Wild Child Susan "Genie" Wiley
After her parents were married, Clark beat Irene and prevented her from leaving the home.
Irene was already partially blind before the beatings, would become completely dependent on her husband.
Clark didn't want any children, but five years into their marriage, his wife became pregnant with a girl named Dorothy.
Clark had found the cries of Dorothy disturbing and had placed her in the garage.
The Dorothy caught pneumonia and died at the age of ten weeks old.
A year later, they had a baby boy name Robert , whom only made it to two days old after choking on his own vomit.
Three years later they had another son they named John.
The father forced the wife to keep the boy quiet, causing physical and developmental delays.
When John reached the age of four, his maternal grandmother Pearl took him in for a few months.
He made good improvements, but then was given back to his parents.
Genie was born 5 years after her brother.
Her dad began isolating the whole family and himself from others.
She was in the 50th percentile for weight and had to have a blood transfusion.
She had a congenital hip dislocation and had to wear a highly restrictive Frejka splint from 4 to 11 months.
This caused her to be late to walk, which might have led her dad to believe that she was intellectually disabled.
Her father made a concentrated effort not to talk or pay attention to her.
He also encouraged the wife and son to do the same.
At 14 months old, she was starting to show signs of malnutrition.
She came down with a fever and pneumonitits.
Six months later, Genie's paternal grandmother died in a hit and run.
Because his son was walking with the grandmother at the time of the accident, Genie's father blamed him.
The truck diver received a probationary sentence for manslaughter and drunk driving.
This made the father become delusional with rage.
He thought now more than ever that he had to protect his family from the outside world and lacked self awareness to recognize the destruction his actions caused.
He thought Genie would require even more protection.
Her father immediately quit his job and moved the family into his mother's two bedroom house in Temple City, California.
Genie was confined to the second bedroom in the back of the house while the rest of the family slept in the living room.
The grandmother's room was left as a shrine to her.
For 13 hours a day, genie's father tied her to a child's toilet in a makeshift harness that functioned as a straitjacket.
She wore diapers and only could move her arms and legs.
At night he usual tied her to a sleeping bag and placed her in a crib with a metal screen cover.
This left her arms and legs immobilized.
Sometimes he'd leave her on her toilet over night.
If she made any sound at all, he'd beat her with a large plank he kept in her room.
He would bare his teeth and howl like a dog.
He also grew out his nails to scratch her with.
Genie learned to make as little sound as possible.
She grew to masturbate in socially inappropriately.
This led researchers to believe she was sexually abused by her father and brother.
Genie was fed as little food as possible.
She was on a diet of baby food, cereal, Pablum, sometimes a soft boiled egg and liquids.
Her father and brother spoon fed her and when she didn't eat fast enought, they would rub her face in her food.
Genie's mother would try to sneak her food around 11 p.m.
Her father almost never allowed his wife or son to speak and would beat them.
Genie's room was kept extremely dark with blacked out windows.
Her brother tried to run away a few times.
Genie's father felt, for some reason, that she wouldn't live past 12 years old.
He told his wife that if she did that she and Genie would be able to leave.
In October 1970, Genie was almost 14 years old when her parents had a violent argument.
Her mother threatened to walk out if she couldn't call her parents.
Her husband relented and she called her parents
One day Clark left the house and Irene an Genie escaped with Irene's parents.
By this time Genie's brother was 18 and out of the house living with friends.
November 4th, Genie and her mom went to apply for disability benefits.
They accidentally went next door to the social security office.
The worker that greeted them was shocked when she learned Genie's real age and contacted police.
Genie's parents were arrested and she became a ward of the court and she was immediately taken to a children's hospital.
On November 12, Genie's father committed suicide.
The charges against the mother were dropped and she received counseling.
Genie was 4 ft 6 in and weighed 59 lbs.
She had nearly two sets of teeth and a distended abdomen.
She had thick callus and heavy bruising on her buttocks from the restraints.
She had dis formed hips and an undersized rib cage.
Testing showed she did not have anything wrong with her eyes, but she could not focus them on anything past 10 feet, the measurement of the room her father kept her in.
She couldn't stand up straight or fully straighten her limbs.
Her movements were hesitant and unsteady.
She could not chew and had severe dysphagia.
She was even barely able to swallow liquids.
Genie was completely incontinent.
Eventually Genie learned to play, chew and dress herself.
She enjoyed music.
Today Genie is in a private adult home for the mentally disabled in Southern California.
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