympic coach abusing dozens of young
(36:28):
girls with me daft young With the Child help dot
Org organization, Daphne, you have actually worked with some of
Nasaur's victims.
Speaker 3 (36:40):
Absolutely. Olympic consultants Foundation for Global Sports connected us with
some of these brave what they call themselves, sister survivors.
And when we.
Speaker 4 (36:49):
Talked a little bit earlier with law enforcement and others
about being jaded, this is the piece of child help
that's kept me here, which is these women are working
with us in Child Help Speak, a be Safe for
Athletes and a Courage First hotline that is both a
prevention education for youth sports, which we've reached well over
one hundred and sixty thousand children and families, and a
(37:11):
hotline for youth athletes. So these gals.
Speaker 3 (37:14):
Are using very difficult experiences to create safety nets for
kids and youth sports. And so that's the kind of
stuff that allows us to keep doing this work. Because
for every awful family like the ones we're discussing today,
and for every creep like Nasar who hurts these kids,
they are amazing women and survivors and young boys that
(37:37):
come out of these circumstances and change lives and use
their voice for good.
Speaker 1 (37:41):
You know, Lexus tresstot crime Online dot comments to get
a reporter. We know a little bit about what these parents,
the Wolfthall said at the hospital. They didn't just blame
it on slip and falls all the injuries. What else
did they say?
Speaker 4 (37:55):
So when Joseph Woopall took his daughter to the hospital,
he told the doctors that were there the child had
such huge, obvious wounds. He said that she was hurt
because she brushed her teeth too hard.
Speaker 1 (38:06):
Did you just say the excuse was she brushed her
teeth too hard?
Speaker 4 (38:10):
Yep, she brushed her teeth too hard. That's the excuse
that he tried to use. And he's also blaming his wife.
Speaker 2 (38:16):
It was also the whacker.
Speaker 1 (38:18):
Doctor Michelle Dupree, a forensic pathologist from her Medical Examiner,
author of Homicide Investigation fueld Goide and Investigating Child Abuse
field guide. How do you perceive the so called whacker?
And can you imagine the sense of dread these children
felt when they saw the whacker pulled out bency.
Speaker 6 (38:37):
I've had a couple of cases like this, and I've
seen things such as the end of a broom handle
or the broom handle itself, which can cause significant injury,
being used over and over and over again to cause this.
Speaker 1 (38:49):
Robert Crispin, I prosecuted a lot of child abuse child
molestation cases, as have you in your investigations. What do
you make of child witnesses?
Speaker 10 (39:01):
They are the best witnesses to law enforcement. They're the
best witnesses to prosecutors. They're so innocent. They tell you
things that they shouldn't know at their age. They're very specific,
they're not old enough to learn how to manipulate law enforcement,
to manipulate a prosecutor. I have found in interviewing so
(39:22):
many child victims that you get goosebums and chills when
you sit there and listen to the details in the
horror that this kid went through, Like, how do you
know this at eleven years old? How do you know
that at eight years old? The best witnesses ever?
Speaker 1 (39:37):
You know, we're talking about a child's book author Houserbooks
on Amazon dot com. Very well established, a husband, very
educated and engineer. So how do you take a child
witness like Robert Christmas talking about and stack them.
Speaker 2 (39:55):
Up against a defendant?
Speaker 1 (39:58):
What about an that nobody would suspect? Take a Listen
to Tiffany Taylor at Hollywood Reporter.
Speaker 17 (40:07):
Christina's Tell All memoir that inspired the film of the
same name, painted Joan Crawford this abusive and an alcoholic.
While her adopted brother Christopher always supported her claims, their twin.
Speaker 18 (40:17):
Siblings Kathy and Sydney did not.
Speaker 17 (40:19):
According to the book, Joan often went on what Christina
called night raids, where she would wake.
Speaker 18 (40:24):
Her up and make her clean messes she hadn't.
Speaker 17 (40:26):
Made for hours on end. Christina also said Joan hated
wire hangers. She reportedly once woke her up in the
middle of the night for using them. In a scene
that's infamously depicted in the nineteen eighty one movie, she
is said to have dragged her daughter by the hair,
yelling Noah wire hangers while beating her. Christina also claims
she was once starved for days when she refused to
(40:47):
eat an undercooked, bloody steak, all in a bid for
her mother to further control her. According to the memoir,
Joan allegedly kept Christopher constricted in bed in a sleep
safe device.
Speaker 18 (40:57):
And tied Christina up in the shower at night.
Speaker 17 (41:00):
Christina was thirteen years old, she supposedly suffered one final
brutal beating from her mother and when she thought she
was going to be choked out.
Speaker 1 (41:07):
You know what is that, Daphne Young Where the children
are restricted, tied up. We hear it over and over again,
like in this case, where they're forced to lay flat
on the bed interpend they were chained to the bed
or put into a closet and locked in the.
Speaker 2 (41:23):
Constriction of the child. I find that to be a
common thing.
Speaker 3 (41:28):
It's a complete lack of control in the parent. It
starts off sometimes small, a little discipline. I'm going to
put you in your room, you need to stay away
from this or that, and becomes a torture chamber. Essentially,
it's like the torturing of prisoners. And so much of
this repetition and cruelty then becomes status quo. So every
(41:52):
little breach of a boundary can open up a new boundary.
That's why I say, you know, I don't even like
people spanking children, because every breach of being.
Speaker 19 (42:02):
A little out of control can make you much much
further out of control. And then, you know, not everybody
obviously is going to end up like this, but we see,
you know, kids will tell us how it started, and
it seems so small, and then it turns into something
that is a true nightmare.
Speaker 1 (42:19):
Jennifer and Joseph Wolffall wrought in hell with a brief
pitstop in the penitentiary. Goodbye friends,
In the last Day's a bomb shiver. In the case
of a Florida children's book author and her husband accused
of horrific abuse of her adopted children, i'man I see grace.
This is crime stories. Thank you for being with us.
Did a successful Florida children's book author, Jennifer Wolfthal and
(00:22):
her husband Joseph Wolfthal, execute a year's long campaign of
horrific abuse, including beating her adopted children with a so
called whacker, forcing them to write lines over and over
and over like Harry Potter had to do, and feeding
them only a mixture of cereal and vegetable puree. The
(00:47):
little eight year old daughter rushed to the hospital critically ill,
put in ICU with a litany of medical emergencies such
as kidney and liver failure, sepsis, a staff infection, open
infected wounds on both legs, and pneumonia in both lungs.
(01:15):
According to an AFPHI David we obtain, the child also
suffered sores on her leg, infected and ruptured, a chipped,
two black eyes, and this little girl weighed only forty
pounds at age eight. There were also two other victims,
a nine year old boy and an eleven year old girl?
(01:40):
What more do we know about the abuse? Joining me
an all star panel to make sense of it all
if we can. First of all, a renowned defense attorney,
Atlanta trial lawyer Randy Kessler, Professor Emory Law School, past
cheer in the ABA, author of Divorce Protectors Elves Your Kids,
(02:01):
Your Future, and you can find Randy Kessler at Ksfamilylaw
dot com and on Instagram at r Kessler twenty three.
Karen Stark joining US psychologist out of Manhattan at Karenstark
dot com. Former comp now private investigator, started his own
PI firm, Crispin Special Investigations, and you can find him
(02:25):
at Crispin Investigations dot com. Special guests joining us from
child Help National Child Abuse Hotline as well, Daphne Young
and you can find her at Childhelp dot org. Renowned
pathologists joining us Doctor Michelle Dupree, forensic pathologist and author
of Homicide Investigation Field Guide and importal for today Investigating Child.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Abuse Field Guide.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
Alexis Terestshut to you, first investigative reporter with Crime Online
dot com. Alexis, tell me about the injuries to this
little child?
Speaker 2 (03:01):
What are they?
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (03:03):
My goodness, this little girl was taken to the hospital.
She had open wounds on her legs, So that means
not just you know, a scrape when you fall down
and fall at your bicothyr roller streets, but open bleeding
wounds that had not been taken care of. She had
sexist she had pneumonia in both lungs and multiple bruises.
(03:24):
In fact, on her neck and on her back there
were red marks as if she had been tied up.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
You know, I'm trying to take in all the ailments
to this little girl, all the suffering she was going
through to you.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Randy Kesseloorer, Atlanta trial lawyer.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Isn't it true that if a teacher notices anything wrong
with a child, like bruises or a lot of cuts,
or anything to suggest a child has been abused, they
have to report it under the law.
Speaker 5 (03:55):
Yes, so what we call a mandated reporter. Therapist, physicians, teachers,
if you notice something that leads you to think that
the child has been abused, it's your job to report
it to the authorities. So this is sort of the
whole world upside down that she got reported on instead
of being one reported Just incredible.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
You know what it reminds me of Randy in case
I tried not too far from your office in the
Fulton County Superior Courthouse, and the defense name was Walter Gates,
and he at the time owned nearly all the horse
drawn carriage and livery trade in the city of Atlanta,
(04:38):
bottom line, rolling in money. And he was charged with
molesting two little girls aged three and five. I can
still remember them so well, just beautiful Randy. And I
got to investigating him, and you know how I love
similar transactions. I found out mister Walter Gates's oldest daughter,
(05:05):
who I later tracked down. Took me a long time.
She was living in a flophouse out into cab County.
I found her sitting in a bedroom in her slip
smelling like booze, not her breath, her skin and the
room smell like.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Cigarettes, old cigarettes.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
There was a reason for that. Back when she was
in the seventh grade. I found a school detective had
filled out a report that this little girl thirteen at
the time, had come to school with a black eye
and a busted open lip. And she said her father,
(05:47):
Walter Gates, did it.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
You know how many.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
Little girls I found out he molested. That's the case
I got held in contempt for that case right there,
and all of you and you're ill. Defense attorneys all
piled into the courtroom, and it's just like amazing how
they found out so quickly to see me get fingerprinted. Well,
what I'm saying is an open wound. And the teacher
(06:15):
told a school detective. But guess what, nothing was done.
Sounds like the same thing in this case, Randy Cassel.
Speaker 5 (06:23):
It does. And the worst thing that happened to him,
and the best things to that victim is that you
were assigned to prosecute that case. Fancy, But you know,
even worse is.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
That pos is behind bars and let me just tell
you that's a technical legal term.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Go ahead.
Speaker 5 (06:37):
And even worse, these parents are adoptive parents. I mean,
there's something special we think. Adoptive parents in my world
are very special human beings that take in children that
don't have a family. To that, I mean, talk about
adding insult to injury. It's just unbelievable. The setup fact is,
I can't comprehend it.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
But you know what I think, I'm remembering a very
critical fact to Alexis Teschuk. They weren't reported by school teacher,
But weren't they homeschooled. Exactly.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
These three children, all under the age of twelve, are homeschooled.
And here's the thing. She was also an elementary school teacher.
So of course, wha.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
Wha wait, I know that the mom is a very
well known author of children's books. The big hit for
her was called quote a Real Friend by Jennifer Wolfthall.
That is mommy's name. They adopt three children. I'm looking
at their home. It looks like, you know, a ranch house.
(07:38):
They've got an enclosed backyard, a lot of nice grass,
it's landscaped. It looks great. You know what you can do,
tree lined neighborhood.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
What you know?
Speaker 4 (07:49):
What you cannot see in that picture that the police
said was a terrifying detail inside that house, the children
were at their bedroom. The handles on the door were
reversed in the was outside, so the parents could lock
them inside this house. That's what you don't see in
the House of Horrors from the outside.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
You know. Alexis terrashuk.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Do you remember how much I wanted the twins.
Speaker 6 (08:12):
Yeah, and there.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Were a lot of close calls.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
Can you even imagine someone tracing these children this way?
Speaker 4 (08:20):
No, they adopted them too, even extra extra steps to
take care of and love children, and these kids were
actually telling these people, we don't want to go back there.
We don't want to be there.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace in the Last Days a
bombshell in the case of a very successful Florida children's
book author, she and her husband learned their fate for
years of horrific abuse heaped upon her adopted children tried
(09:00):
after charges of aggravated child abuse and neglect with great
bodily harm. They will serve twelve years and ten years, respectively.
Twelve for her, ten for him. This is pursuit to
a plea deal. What does that mean? They would likely
get much worse if they went to trial. I frankly
(09:21):
think they should have gone to trial and each one
get twenty to life. But going forward, prosecutors now say
the children are living with another family and the wolf
Thals will spend quote significant time in prison while the
other family protects the already traumatized victims from the stress
of having to testify. I don't know about that. I'd
(09:44):
like to see him go to jail for life. This
case shocked and sickened the Florida community where they lived.
Catch this the adopted dad, Joseph Wolthaal, initially tried to
claim the little eight year old daughter that ended up
in the intensive care unit got her injuries by falling
over and quote brushing her teeth too hard. Oh my stars.
(10:08):
When Seminole County Sheriffs arised at the home, they found
two other severely malnourished children. Discovered their bedrooms had locks
from the outside. The children described regular daily beatings by
their appearance, including the use of a whacker. They only
got a mixture of cereal flakes, water, and vegetable mush
(10:32):
to eat. When they did get that, the children were
forced to write out humiliating phrases thousands of time, and
one example, deputies found over eleven hundred written paragraphs saying,
my body stays flat on the bed at all times.
I was never given permission to move or say anything else.
Now I get to write about this along with everything else.
(10:55):
I am a fool. That's what the child had to
write over and over and over. Oh what more do
we know? Take a listen to our friend Jackie Howard
at crime online dot com.
Speaker 7 (11:08):
Growing up in Florida, the now forty one year old
woman loved playing teacher, She says she would line up
her stuffed animals for students in a class. As an adult,
she followed that early trend, graduating from the University of
Central Florida with a BA in elementary education and for
eight years taught fourth grade in public school. She met
(11:28):
and married Joseph Wolfthal. While Jennifer Wolfthal taught school, her
now thirty nine year old husband worked as a software
analysts had Lockheed Martin. In twenty fourteen, the couple adopted
three children, and the school teacher became an author. Jennifer
Wolfthal published a children's book entitled A Real Friend. The
picture book, intended for ages four and up, is about
(11:50):
best friends who get into a fight and.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
How they patch up their quarrel. You know, it's amazing
to me at Karen Stark, a New York psychologists. You
can find her at Karenstark dot com. Karen how someone
doesn't just get pregnant and have children. It's no accident.
They go through so.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Much to adopt these three.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
She Jennifer Wolfall and the husband, Joseph, they go through
all that to have these children. Then they turn up
at the hospital and in this advance state of illness,
kidney failure, liver failure. Hold on, doctor Michelle Dupree, what
is exactly kidney failure and liver failure and sepsis? What
(12:32):
are those three things? Don't you have a long time
lead up to that? Can't you tell something is wrong?
Speaker 6 (12:42):
Nancy? Yes, exactly. That'sis actually is a form of blood
poisoning or an infection that has gone awry in the
body that gets into the bloodstream and basically goes to
every organ in the body, including the brain, the lungs,
the liver, the kidneys, everything that is supplied by blood.
Sepsis can actually be fatal or lethal within twelve hours
(13:06):
if it's severe enough, so that's a very serious complication.
Renal failure again, the kidneys shut down. They do not
then process the waste and the toxins in the body,
allowing them to build up. Liver failure of the same thing,
The liver doesn't work anymore. All of these things can
(13:26):
actually be caused by malnutrition, which we know that this
child suffered.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
How can you look at a child until it's malnutritioned,
I mean, other than obviously we would know that child
was thin.
Speaker 6 (13:39):
But other than that, there are a lot of subs fancy.
One of course, is muscle wasting because the body begins
to eat the muscle to have something to survive on.
Sunken eyes, retractions in the lung or the rib area
and in the neck area as well. The skin becomes
very we call it turbid, which is very sort of
(14:01):
pasty look and very dehydrated.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
Guys, what happened to these three children, ages eight, nine
and eleven. Renal failure, liver failure, sepsis, malnutrition, open wounds.
Take a listen to our cut one. This is Amanda
Duke's a Wesh two Wesh.
Speaker 8 (14:20):
Forty one year old Jennifer Waffall of Castlebury was arrested
New Year's Day on charges of aggravated child abuse and
neglect after investigators say a child in her care was
hospitalized in critical condition. According to the arrest, AffA David,
an eight year old girl was brought to the hospital
with a variety of injuries. Seminole County Sheriff's deputies interviewed
(14:43):
a relative who told them Waffthaal had claimed the child's
injuries came from a series of accidents and falls, but
the arrest Affi David says investigators determined the girl's bruises
and severe cuts were not from injuries. They found the
girl to be critically ill and took her to the
pediatric Intensive care unit at Edventelth Accidents.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
They found the girl was critically ill, but the mom
says the bruises and severe cuts were just from accidents
and falls. As a matter of fact, take a listen
to our cut forward. Dave McDaniel wish to forty one year.
Speaker 9 (15:22):
Old Jennifer wolf Fall was back in front of a
judge at the Summoner County Jail Wednesday afternoon, exactly where
the children's book author was a few weeks ago. She
now has new charge as a false imprisonment. Early January,
her rest came after an eight year old allegedly in
her care needed to be hospitalized with severe injuries. Injuries
wolf false had came from slips and falls, and explanation
(15:44):
medical staff didn't believe.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
Slips and falls.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
An eight year old slips and falls and gets kidney failure.
You know the dichotomy, Randy Casseler. I guess you see
it in court all the time, the public image that
someone gives off compared to what's really going on with them. Here,
You've actually got a children's author, an elementary school teacher
(16:12):
who is clearly beating her children and starving them. But
no one would know that. Nobody at the schools, nobody
in the neighborhood obviously, not her publisher or people that
buy her books.
Speaker 5 (16:25):
Incredible, even a degree in elementary education. It's you know,
we always hear when you interview the neighbors of the
dependents and perchs, they always say, oh, he was the
nicest guy. They would never have done that, over and
over and over. You know, when you're a lawyer like
I am, you see behind closed doors people walk in,
they look normal, and they start to tell you the facts
of their situation. It's incredible. It makes me jaded. I
(16:46):
walk around the world sometimes and I look at people
and I think I want to do what they really like,
because it is just unbelievable what is behind the facade
of so many people. It's a sad thing.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
It's hard. Have you ever felt that same way?
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Robert Crispin, former law enforcement now with his own PI firm,
Crispin Special Investigations. After all we see all you see,
do you ever have a hard time excepting that anybody's
really as they present.
Speaker 10 (17:15):
Absolutely, it's tough. You know, you try to compartmentalize these
and put them behind you. But when you work these cases,
and I've worked a lot of these cases. I worked
a lot of crimes against children in my day, you know,
it's tough. And like your last guest just said, you
walk around and you kind of look at people and
you wonder what's going on behind closed doors. But you
know what, that's what that's what we signed up for.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
That's what we did.
Speaker 10 (17:36):
We helped a lot of people. But yeah, it absolutely
does change your thought process and to try to compartmentalize it.
But it's tough sometimes, guys.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
I want you to take a listen to our cut
nine Dave McDaniel that wish to and married with McDonald.
Speaker 9 (17:48):
Jennifer Wilfall told authorities the injuries to the child were
from a series of falls and mishaps, but medical experts
didn't agree. The arrest report for Joseph Wolfall indicates that
the doorknobs on the children's bedrooms we're installed with the
locking mechanism on the outside of the room backwards, and
that papers found at the home included someone writing my
(18:08):
body stays flat on the bed at all times, Nan
never given permission to move or say anything. The Sheriff's
office isn't commenting at this time, saying the reports speak
for themselves, and the report investigators indicate they don't want
to have Joseph Wilfall have any contact with Jennifer Wilfall
if he's released from jail, or any contact with the
three children. He's quoted as saying, can I call my attorney?
Speaker 1 (18:32):
So that's what he's got to say. The dad, Can
I call my lawyer? Not how are my children? How's
my daughter in intensive care? But can I call my lawyer?
One child in intensive care, the other two starving, the
one in intensive care, kidney liver failure, septs is, staff infection,
open infected wounds on both legs, pneumonia in both lungs,
(18:54):
a long list of ailmut's, malnutritions, bruises, skin infections. In interviews,
one of the little girl's told deputies her parents would
constantly tell her she quote couldn't stop sinning, that she
would be disciplined for not going to the bathroom at
quote proper times and not performing her exercises or refusing
(19:16):
to eat the vegetable puri and serial mix oh. The
little eleven year old girl a nine year old boy
both told deputies that every night they would have cold
water poured over them while they lay in bed as punishment,
and then have to lay there in the cold, wet
sheets all night. One little girl, who had not interacted
(19:36):
with her brother and sister or any other adults in years,
said she quote tried to keep track of the days
and months by counting in her head that she had
not taken a bath in months and was denied band
aids for open wounds on her arms. If you could
see this book, the mother wrote, called a real friend
(19:58):
with children hugging on the front this woman. The deputies
stated it was evident that children were scared to leave
their rooms, even to go to the bathroom at night,
resulting in them wetting their pants and sleeping in urine
every day rather than risk leaving their rooms or communicating
with each other. What more do we know? Straight to you,
(20:21):
Alexis teresta crime online dot Com investigative reporter, Why can
you tell me about a device?
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Call the quote whacker.
Speaker 4 (20:29):
So the children have told the police that they were abused,
they were beaten with someone called the whacker, and it's
described as like an oblong object, a wooden object that
was covered with a thin piece of material and they
were just hit over and over and over again in
the exact same spot, which is how there were open wounds.
We cause them to bleed, and this is what these
(20:50):
children were beaten with.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
It's my understanding that when finally interviewed, the other two
siblings stated that they would have cold water poured them
while they lay in bed as punishment.
Speaker 4 (21:03):
Every night. They said this would happen. They were in
so much trouble that parents would come in and they
would throw the cold water when they had no blankets.
They were not allowed to get up and clean up
or do anything like this. These kids were tortured, and
the mom told them that the children told the investigators
that what they were told is that they were sinners.
(21:24):
They kept spinning and that's why they had to be punished.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
Joining you right now, the national chief Communications Officer with
Child Help dot Org. Our friend Daphne Young. Daphne, you know,
sometimes I agree with Robert Crispin and Randy Kessler. It's
hard to look at the world and see good when
you find out about people like Jennifer Walthall and Joseph Walthall.
(21:48):
Another thing I found out Daphne, as the children were
so afraid to leave their rooms at night, they would
be forced to wet the bed or urinate in their
own clothing. I would be forced to sleep in it
all night through the next day, that have to wear it.
Speaker 3 (22:05):
This is so upsetting because the viciousness and the premeditation
of so much of this abuse is It's familiar to.
Speaker 4 (22:13):
Me in many ways.
Speaker 3 (22:14):
But oftentimes the parents that do this depersonalize their children right.
They look at them as things that they can act upon.
And one shocking window into this woman's psyche comes from
reading a real best friend.
Speaker 4 (22:26):
I reviewed her book. I looked through it.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
And little kids get in a fight, one goes away,
another builds a robot version of that kid, and it
doesn't bring him joy because that thing doesn't respond. So
she understood depersonalizing a child, turning a child into a thing,
and that a real child is a joy. And so
the fact that she literally wrote the Book of Right
(22:50):
and Wrong on depersonalization is a disturbing look at a
certain kind of person living a double life. Here you
see me on Twitter and I've got butterfly eyes and
flowers in my hair, and here I am behind the door,
and that face of the mugshot is probably what those
kids saw over their beds.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
I'm looking at the photo you're talking about.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
It was a bio posted on Amazon dot com that
Walthall had a degree in elementary ed and spent eight
years teaching the fourth grade. And she's pictured in a pale,
pinkish purple outfit, kind of lavender, and all around her
are azalea's purple bright fusia looking azaleas, and she's wearing
(23:32):
one in her hair, and she looks like the penultimate
earth Mother. And you think she'd be a great mom.
As a child's author, do you remember other cases to
Daphne Young with child help dot Org where the children
(23:53):
suffered prolonged abuse that resulted in pneumonia in both lungs,
were basically waterboarded in their beds at night with cold
water to the point they had kidney and liver failure.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
I don't remember a case with those specifics, but I
do remember a lot of cases where you had a
parent that showed one face to the world, an educator,
somebody that looked like a kind person teaching CPR in
the community, and we got a little boy exactly as
your medical examiner described that, or your doctor described that,
was so malnourished, his hair was falling out, his belly
(24:30):
was distended, and he was close to death, and all
those organs were shutting down. So we have seen that
write in our Child Health Children's Center, and if we
didn't have a doctor who had been doing this for
twenty three years, immediately.
Speaker 4 (24:42):
Take that child to the hospital. He would have died
within forty eight hours. That's how close this little girl
was likely to death.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
Oh, I should take a listen to our cut eight.
This is Jeff Love to look at WFT.
Speaker 11 (24:55):
I'm told that the abuse described in the arrest report
just scratches the surface of what happened to the children
inside that Home's not known how long the alleged abuse
was going on.
Speaker 10 (25:06):
Are you aware of the charges against you?
Speaker 11 (25:09):
Yes, And those charges Joseph Wolfthol faces are aggravated child abuse,
child neglect with great bodily harm, and false imprisonment of
his three adoptive children. His wife, Jennifer, the author of
children's books, is also accused of abuse. Two of the
children told investigators that they were punished every night because
they couldn't stop sinning. They would spank the children utilizing
(25:32):
a specific item called a whacker, drawing blood by hitting
the same spot each time. The food was a mixture
of brand flake, cereal, water, and vegetable puree. One of
the children told investigators there were days she was fed
twice and sometimes she didn't eat her first meal until
three o'clock in the afternoon. She also described being locked
(25:53):
in a room for weeks and months. She spent the
entire day writing sentences at the desk in her room.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Just be so much to hear it. So I guess
alexis Terestak crime online dot com. She or her siblings
were the ones writing I have to stay flat on
my bed. I can't speak without permission. Do you remember
all those pages and pages of handwriting and also the
same thing, yes.
Speaker 4 (26:18):
And this was their form of punishment. The mom would
the parents would make them write out with thousands of
sentences the same one over and over again as part
of their punishment. On top of their punishments that were
they were forced this is the strangest thing. They were
forced to do squats and this is you know, where
you're standing and you just bend your legs, bender kneas
(26:38):
down and you don't hit the ground, You don't sit
on a chair anything. You up and down over and
over and over again. This is the torture that these
children were subjected to. Forced to do squats is exercise.
Speaker 10 (26:50):
You know.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
I'm looking at additional evidence. Apparently, according to all three
children who were questioned separately, they had not taken baths
in months, and they will be denied bandages for the
open wounds caused by the quote whacker a device I
guess the parents made up to spank the children, drawing
(27:13):
blood by hitting the same spot every time. Doctor Michelle Dupree,
do you think that is how the child got sepsis?
Speaker 6 (27:23):
Absolutely, Nancy, It certainly could be. Not taking a bath
for months is going to allow bacteria to build up
on your skin. It's going to enter the body through
the nose, the mouth, the eyes. Absolutely, that could cause
the beginning of sepsode.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
Trying to understand what this quote whacker would be to
Daphney Young with child help dot Org. It was specifically
designed to hit the child at the same spot to ultimately.
Speaker 3 (27:51):
Draw blood over and over again, and then they be
doused with the water and then these giant fans, which
probably made them freeze as they lay on plastic covers
with no blankets, a plastic cover over the mattresses. And
I remember the little girl saying that she counted days
and weeks, just trying to get her head straight as
(28:13):
to what day of the week it was, what month
it was. This is like a prisoner would do on
the side of a prison wall, trying to remember where am.
Speaker 4 (28:21):
I, what day of the week it is. So you know,
she was trapped.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
In that room in pain, but also just trying to
maintain some sanity.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
A whacker device, you know. Randy Kessler, Atlanta trial lawyer,
that device shows clear intent not to discipline, but to
torture the children.
Speaker 5 (28:43):
I intent, it's not really very hard to prove and
reckless disregard about of mind. These people can't go before
a jury, right can you imagine any jury giving them anything?
But the horses comes in. The charge with horse is
kind of charge with the intent. You know, you're right,
And especially they can't claim they can't claim they didn't know,
(29:05):
they didn't understand that there was just a mistake. I mean,
considering the combination of what they did and who they are.
You know, the fact that they have she has a
degree in education, she teaches, she writes children's books. Oh
my god, there is obvious contemps all.
Speaker 6 (29:19):
Over the place.
Speaker 5 (29:20):
It's I'm almost prised it not an insanity defense coming.
But there's no way, there's no way.
Speaker 1 (29:26):
I don't think that they can both be declared in
saying that's just a little bit too much of a
coincidence and a very interesting thing. The husband in this case,
Joseph Walthall, is an engineer. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace
(29:49):
Now catch this. Jennifer Wolfthal's publisher, Clavis Publishing, released a statement,
quote at Clavis, we believe children are beautiful and deserve
our utmost respect and care. Then they stated they would
cease further commercialization of the book. To write a children's
(30:10):
book while you're torturing your own children. What more do
we know? Kidney failure, liver failure, double pneumonia, and sepsis,
open wounds, all three, malnutrition, waterboarding in the home. They
all three separately tell the same story, and it reminds
(30:31):
me very much of a case that we just covered.
Take a listen to our cut eleven This is Tiger
Huck at WYFF News.
Speaker 12 (30:42):
For Ariel Robinson sat down with WYFF News four in
August after winning the Food Network show Worst Cooks in America.
She told us then the winnings from the show would
go a long way to help her and her husband,
who recently adopted three more children.
Speaker 13 (31:00):
Know that the Lord had his hands on me and
he had a purpose for me to go on there.
Speaker 12 (31:03):
The former middle school teacher was an aspiring comedian booked
by Justin Williams to perform at a Pickens County barbecue
event back in November.
Speaker 14 (31:10):
She was hilarious, She was super sweet to everybody around her,
and she expressed the passion for working with children and
working with just the community in general.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
The reality star Ariel Robinson won Worst cook in America,
got twenty five thousand dollars and bragged about her blended
family and using the money to help raise her adopted children. Well,
Tory Rose is dead. The three year old little girl
was found covered in bruises and they actually tried to
(31:42):
tell nine one one it's because she drank too much
water and the bruises were from CPR. She's charged with
murdered by child abuse and there she is a reality
star on TV. Of course, the husband said he could
hear the beatings and he finally told his wife, you've
gone too far. Well, the child is dead and according
(32:06):
to Facebook photos of the little girl that they posted,
she had been covered with bruses many times before. She's
not the only one where what you see is not
what you're getting. Take a listen to our cup fourteen
Jessica Stone ACGTN needs you shall say.
Speaker 15 (32:21):
When they entered the Turpin home, they found a modern
day horror foul smell, extremely dirty conditions, and they say
it was immediately clear that the siblings were malnourished. Authorities
say they found three of the children shackled to their
beds with chains and padlocks, kept in dark and unclean
conditions inside this Riverside County, California home. Deputies located twelve
(32:44):
children inside the house as young as two years old.
While the family kept this active Facebook page which appears
to show a happy group trips, vacations, smiling faces. Authorities
discovered that seven of the children pictured appeared so malnourished
that they did look like children, they were actually adult.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
The oldest is twenty nine years old. Those children chained
to their beds. But if you look at their Facebook,
they're all dressed in matching red Disney shirts.
Speaker 2 (33:12):
The you know thing number one, thing number two.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
They had all matching outfits on various trips. They were
all there at a revival of the vow ceremony with
the parents. I mean, it goes on and on. Who
would have ever thought these children were being so horribly treated.
One finally escape called out a window and called nine
(33:39):
one one to save her sister's horrible, horrible conditions.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
Inside one of.
Speaker 1 (33:46):
The closets in the Turpin home, there were scratches on
the wall where the children had tried to get out.
Straight back to Daphne Young with child help dot Org,
one of our favorite organizations. I know, you remember the
Turpen case in the House of Horrors.
Speaker 3 (34:04):
Absolutely, and a lot of the kids that you know,
while we have to protect the anonymity of all of
our children, a lot of the kids that we see
in these headlines come through child health And it's horrible
enough to deal with the child abuse that comes from
drug addicts, the child abuse that comes from mental health cases,
the child abuse that comes from people that are you know,
(34:25):
completely sort of out of it in terms of finances
and otherwise. But the scariest ones, the ones that I'm
still trying to figure out, how do we detect these
folks are those that have this great facade, those that
have good educations, those that have resources, they live among us.
These are people that aren't our neighbors and people that
(34:46):
we interact with potentially and don't recognize, and those are
the scariest abusers, and they create houses of horrors. And
the children. It takes the years for these kids to
recover and be put on a path of hope and.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
Healing abezures you would never expect. Take a listen to
our friends over at the New York Times.
Speaker 13 (35:10):
Hundreds of women say Larry Nasarus sexually abused them. It's
one of the worst sexual abuse scandals in the history
of sports, and it went on for more than two decades.
Nasar's patients felt honored to be treated by the best
of the best. Nasa typically carried out his abuse under
the guise of a medical treatment. He hijacked a rare
pelvic therapy that involves vaginal penetration and used it to
(35:33):
treat all.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
Sorts of ailments.
Speaker 13 (35:35):
He ignored protocols such as using a glove, asking consent,
or having a medical chaperone present.
Speaker 16 (35:42):
And when I was fourteen years old, I saw my
hamstring in my right leg.
Speaker 17 (35:45):
This was when he started performing the procedure that we
are all now familiar with.
Speaker 16 (35:49):
The next visit was from my shoulder, which I then
phoned out my hips thread alignment, which then made my
spine and my pelvic phone out of alignment as well.
And this is when Larry decided that it was medically
acceptable to violate a sixteen year old girl.
Speaker 1 (36:06):
So from a well respected couple in the community that
had a house of horrors going on homeskilling their children
in order to abuse them, to now a well known
book author to an Olympic coach abusing dozens of young
(36:28):
girls with me daft young With the Child help dot
Org organization, Daphne, you have actually worked with some of
Nasaur's victims.
Speaker 3 (36:40):
Absolutely. Olympic consultants Foundation for Global Sports connected us with
some of these brave what they call themselves, sister survivors.
And when we.
Speaker 4 (36:49):
Talked a little bit earlier with law enforcement and others
about being jaded, this is the piece of child help
that's kept me here, which is these women are working
with us in Child Help Speak, a be Safe for
Athletes and a Courage First hotline that is both a
prevention education for youth sports, which we've reached well over
one hundred and sixty thousand children and families, and a
(37:11):
hotline for youth athletes. So these gals.
Speaker 3 (37:14):
Are using very difficult experiences to create safety nets for
kids and youth sports. And so that's the kind of
stuff that allows us to keep doing this work. Because
for every awful family like the ones we're discussing today,
and for every creep like Nasar who hurts these kids,
they are amazing women and survivors and young boys that
(37:37):
come out of these circumstances and change lives and use
their voice for good.
Speaker 1 (37:41):
You know, Lexus tresstot crime Online dot comments to get
a reporter. We know a little bit about what these parents,
the Wolfthall said at the hospital. They didn't just blame
it on slip and falls all the injuries. What else
did they say?
Speaker 4 (37:55):
So when Joseph Woopall took his daughter to the hospital,
he told the doctors that were there the child had
such huge, obvious wounds. He said that she was hurt
because she brushed her teeth too hard.
Speaker 1 (38:06):
Did you just say the excuse was she brushed her
teeth too hard?
Speaker 4 (38:10):
Yep, she brushed her teeth too hard. That's the excuse
that he tried to use. And he's also blaming his wife.
Speaker 2 (38:16):
It was also the whacker.
Speaker 1 (38:18):
Doctor Michelle Dupree, a forensic pathologist from her Medical Examiner,
author of Homicide Investigation fueld Goide and Investigating Child Abuse
field guide. How do you perceive the so called whacker?
And can you imagine the sense of dread these children
felt when they saw the whacker pulled out bency.
Speaker 6 (38:37):
I've had a couple of cases like this, and I've
seen things such as the end of a broom handle
or the broom handle itself, which can cause significant injury,
being used over and over and over again to cause this.
Speaker 1 (38:49):
Robert Crispin, I prosecuted a lot of child abuse child
molestation cases, as have you in your investigations. What do
you make of child witnesses?
Speaker 10 (39:01):
They are the best witnesses to law enforcement. They're the
best witnesses to prosecutors. They're so innocent. They tell you
things that they shouldn't know at their age. They're very specific,
they're not old enough to learn how to manipulate law enforcement,
to manipulate a prosecutor. I have found in interviewing so
(39:22):
many child victims that you get goosebums and chills when
you sit there and listen to the details in the
horror that this kid went through, Like, how do you
know this at eleven years old? How do you know
that at eight years old? The best witnesses ever?
Speaker 1 (39:37):
You know, we're talking about a child's book author Houserbooks
on Amazon dot com. Very well established, a husband, very
educated and engineer. So how do you take a child
witness like Robert Christmas talking about and stack them.
Speaker 2 (39:55):
Up against a defendant?
Speaker 1 (39:58):
What about an that nobody would suspect? Take a Listen
to Tiffany Taylor at Hollywood Reporter.
Speaker 17 (40:07):
Christina's Tell All memoir that inspired the film of the
same name, painted Joan Crawford this abusive and an alcoholic.
While her adopted brother Christopher always supported her claims, their twin.
Speaker 18 (40:17):
Siblings Kathy and Sydney did not.
Speaker 17 (40:19):
According to the book, Joan often went on what Christina
called night raids, where she would wake.
Speaker 18 (40:24):
Her up and make her clean messes she hadn't.
Speaker 17 (40:26):
Made for hours on end. Christina also said Joan hated
wire hangers. She reportedly once woke her up in the
middle of the night for using them. In a scene
that's infamously depicted in the nineteen eighty one movie, she
is said to have dragged her daughter by the hair,
yelling Noah wire hangers while beating her. Christina also claims
she was once starved for days when she refused to
(40:47):
eat an undercooked, bloody steak, all in a bid for
her mother to further control her. According to the memoir,
Joan allegedly kept Christopher constricted in bed in a sleep
safe device.
Speaker 18 (40:57):
And tied Christina up in the shower at night.
Speaker 17 (41:00):
Christina was thirteen years old, she supposedly suffered one final
brutal beating from her mother and when she thought she
was going to be choked out.
Speaker 1 (41:07):
You know what is that, Daphne Young Where the children
are restricted, tied up. We hear it over and over again,
like in this case, where they're forced to lay flat
on the bed interpend they were chained to the bed
or put into a closet and locked in the.
Speaker 2 (41:23):
Constriction of the child. I find that to be a
common thing.
Speaker 3 (41:28):
It's a complete lack of control in the parent. It
starts off sometimes small, a little discipline. I'm going to
put you in your room, you need to stay away
from this or that, and becomes a torture chamber. Essentially,
it's like the torturing of prisoners. And so much of
this repetition and cruelty then becomes status quo. So every
(41:52):
little breach of a boundary can open up a new boundary.
That's why I say, you know, I don't even like
people spanking children, because every breach of being.
Speaker 19 (42:02):
A little out of control can make you much much
further out of control. And then, you know, not everybody
obviously is going to end up like this, but we see,
you know, kids will tell us how it started, and
it seems so small, and then it turns into something
that is a true nightmare.
Speaker 1 (42:19):
Jennifer and Joseph Wolffall wrought in hell with a brief
pitstop in the penitentiary. Goodbye friends,
Host
Nancy Grace
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