SMART Newsletter Celebrates Twenty-Six Years of Publishing - Neil Brick Editor
EASTHAMPTON, Mass., March 31, 2021- In 1995, the SMART (Stop Mind control And Ritual abuse Today) newsletter started publishing a small newsletter in Northampton, Massachusetts (now in Easthampton, Mass). In 1996, SMART began publishing on the Internet for the first time. SMART developed a website for survivors of ritual abuse and their helpers. SMART was one of the early educational resources for survivors of severe trauma, rape and abuse. In 1998, SMART began having weekend conferences for survivors and their helpers in Connecticut.
SMART has become one of the largest information and scientific resources on ritual abuse, cults, mind control, repressed memory, dissociation and dissociative identity disorder (formerly multiple personality disorder) on the Internet. https://ritualabuse.us/
SMART's newsletter has provided informational resources about many child abuse cases over the years. Their newsletter has covered major events about ritual abuse and mind control. Articles have included information on Claudia Mullen, Valerie Wolf, the Extreme Abuse Surveys, MK-ULTRA, Satanic Ritual Abuse, clergy abuse including the Catholic Church sexual abuse crisis, day care cases, propaganda, sex trafficking, high profile serial child abuse and rape cases, including those of Bill Cosby, Harvey Weinstein, Jeffrey Epstein and Jimmy Savile.
Speakers at SMART's conferences have included Lynne Moss-Sharman, Hal Pepinsky, Neil Brick, Adah Sachs, Alison Miller, Randy Noblitt, Wendy Hoffman, Carol Rutz, Wanda Karriker, Thorsten Becker, deJoly LaBrier, Laurie Matthews, Sarah Nelson and many others. https://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/
SMART has worked with other organizations including Survivorship to help educate the general public about ritual abuse and mind control crimes. https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/
SMART continues to have yearly conferences in Connecticut. The newsletter recently published its 157th edition online at https://ritualabuse.us/newsletter/. Neil Brick continues to publish research and research articles on child abuse, ritual abuse, mind control and dissociation. He continues to speak at conferences about ritual abuse and mind control. http://neilbrick.com
SMART's goal is to continue publishing educational resources to help survivors of child abuse, ritual abuse, their helpers and the general public learn more about the prevalence of ritual abuse and mind control in the United States and around the world. SMART hopes that child and ritual abuse will someday be eliminated in the world and children will be safe.
Tuesday, March 30, 2021
SMART Newsletter Celebrates Twenty-Six Years of Publishing - Neil Brick Editor
Monday, March 29, 2021
Sex offenders sue state denied leftovers from Satanic feast, killed his girlfriend on behalf of ‘Satan’, Boarding School Owners 102 Charges In 'Horrific' Child Abuse Case "use the Bible to teach"
Clark Kauffman
Iowa Capital Dispatch
March 5, 2021
October 16, 2020 Kayla Crandall
Former Boarding School Owners Facing 102 Charges In 'Horrific' Child Abuse Case
“[It’s] one of the most widespread cases of sexual, physical and mental abuse patterns against young girls and women in Missouri history,” state attorney general Eric Schmitt said this week.
By Dorian Geiger
Facebook apps used in more than half of online child sex crimes
Thursday, March 25, 2021
New Speakers Announced for Survivorship's 2021 Ritual Abuse and Mind Control Online Conference
New Speakers Announced for Survivorship's 2021 Ritual Abuse and Mind Control Online Conference
This year's speakers include Neil Brick, Wendy Hoffman, Ellen Lacter, Randy Noblitt and Sarah Nelson.
Survivorship - For survivors of ritual abuse, mind control and torture and pro-survivors.
PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif., March 10, 2021 The conference on May 21-23, 2021 will focus on being a survivor or clinician in a changing world.
https://survivorship.org/the-survivorship-ritual-abuse-and-mind-control-2021-conference/
Neil Brick will speak about Mind Control and How to Stop it. This presentation will explain how mind control and different suggestive techniques work in a variety of settings.
Neil Brick is a survivor of ritual abuse and mind control. His child abuse and ritual abuse newsletter S.M.A.R.T. https://ritualabuse.us has been published for over 26 years. http://neilbrick.com
Wendy Hoffman will speak about Self Esteem and Programming.
Wendy Hoffman endured various forms of high level secret mind control, and consequently had amnesia for most of her life.
https://ritualabuse.us/smart/wendy-hoffman
Dr. Ellen Lacter will speak about One Hundred Children: A Parable for Healing from Dissociation-savvy Mind Control.
Dr. Lacter will also speak about Production of Sadistic Child abuse Materials: Psychology of the Victims and Perpetrators.
Ellen Lacter is a licensed Clinical Psychologist in private practice. She has been publishing and presenting on ritual abuse for 20 years.
https://endritualabuse.org/ https://ritualabuse.us/smart/ellen-lacter/
Dr. Randy Noblitt will present Institutional Child Abuse: A Panel Presentation and General Discussion. This Panel presentation discusses a topic that is sadly regularly depicted in popular media, institutional child abuse.
Randy Noblitt is a clinical psychologist and professor of clinical psychology at the California School of Professional Psychology (CSPP) at Alliant International University, Los Angeles. https://ritualabuse.us/smart/randy-noblitt/
Sarah Nelson will speak about Deliberate Disinformation in the Orkney ritual child abuse case
The Orkney child abuse case, was a highly publicised case in the UK from 1991 - 1992, had the 30th anniversary in February this year of nine children being removed into care in "dawn raids" by police and social workers.
Dr. Sarah Nelson OBE (Universities of Edinburgh) has written and presented widely for decades on sexual abuse issues.
Olivia will speak about You're Not Who They Said You Are: My Battles For Freedom and Justice Through Perseverance and Exposing the Truth
She will be giving a broad overview of surviving 40 plus years of satanic ritual abuse and mind control
Olivia is a survivor of satanic ritual abuse and mind control at the government level.
Thursday, March 11, 2021
SMART Ritual Abuse and Mind Control Newsletter - March 2021
S.M.A.R.T.
(Stop Mind control And Ritual abuse Today)
P. O Box 1295, Easthampton, MA 01027-1295 USA E-mail: SMARTNEWS@aol.com
Home page: https://ritualabuse.us
Issue 157 – March 2021
The purpose of this newsletter is to help stop secretive organizations and groups from abusing others and to help those who allege they have been abused by such organizations and groups. This newsletter is not a substitute for other ways of recovering from ritual abuse. Readers should use caution while reading this newsletter. If necessary, make sure other support systems are available during and after reading this newsletter.
Important:
The resources mentioned in this newsletter are for educational value
only. Reading the books cited may or may not help your recovery process,
so use caution when reading any book or contacting any resource
mentioned in this newsletter. Some may have a religious or other agenda
that may be separate from your own recovery process. Others may have
valuable information on secretive organizations, but have triggers or be
somewhat sympathetic to those organizations. Unless explicitly stated
otherwise, the views expressed in this newsletter constitute expressions
of opinion, and readers are cautioned to form their own opinions and
draw their own conclusions by consulting a variety of sources, including
this newsletter. Resources listed, quoted and individual articles, etc.
and their writers do not necessarily support all or any of the views
mentioned in this newsletter. Also, the views, facts and opinions
mentioned in this newsletter are solely the opinions of the authors and
are not necessarily the opinions of this newsletter or its editor.
Copyright 2021 – All rights reserved. No reproduction of any material
without written permission from the editor and individual authors.
Information in this issue includes: Survivorship 2021 Ritual Abuse and Mind Control Online Conference Speakers, Dissociation, Mind Control, Ellen Lacter, ritual abuse, Sadistic Child Abuse Materials, Psychology of the Victims and Perpetrators, child abuse materials, dark web, Self-Esteem, Wendy Hoffman, programming,Neil Brick, busive relationships, ritual abuse settings, hypnosis, trauma, S.M.A.R.T., Institutional Child Abuse, Randy Noblitt , Disinformation, Orkney ritual child abuse case, Sarah Nelson, organised sexual abuse, child protection against sexual abuse, satanic ritual abuse, How to Find A Therapist, Elana Christiansen, DID symptom, complex trauma, Internal Family Systems , Brainspotting, EMDR, Ritual Abuse Evidence, Child Abuse Wiki, Dissociative identity disorder, Multiple Personality Disorder, MPD, Ireland’s mother and baby homes, Bon Secours mother and baby home in Tuam, The Memory War, Jennifer Freyd, Pam and Peter Freyd,False Memory Syndrome Foundation, sexual violence, Lost in the Mall,Kathy Pezdek, Divided Memories, FMSF’s claims, False Memory Syndrome Flawed Science, Loftus, Bessel van der Kolk, Paul Shanley, Scientific Evidence for Dissociative Amnesia, Betrayal Trauma, Ross Cheit, Recovered Memory Project,The Witch-Hunt Narrative, McMartin Preschool case , Jerry Sandusky, Bennett G. Braun’s research, Burgus v. Braun legal case, BASK Model of Dissociation, Michael Salter – Organized Abuse, Marilyn Manson, Ashley Walters, Evan Rachel Woods, Sarah McNeilly, Ashley Lindsay Morgan, Karl Sabbagh, British False Memory Society (BFMS), jailed for grooming child
Survivorship Announces its 2021 Ritual Abuse and Mind Control Online Conference Speakers
The conference will focus on being a survivor or clinician in a changing world.
Regular Conference – Saturday and Sunday May 22 – 23, 2021
Clinician’s Conference – Friday May 21, 2021
Conference information: https://survivorship.org/the-survivorship-ritual-abuse-and-mind-control-2021-conference/
Conference Presenters (Please note: These descriptions may be triggering for survivors.)
One Hundred Children: A Parable for Healing from Dissociation-savvy Mind Control Presenter: Ellen Lacter, Ph.D.
Abstract: Based on intensive therapy with survivors of ritual abuse and mind control and extensive interviews with colleagues who are survivor-activists and survivor-therapists, she has written a parable with 15 fictionalized examples of programming of dissociated child identities that describe common kinds of tactics used in programming – torture, threats, punishment, tricks, lies, set-ups, false promises of love and safety, and use of victims’ righteous anger for the abusers’ own purposes. The intention is to help both identities who navigate daily life and more dissociated programmed identities to reflect on their programming and to exercise more conscious control over all of the abuser manipulations that they endured.
Production of Sadistic Child Abuse Materials: Psychology of the Victims and Perpetrators Presenter: Ellen Lacter, Ph.D.
Children are being subjected to increasingly sadistic abuse within the
production of child abuse materials on the dark web. Victims are often
very young and likely to develop a multitude of dissociated self-states.
As these self-states emerge in therapy, some provide detailed accounts
of the behavior of the perpetrators and their own mind’s spontaneous
formation of self-states. This presentation examines the dissociative
systems of the victims and proposes related dissociative mechanisms in
the perpetrators.
Ellen Lacter is a licensed Clinical Psychologist in private practice in San Diego. She also heads up the Play Therapy Certificate Program at University of California- San Diego, Division of Extended Studies. Her first degree was in art, the next in art therapy, then three years of training in expressive analysis, and then a doctorate in clinical psychology. She began as an art therapist in the 1970s. In the 1980s, her focus became child abuse and play therapy with abused children. By the 1990s, she was working with dissociative clients and victims of ritual abuse. In 2000, she created a website: endritualabuse.org to help survivors and educate therapists. She has been publishing and presenting on ritual abuse for 20 years. In more recent years, she has also developed expertise in treating victims of the production of sadistic child abuse materials.
Self-Esteem Presenter: Wendy Hoffman
Programming turns you away from your true self. Programmers and even
satanic families do everything they can to make their victims feel bad
about themselves, debasing them in every way possible. Deprived of the
self-esteem that others take for granted makes surviving victims more
vulnerable to programming lies. The hardest job is surviving satanic
mind control while receiving little or no compassion, empathy or love.
The second hardest job is healing from it. This healing is crucial if
you want to belong to yourself, find out who you are, make your own
decisions and life choices. It is hard work to explore what perpetrators
put in innocent minds. This presentation addresses a preparatory step
for this healing work. Before you begin, and even as you proceed, even
after you finish, work on assessing how you really are as an individual,
your courageous strengths and abilities. This workshop discusses ways
survivors can achieve a truer picture of who they are, as well as ways
their therapists and supporters can help them.
Wendy Hoffman endured various forms of high level secret mind control,
and consequently had amnesia for most of her life. She wants to help and
support other survivors in their quests for freedom. Late in life, when
she regained memory, she wrote books about what she had been forced to
forget or dissociate. Among her published books are the memoirs, The
Enslaved Queen (2014) and White Witch in a Black Robe (2015), as well
Forceps, poems about the birth of the self (2016), and a co-authored
book of essays with Alison Miller, From the Trenches (2018). Her third
memoir, A Brain of My Own with an Afterword by Alison Miller is
forthcoming. She has a LCSW-C and decades of experience, a MA and MFA.
Mind Control and How to Stop it Presenter: Neil Brick
This presentation will explain how mind control and different suggestive
techniques work in a variety of individual and public settings. These
will include interpersonal relationships, abusive relationships, ritual
abuse settings, social media, political manipulation and hypnosis. Ways
to expose and prevent mind control will be discussed. Social views of
mind control will be presented.
Neil Brick is a survivor of ritual abuse and mind control. His work
continues to educate the public about child abuse, trauma and ritual
abuse crimes. His child abuse and ritual abuse newsletter S.M.A.R.T. https://ritualabuse.us has been published for over 26 years. http://neilbrick.com
Institutional Child Abuse: A Panel Presentation and General Discussion Presenter: Randy Noblitt
This panel presentation discusses a topic that is sadly regularly
depicted in popular media, institutional child abuse. We will address
abuse within established religions and new religious movements,
charitable associations, health care facilities, orphanages, and other
similar organizations and facilities from an international and historic
lens. We will then invite attendees to contribute to the discussion with
their own observations, comments, and questions with the ultimate
purpose of considering possible ways that there may be greater safety
for children.
Randy Noblitt is a clinical psychologist and professor of clinical psychology at the California School of Professional Psychology (CSPP) at Alliant International University, Los Angeles. He is the principle author of Navigating Social Security Disability Programs: A Handbook for Clinicians and Advocates (2020) as well as Cult and Ritual Abuse: Narratives, Evidence and Healing Approaches, 3rd Edition (2014). He is the co-editor and a contributor to Ritual Abuse in the Twenty-first Century: Psychological, Forensic, Social and Political Considerations (2008).
Deliberate Disinformation in the Orkney ritual child abuse case Presenter: Sarah Nelson
The Orkney child abuse case, a notorious and highly publicised case in
the UK from 1991 – 1992, had the 30th anniversary in February this year
of nine children being removed into care in “dawn raids” by police and
social workers. After claims by three children from another family on
South Ronaldsay, part of these northerly Scottish islands, about strange
outdoor rituals and organised sexual abuse, grounds for action against
their middle class parents and a clergyman referred to “group sexual
activity, including ritualistic music, dancing and dress”.
Six weeks later a Scots sheriff called the charges “fatally flawed” and
dismissed the case without even hearing the evidence. The children were
returned home in a blaze of international publicity. The evidence has
never been tested to this day in any criminal or civil court; the
parents were considered innocent, receiving an apology and financial
compensation afterwards.
The case delivered a hammer blow to child protection against sexual
abuse from which it has still not recovered. Anniversaries of the case
are replayed in most media complete each time with substantial
disinformation, and ridicule and dismissal of “satanic abuse”
allegations. This presentation will summarise the main features of the
case and describe the elaborate untruths and disinformation created
around it from the start.
Dr. Sarah Nelson OBE (Universities of Edinburgh) has written and presented widely for decades on sexual abuse issues. Her research and publications include the voices of young survivors, critiques of current child protection systems, community prevention, ritual and organised abuse, media representations of abuse cases, and adult survivors’ experiences of mental and physical health services. She has also been a professional adviser to the Scottish Government and Scottish Parliament. Her book Tackling Child Sexual Abuse: Radical approaches to prevention, protection and support (Policy Press, UK and University of Chicago press, USA)) was published in 2016.
You’re Not Who They Said You Are: My Battles For Freedom and Justice Through Perseverance and Exposing the Truth Presenter: Olivia
In this presentation, she will be giving a broad overview of surviving
40 plus years of satanic ritual abuse and mind control. Her primary
focus will be on the past four years when I made the decision and
commitment to reclaim my core identity, at all costs. She believes that
all survivors possess a spirit of resiliency that enabled them to live
through the traumas the first time and with that same resiliency they
have what they need to fight for their own truth and to take back their
own life. Her journey to freedom and healing has not been absent of
pain, fear, grief, loss and rejection, to name a few. It was her
conscious decision to fight back and to pursue vindication not only for
myself but for other survivors and has been key in my process to
healing.
Olivia is a survivor of satanic ritual abuse and mind control at the
government level. Through her own experiences, she has gained extensive
knowledge into many elements that encompass and keep intact such an evil
and complex system. With courage, perseverance and commitment into her
own journey to freedom and healing, she has chosen to break her own
silence and to be the voice for the many survivors who have not yet been
heard and are far too afraid to be seen. Her mission in life is to
educate others based on her experiences and to be an advocate for those
who are suffering and remain largely misunderstood, silenced and, too
often, rejected. Olivia’s desire is to use her story as a source of
strength, determination and compassion with the hopes of shedding light
into the darkness that she has known all too well.
How to Find A Therapist – An Interactive Discussion Group – Moderator: Elana Christiansen
Finding a qualified therapist to support someone with DID symptoms
and/or complex trauma may not be a straightforward path. Some people who
look for professional help may run into internal and external
challenges. This is a group discussion, that encourages audience
participation, for ideas for how to find a competent therapist and more
effective support.
Elana Christiansen is a psychotherapist in private practice in
California seeing clients experiencing trauma symptoms and dissociation.
Elana integrates modalities such as Internal Family Systems (IFS),
Brainspotting (BSP), and EMDR in her practice. She also volunteers in
the California prison system with an organization teaching communication
and life skills to individuals who are incarcerated.
Ritual Abuse Evidence https://survivorship.org/ritual-abuse-evidence/
Frequently Asked Questions – What is Ritual Abuse? What is Mind Control? What is Dissociation?
https://survivorship.org/frequently-ask-questions/
Child Abuse Wiki – Ritual Abuse http://childabusewiki.org/index.php?title=Ritual_Abuse
Dissociative identity disorder (formerly called Multiple Personality
Disorder or MPD)
http://childabusewiki.org/index.php?title=Dissociative_Identity_Disorder
What is Survivorship? Survivorship is one of the oldest and most
respected organizations supporting survivors of extreme child abuse,
including sadistic sexual abuse, ritualistic abuse, mind control and
torture. https://survivorship.org
Survivorship Notes and Journal
2021 Winter Journal
Articles: Institutional Child Abuse – Annika Lundin and Randy Noblitt
Boulspo, 2016 – Wendy Hoffman
My Personal Experience – Victoria Skye
Poetry: Whitman’s Samplers on the dining room table – Forest Hills, 1940s – Wendy Hoffman
Now and Then – Victoria Skye
https://survivorship.org/notes-and-journal/
Report to reveal scale of abuse at Ireland’s mother and baby homes
Results of investigation expected to tell how 9,000 children died in 18 institutions between 1922 and 1998
Rory Carroll Ireland correspondent Mon 11 Jan 2021
The grim history of a network of religious institutions in Ireland that
abused and shamed unmarried mothers and their children for much of the
20th century is to be laid bare.
A judicial commission of investigation into Ireland’s mother and baby
homes has documented shocking death rates and callousness in
institutions that doubled as orphanages and adoption agencies.
The mother and baby homes commission is to share a 3,000-page report
with survivors of the system on Tuesday. Its five-year investigation was
prompted by the discovery of a mass grave of babies and children in
Tuam, County Galway.
The taoiseach, Michéal Martin, is to give a formal state apology in the
Dáil on Wednesday. Martin, who has read the report, reportedly found the
contents shocking and difficult to read.
It estimates 9,000 children died in 18 institutions between 1922 and
1998 when the last such home closed, according to a leak published in
the Sunday Independent. The infant mortality rate is said to have been
double the national rate, underlining the impact of neglect,
malnutrition and disease.
Another source of anger for survivors is the policy of the religious
organisations – and the state – to impede them from tracing each other.
Ireland denies adopted people the legal right to their own information
and files. The report is understood to chronicle many of the lies and
obfuscations of priests, nuns and officials.
“It’s a crucial moment. I’m sorry it’s taken so long to come out,”
said Anne Harris, 70, who gave birth to a son in an institution in
County Cork in 1970. “Irish society was quite rigid and judgmental about
children born out of wedlock. These huge institutions were where women
were just put away out of sight.”…
The commission was formed in 2014 after a historian, Catherine Corless,
found death certificates for nearly 800 children who were residents at
Bon Secours mother and baby home in Tuam but burial records for only
two. Excavations subsequently found an underground structure divided
into 20 chambers containing “significant quantities of human remains”,
the commission said in an interim report.
The government apologised on Monday to survivors for the media leak
over the weekend, which undermined a promise to give them first access
to the report before publication. It is considering compensation and
legislation to help mothers and their children trace each other, should
they wish….
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/12/report-scale-abuse-ireland-mother-baby-homes
The Memory War Jennifer Freyd accused her father of sexual
abuse. Her parents’ attempt to discredit her created a defense for
countless sex offenders.
By Katie Heaney
https://www.thecut.com/amp/article/false-memory-syndrome-controversy.html
“Pam and Peter Freyd retaliated. In the wake of Jennifer’s
disclosure, they formed an organization called the False Memory Syndrome
Foundation. Through the nonprofit’s work, they popularized a term —
false memory — that became one of the most effective tools to instill
doubt not only about allegations of child sex abuse but in all forms of
sexual violence. Between 1992, when the foundation was launched, and
December 2019, when it abruptly shuttered, it bolstered the defense
strategy employed by countless sex offenders, from Michael Jackson to
Bill Cosby and Harvey Weinstein.”
“Peter (Freyd) was always interested in Jennifer’s (Freyd) sex life. On
one occasion, when kissing a high-school boyfriend while seated on her
bed, Jennifer caught her father watching them from her open doorway.
Another time, she found him reading her diary; he accused her of
purposely leaving it out where he could see it. Jennifer felt an
enormous relief when she left for college at age 16, though visiting
home for the holidays made it clear that little had changed: When guests
came over for dinner and drinks, Peter told them the family’s toy
poodle, Carbon, humped people to whom Jennifer was sexually attracted.
“In a variation on the (Lost in the Mall) mall study published in
1997, researchers sought to emphasize this distinction by presenting
subjects with one true memory and two false ones: being lost in the mall
and receiving a rectal enema. The hypothesis was that the less
plausible event, the enema, wouldn’t create false memories so easily.
Three of 20 subjects “remembered” having been lost in the mall. Zero
remembered the enema.
“The typical response was ‘No fucking way. That didn’t happen,’ ” says
Kathy Pezdek, a cognitive psychologist and an expert in eyewitness
memory, who conducted the experiment.
Coan, Loftus’s former student and now a neuroscientist and psychology
professor at the University of Virginia, has decidedly mixed feelings
about the experiment he inadvertently spearheaded. “I’m slow enough on
the uptake that it took me a while to realize that the study I was doing
was making people who had been sexually abused feel like I was their
enemy,” he tells me. “That was completely devastating to me.
” Although he has been asked to testify about false memory in
countless court cases, Coan has always refused. He just doesn’t think
the mall study is sufficiently relevant. In her excitement, he thinks,
Loftus may have “mischaracterized” what started out as an undergraduate
assignment for extra credit.
“I got five points,” Coan says. “Five points and decades of grief.”
“….But while the (False Memory Syndrome) foundation may be gone, its legacy is likely to be long-lasting. Stories of brainwashed daughters falsely accusing their parents have become a staple of popular culture, from talk shows like Sally Jessy Raphael to PBS documentaries like Divided Memories. “I was just astounded that this big lie could be perpetrated with impunity and with great success across all major media,” says Hopper, the Harvard psychologist. The concept of false memory does more than provide child sex abusers with a pseudoscientific defense — it offers a perversely reassuring explanation for anyone who wants to believe that such abuse is less common than it actually is. While statistics vary by source, an epidemiological overview of worldwide data estimates that 8 percent of boys and 20 percent of girls are sexually abused before the age of 18. And contrary to the FMSF’s claims, most victims of child sex abuse are extremely reluctant to share their abuse with others or reporting it to the police.”
The False Memory Syndrome at 30: How Flawed Science Turned into Conventional Wisdom
The false memory syndrome stands in direct scientific opposition to the
wealth of evidence supporting dissociative amnesia—a psychological
defense mechanism which, according to trauma therapists, enables people
to split off painful events from conscious awareness for years….
Moreover, the broad acceptance of the false memory syndrome in the
cultural ecosystem can end up silencing, or even shaming, people like
Jennifer Freyd, who believe that they have stumbled upon painful
experiences in their childhood and seek to understand the truth about
their own past and its connection to their current feelings. In
addition, in the courtroom, the Freyds’ view of memory can serve as a
protective shield for those who have, in fact, sexually abused children…
Another problematic flaw with the mall study is its laboratory
setting. “Loftus is not a clinician and never studied how people process
traumatic experiences,” said psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk. “Trauma
often overwhelms the central nervous system, so the brain may not be
able to register it fully when it happens. That’s why delayed memories
of abuse are not uncommon.”
Finally, critics have pointed out that the study is riddled with
methodological flaws and lapses in its reporting of results. For
example, in “Lost in the Mall: False Memory or False Defense,” published
in 2019 in The Journal of Child Custody, psychologists Ruth Blizzard
and Morgan Shaw reported that Loftus tossed out six subjects who were in
her original 1993 study—a move which constitutes a major ethical lapse
for an experimental researcher. “The mall study,” they concluded, “has
received a minimal amount of critical analysis, regardless of the vague
and contradictory reporting of results, failure to report negative
results, lack of definition of false memory, and conflation of informal
observations with formal research.”…
Loftus was the sole defense witness called in the February 2005 trial of the late Paul Shanley, the so-called “Boston street priest,” who had admitted on several occasions since the late 1970s—to both journalists and to church authorities—that he had abused numerous boys. The 2005 case concerned a Boston area firefighter who claimed that Shanley had raped him on numerous occasions when he was between six and nine years old. The accuser, who was 27 at the time of the trial, testified that he had forgotten about the years of abuse for about 15 years….
The Scientific Evidence for Dissociative Amnesia
The flip side to the false memory studies is a large body of research,
conducted over the last century, that provides evidence that
dissociative amnesia is, in fact, a common reaction to trauma. However,
this research has often been ignored in news articles and textbooks that
discuss the false memory syndrome.
“There are now hundreds of studies in lots of different populations
showing that people forget trauma,” said psychiatrist Bessel van der
Kolk. “We see it in victims of sexual abuse, natural disaster, torture,
rape, war, and kidnapping. And research also shows that delayed memories
of abuse are as reliable as continuous memories.”
One of the psychologists who has synthesized much of this research on
dissociative amnesia has been Jennifer Freyd herself. “I am a memory
psychologist, so I needed to make sense of what had happened to me,” she
said. In 1996, she published Betrayal Trauma: The Logic of Forgetting
Childhood Abuse (1996)—a book published by Harvard University Press,
which describes what she has called betrayal trauma theory. “Memory of
trauma can be dangerous to children,” she stated, summing up the central
argument of her book. “They may need to forget in order to function in
important relationships.”….
Evidence for dissociative amnesia has also been gathered by Brown University political scientist Ross Cheit,
who reports that he forgot his own sexual abuse at the age of 12 by a
camp counselor for decades. In the mid-1990s, he launched the Recovered
Memory Project, and he has now gathered 110 corroborated cases of
recovered memory. He also has compiled a long list of citations to
scholarly articles on dissociative amnesia in various populations such
as child abuse victims and Holocaust survivors.
Cheit spent a decade writing a book, The Witch-Hunt Narrative: Politics,
Psychology and the Sexual Abuse of Children (2014), in which he
reviewed the major child abuse cases over the previous 30 years—from the
McMartin Preschool case of the 1980s through the priest abuse cases and
the Jerry Sandusky case. In it, he documents how there has been a bias
in the media against recognizing dissociative amnesia, even though in
the clinical world it is well known that “sexual abuse disclosures are
often delayed and then disclosed in bits and pieces.”
https://www.madinamerica.com/2021/02/false-memory-syndrome/
Bennett G. Braun’s research
(with information about the Burgus v. Braun legal case)
https://ritualabuse.us/smart/bennett-braun/
Bennett Braun was a famous doctor that worked in the field of
dissociation and trauma in the 1980’s and early 1990’s. He created the
BASK Model of Dissociation, a model for understanding and healing
dissociation that is still used by some today.
The BASK Model of Dissociation Bennett G. Braun, M.D.
ABSTRACT The BASK model conceptualizes the complex phenomenology of
dissociation along with dimensions of Behavior, Affect, Sensation, and
Knowledge. The process of dissociation itself, hypnosis, and the
clinical mental disorders that constitute the dissociative disorders are
described in terms of this model, and illustrated.
https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1794/1276/Diss_1_1_2_OCR_rev.pdf
Michael Salter – Organized Abuse
https://ritualabuse.us/smart/michael-salter/
Organised abuse has been reported by child victims, adult survivors and a
range of professionals for over thirty years. However, organised abuse
remains poorly understood. This website has been developed by
criminologist Scientia Associate Professor Michael Salter who
specialises in the study of organised abuse and complex trauma. The aim
of the website is to disseminate reliable information about organised
abuse to professionals, victims and survivors.
https://www.organisedabuse.com/
Scientia Associate Professor Michael Salter
I am the Scientia Associate Professor in Criminology at the University
of New South Wales, Australia. I specialise in the study of organised
sexual abuse. In addition to my work on complex trauma, I have
researched and published widely on violence against women and children.
I sit on the Scientific Advisory Committee and the Board of Directors of
the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation. I
am an Associate Editor of Child Abuse Review, the peer-reviewed journal
of the British Association for the Study and Prevention of Child Abuse
and Neglect, and I sit on the editorial board of the Journal of Trauma
and Dissociation.
I act as a consultant and trainer to a range of non-government
organisations and government departments at the state and national
level. I am an expert advisor to the Australian Office of the eSafety
Commissioner and the Canadian Centre for Child Protection. https://www.organisedabuse.com/michael-salter
Marilyn Manson: His satanic majesty Friday 07 February 2014
….Manson would further stir up the fury of his adversaries by gleefully
declaring himself a Satanist, despite the fact that in his book he
states: “I’m not, and never have been, a spokesperson for Satanism. It’s
simply part of what I believe in, along with Dr Seuss, Dr Hook,
Nietzsche and the Bible…”
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/marilyn-manson-his-satanic-majesty-116023.html
Ashley Walters Accuses Marilyn Manson Of Using Mind Control And Torture Tactics To Control Her Charisse Van Horn Feb 1, 2021
Photographer Ashley Walters has joined Evan Rachel Woods in coming
forward with allegations of abuse against rocker Marilyn Manson, whose
real name is Brian Warner. Turning to her official Instagram account,
Ashley shared a slideshow where she posted a four-part statement where
she accused Marilyn Manson of using mind control and torture tactics to
bring her under his control. She explained how she met Manson and came
to work for him as his assistant after he reached out to her in 2010.
She then describes her time with Marilyn Manson as one where he isolated
her from her friends and family members and then used extreme,
manipulative tactics to control her. She described Marilyn Manson as
exhibiting horrifying and deranged behavior. The allegations are very
similar to those made by others over the past decade, including Evan
Rachel Wood’s claims….
I’d witness him inflict this psychological abuse on everyone he
employed, everyone he dated. He would dictate the perimiters of our
reality. Horrifying, deranged behavior and insane scenarios became
normalized. He was extremely interested in mind control, torture tactics
[ie. different sound frequencies that would shift your mood, or make
you nauseous], and spy devices to gather information for blackmailing
and manipulation.
Https://celebrityinsider.org/ashley-walters-accuses-marilyn-manson-of-using-mind-control-and-torture-tactics-to-control-her-473565/
Artist Gabriella Says Marilyn Manson Sliced Their Hands To Make A Blood Pact, Tied Her Up, And Raped Her Charisse Van Horn Feb 1, 2021
An artist known as Gabriella, joined with other women including actress
Evan Rachel Wood, on February 1, 2021, to make her allegations of abuse
against rocker Marilyn Manson public. Choosing her Instagram platform to
make her allegations, Gabriella stated that she met Marilyn Manson
(real name Brian Warner) backstage at one of his concerts in 2015. She
echoed allegations made by model Sarah McNeilly who alleged that Marilyn
Manson love bombed her before devolving into depraved and terrorizing
behavior. According to Gabriella’s statement, Manson quickly wooed her,
fed her drugs, and on their second meeting, broke a wine glass, and cut
both of their hands so the two would enter a blood pact. She then
described their six-month romantic relationship as one where Manson
exhibited control over her through tactics of manipulation,
intimidation, fear, and sexual violence.
She alleged that Manson repeatedly tied her up and raped her. When she
would respond in tears, he stated that was a symbol of her love for him.
In addition to Gabriella’s and Evan Rachel Wood‘s public statements,
three other women went public on February 1, 2021, to allege that they
too were abused by Marilyn Manson. They are Ashley Walters, Ashley
Lindsay Morgan, and Sarah McNeilly.
https://celebrityinsider.org/artist-gabriella-says-marilyn-manson-sliced-their-hands-to-make-a-blood-pact-tied-her-up-and-raped-her-473619/
Model Sarah McNeilly Says Marilyn Manson Love Bombed Her Then Tortured And Terrorized Her Charisse Van Horn Feb 1, 2021
Model Sarah McNeilly made her allegations of abuse against rocker
Marilyn Manson (real name Brian Warner) known on social media. Turning
to her Instagram account on February 1, 2021, Sarah McNeilly joined Evan
Rachel Wood, Ashley Walters, Ashley Lindsay Morgan, and artist
Gabriella by sharing her own encounters with Manson. Like many of the
others, she stated that Marilyn Manson lured her in, love bombed her,
and then after gaining her trust, quickly revealed his dark persona.
It’s unclear why the women chose February 1, 2021, to make their
allegations public nor is it known if any of the women have spoken to
the police. Evan Rachel Wood has told her story of abuse for years, but
though she alleged a former romantic partner had sexually, physically,
and emotionally brutalized her, she never stated his name. Now, Sarah
McNeilly has added her voice to the other women’s allegations as they
collectively state they want Brian Warner to stop abusing women.
Sarah’s story is similar to the other women’s tales of terror as she
alleges that she would be punished for bad behavior. According to Ashley
Lindsay Morgan, Marilyn Manson would punish her by locking her out of
the home with little to no clothing on. Ashley Walters described
punishments as including holding her hostage in his home and refusing to
allow her to leave. This coincides with Sarah McNeilly’s allegations
that Marilyn Manson would lock her in a room when he felt she was being
‘bad.’
https://celebrityinsider.org/model-sarah-mcneilly-says-marilyn-manson-love-bombed-her-then-tortured-and-terrorized-her-473609/
Evan Rachel Wood describing the abuse she suffered when she was in a relationship with Marilyn Manson
https://twitter.com/i/status/1270709342032072704
Evan Rachel Wood accuses Marilyn Manson of abuse 2 February 2021
‘Brainwashed’ On Monday, Wood alleged that Manson was her abuser for the
first time via a statement posted on her Instagram account.
“The name of my abuser is Brian Warner, also known to the world as
Marilyn Manson,” the Westworld actress claimed. “He started grooming me
when I was a teenager and horrifically abused me for years. I was
brainwashed and manipulated into submission.”
https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-55889002
Remembering our Childhood: How Memory Betrays Us Karl Sabbagh
Print publication date: 2011 Print ISBN-13: 9780199218417 Published to
Oxford Scholarship Online: March 2015 Freyds and Feuds Karl Sabbagh
This chapter describes the British False Memory Society (BFMS) and its
American equivalent, the False Memory Syndrome Foundation (FMSF). These
organizations are made up of parents who had been accused of abuse —
they would say falsely — by one of their children.
https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199218417.001.0001/acprof-9780199218417-chapter-11
Paedophile Karl Sabbagh, author and film maker, jailed for grooming child
By Will Walker 27th September 2019
A RENOWNED author and filmmaker was secretly a depraved paedophile who preyed on a ‘vulnerable’ child before grooming her.
Predator Karl Sabbagh began talking to his 14-year-old victim about
films and literature but the conversation soon moved on to him sending
videos of himself performing sex acts.
The 77-year-old pervert of Crab Tree Close, Bloxham, went on to ask the
child to ‘stop shaving her pubic hair’ and later sent her a vibrator in
the post….”He sent a video of himself masturbating, there was talk of
meeting her.”….
Sentencing, Judge Peter Ross, jailed Sabbagh for 45 months and ordered that he sign the sex offenders register for life.
https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/17933474.paedophile-karl-sabbagh-author-film-maker-jailed-grooming-child
New Speakers Announced for Survivorship's 2021 Ritual Abuse and Mind Control Online Conference
New Speakers Announced for Survivorship's 2021 Ritual Abuse and Mind Control Online Conference
PR Newswire
PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif., March 10, 2021
This year's speakers include Neil Brick, Wendy Hoffman, Ellen Lacter, Randy Noblitt and Sarah Nelson.
Survivorship - For survivors of ritual abuse, mind control and torture and pro-survivors.
PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif., March 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The conference on May 21-23, 2021 will focus on being a survivor or clinician in a changing world.
https://survivorship.org/the-survivorship-ritual-abuse-and-mind-control-2021-conference/
Neil Brick will speak about Mind Control and How to Stop it. This presentation will explain how mind control and different suggestive techniques work in a variety of settings.
Neil Brick is a survivor of ritual abuse and mind control. His child abuse and ritual abuse newsletter S.M.A.R.T. https://ritualabuse.us has been published for over 26 years. http://neilbrick.com
Wendy Hoffman will speak about Self Esteem and Programming.
Wendy Hoffman endured various forms of high level secret mind control, and consequently had amnesia for most of her life.
https://ritualabuse.us/smart/wendy-hoffman
Dr. Ellen Lacter will speak about One Hundred Children: A Parable for Healing from Dissociation-savvy Mind Control.
Dr. Lacter will also speak about Production of Sadistic Child abuse Materials: Psychology of the Victims and Perpetrators.
Ellen Lacter is a licensed Clinical Psychologist in private practice. She has been publishing and presenting on ritual abuse for 20 years.
https://endritualabuse.org/ https://ritualabuse.us/smart/ellen-lacter/
Dr. Randy Noblitt will present Institutional Child Abuse: A Panel Presentation and General Discussion. This Panel presentation discusses a topic that is sadly regularly depicted in popular media, institutional child abuse.
Randy Noblitt is a clinical psychologist and professor of clinical psychology at the California School of Professional Psychology (CSPP) at Alliant International University, Los Angeles. https://ritualabuse.us/smart/randy-noblitt/
Sarah Nelson will speak about Deliberate Disinformation in the Orkney ritual child abuse case
The Orkney child abuse case, was a highly publicised case in the UK from 1991 - 1992, had the 30th anniversary in February this year of nine children being removed into care in "dawn raids" by police and social workers.
Dr. Sarah Nelson OBE (Universities of Edinburgh) has written and presented widely for decades on sexual abuse issues.
Olivia will speak about You're Not Who They Said You Are: My Battles For Freedom and Justice Through Perseverance and Exposing the Truth
She will be giving a broad overview of surviving 40 plus years of satanic ritual abuse and mind control
Olivia is a survivor of satanic ritual abuse and mind control at the government level.
View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-speakers-announced-for-survivorships-2021-ritual-abuse-and-mind-control-online-conference-301244285.html
Thursday, February 18, 2021
Fran’s Day Care case – Dan and Fran Keller – News Article Excerpts from 1991 – 1993
Fran’s Day Care case – Dan and Fran Keller – News Article Excerpts from 1991 – 1993
What the information below shows is that there was no panic or witch
hunt and that there was evidence backing the original charges, including
one defendant’s confession and the children’s testimony. Media coverage
in this Austin newspaper was balanced and did cover both sides of the
story, unlike the coverage in the news today.
Information from the news articles:
Fran Keller’s brother Johnson in a separate case was charged with
aggravated sexual assault of a 4-year-old and received an eight-year
sentence in a plea bargain.
One child in the case was treated in a psychiatric hospital for several
weeks after the allegations of abuse surfaced. “His prognosis is he will
probably need therapy off and on the rest of his life.” Parents
described how their preschoolers’ behavior changed in odd ways.
Perry (a defendant who later recanted his confession): His confession
contained graphic details of a variety of sexual acts performed on two
children, and it substantiated claims made by the children that they had
been threatened and terrorized into not speaking out.
News article excerpts on this page follow more recent information and case updates.
August 22, 2017 case update:
Dan and Fran Keller…will receive $3.4 million from a state fund for those wrongly convicted of crimes.
The couple’s circumstances changed in June, when Travis County District
Attorney Margaret Moore filed court documents that dropped all charges
and declared the Kellers “actually innocent” under the law. After an
extensive review, it was clear that the Kellers’ innocence claim should
be supported in the interest of justice, Moore said at the time.
Now adults, several of the children who accused the Kellers opposed the
move, according to Moore and family members. (Quotes from
Austin-American Statesman article)
https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/articles/frans-day-care/
Here are a few facts about the Fran’s Day Care case:
1. Children’s parents were alerted when children returned home from
daycare wearing their under clothing inside out or wearing other
children’s underwear and sometimes having wet hair.
2. The children who were old enough to speak reported sexual assaults by
Dan Keller and other visitors to the school. The older children also
reported assaults on younger, pre-verbal children at the school.
3. The Kellers attempted to evade arrest by fleeing to Las Vegas. They
were captured there wearing disguises. Fran has bleached her hair blond.
4. A co-defendant, Doug Perry, a sheriff’s deputy, pled guilty, turned
state’s evidence, testified against the Kellers, and received a 10-year
probated sentence. Perry is a registered sex offender in Texas.
5. The defense did not retain an expert witness in defense of the
Kellers. They only produced a copy of Richard Gardner’s book, Sex Abuse
Hysteria, in response to the allegations against the Kellers.
6. The prosecution did not discuss ritual abuse until the subject was
raised by the defense at which point the prosecution’s expert witness,
Randy Noblitt, explained what ritual abuse is and how it works. He also
provided testimony in response to the production of the Richard Gardner
book intended by the defense to demonstrate in unreliability of sex
abuse claims by children. (The book’s theme is that all people are
latent pedophiles and that parents receive vicarious sexual
gratification from their children’s sexual experiences).
Fran’s Day Care – Randy Noblitt, PhD (prosecution’s expert witness)
Article at https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/articles/frans-day-care/
More Misinformation in the Media about the Keller Case
June 3, 2015…
(1) The Kellers were never charged with, let alone convicted of, satanic
ritual abuse….The only reason those issues came into the Keller case is
because the defense brought them up.
(2) Dr. Mouw’s “recantation” did not negate all of the medical evidence
of abuse in the case. As anyone who bothered to read his affidavit can
see, Dr. Mouw still admits that the original girl in this case had a
tear in her vagina. Cathy Young has dismissed this evidence with the
wild assertion that vaginal tears are normal in non-abused children, but
virtually all research of “normal” genitals contradicts this claim. The
Keller case began with a genital injury that Dr. Mouw does not deny.
His “recantation” of the other finding strains credulity. It relies on
the claim that Dr. Mouw had a clear recollection of this genital exam
many years after he testified that he had absolutely no recollection of
the exam.
(3) A civil complaint filed by the parents of one of the children who
attended the Keller’s home daycare contains the allegation that a
“longtime friend and confident” of Francis Keller was told about “Daniel
Keller’s abusive habit toward children” (p. 2)…. https://blogs.brown.edu/rcheit/files/2014/05/Keller-civil-complaint.pdf
In sum, there was far more evidence in this case than has ever been
acknowledged by those promoting the witch-hunt narrative. The
“recantation” by Dr. Mouw made it impossible to retry the case, but a
close examination of his affidavit makes it clear that Dr. Mouw is not
credible. That probably explains why the appellate court did not
exonerate the Kellers. Dr. Mouw’s statement simply does not add up. He
claims to have had a clear recollection of the medical exam in this case
many years after testifying; but when he testified under oath in 1993
he said that he had “no independent recollection” of the exam beyond his
written records.
https://blogs.brown.edu/rcheit/2015/06/03/more-misinformation-about-the-keller-case/
Petition detailing allegations of abuse by Dan Keller and others
A civil complaint filed by the parents of one of the children who
attended the Keller’s home daycare contains the allegation that a
“longtime friend and confident” of Francis Keller was told about “Daniel
Keller’s abusive habit toward children” (p. 2)
https://blogs.brown.edu/rcheit/files/2014/05/Keller-civil-complaint.pdf
Excerpts from news articles before, during and after the Keller trial:
Police find Jeep, weapon belonging to couple wanted on assault charges
Kerry Haglund December 7, 1991
Austin American-Statesman
Law enforcement authorities on Friday recovered a vehicle and a weapon
belonging to two day-care operators wanted on sexual assault charges,
according to sheriff’s reports. The vehicle was being used by Daniel
Bruno Keller, 50, and Elaine Keller, 44….
The weapon recovered was a .38-caliber gun, authorities said.
The couple was expected to turn themselves in to authorities on Tuesday but didn’t appear, Radford said.
The sheriff’s department, fearing the couple may attempt to flee the
state, has sent out a statewide bulletin and has contacted law
enforcement agencies in neighboring states in hopes of finding the
couple….
Day care owners arrested in Las Vegas in sex case
January 15, 1992
Austin American-Statesman
Two fugitives accused of sexually assaulting children in their Austin
day care center were arrested Tuesday in Las Vegas, Nev., said Sgt.
Gordon Dye of the Travis County Sheriff’s Department. Daniel Bruno
Keller, 50, of 11800 Manchaca Road, and his wife, Frances Elaine Keller,
44, were arrested on fugitive charges after Las Vegas police spotted
their car and chased them to a hotel, said Las Vegas police Sgt. Jack
Ladner.
Both had cut and dyed their hair, and Daniel Keller had a birth
certificate with a false name. However, they were still driving a car
that was listed in the National Criminal Investigation Computer and a
national, all-points police bulletin, said Todd Radford, a Travis County
detective….
They will be returned to Travis County to face charges, Dye said….
Fugitives returned to Austin
January 29, 1992
Austin American-Statesman
Two fugitives accused of molesting children they cared for at a Travis
County day-care center arrive Tuesday at Robert Mueller Municipal
Airport after being arrested in Las Vegas. Frances Elaine Keller, 44,
right, and her husband Daniel Bruno Keller, 50, at center with his head
bowed, are accused of molesting two children at their Fran’s Day Care
center. The couple have been sought since Dec. 3, when they failed to
appear in a Travis County court on the charges.
2 officers arrested on sex charges
Deputy constables linked to couple in day-care case
Kimberly Garcia July 9, 1992
Austin American-Statesman
Two deputy constables face charges of engaging in improper sexual
behavior with two children, whom husband-and-wife day-care center
operators were charged with sexually assaulting last year….
The Kellers were indicted in November on charges of sexually assaulting
the same two children at their child-care center. They were arrested in
January in Las Vegas when officers saw their car, which was listed in
the National Criminal Investigations Computer. Both had cut and dyed
their hair, and Daniel Keller had a birth certificate with a false
name….
Ex-husband is charged in assaults
Man accused with constable in charges at day-care center
Kimberly Garcia July 10, 1992
Austin American-Statesman
The former husband of a Travis County deputy constable charged with
sexually assaulting two children at a day-care center was arrested
Thursday on charges of sexually assaulting the same children.
Douglas Wayne Perry, 30, was at Travis County Central Booking in lieu of
$50,000 bail, records state. He and Janise White, a former deputy
constable who is Perry’s ex-wife, are charged with sexually assaulting a
3-year-old girl and a 4-year-old boy at Fran’s Day Care Center in
August.
Daniel Bruno Keller and Frances Elaine Keller operated the center in
southwestern Travis County until they were indicted in November on
charges of sexually assaulting the same children. The center is closed.
A fifth suspect, Raul Quintero, was arrested Tuesday on a charge of
indecency with a child by contact in connection with the August
incident. Quintero is a Travis County deputy constable who worked with
White in the Precinct 3 office….
`I don’t know if the public is ready for this’
Allegations of abuse portray dark side at Oak Hill day care
Pamela Ward
Denise Gamino July 12, 1992
Austin American-Statesman
As the investigation continues, questions surround B.D. Johnson, 40, who
is Fran Keller’s brother. Johnson, who has a prison record for two
theft convictions and one driving-while-intoxicated conviction from
Travis County, was indicted last July in Burnet County in a child abuse
case, records show.
Johnson was charged with aggravated sexual assault of a 4-year-old and
received an eight-year sentence in a plea bargain, records show. Johnson
remains in prison, authorities said.
Law officials also said they believe there are child victims who have
not been interviewed and other victims who gradually reveal details
about their abuse as they gain verbal skills and receive therapy.
“I’m sure there are more out there we haven’t been able to talk to.
We’re still looking for other kids who may have been there,” Oliver
said.
More than half of the eight to 10 children at the home when the abuse
allegations surfaced were infants or toddlers who could not yet talk, he
said.
Oliver said police have interviewed only three or four children because “those are the only ones old enough to talk.”….
“We have experienced almost unfathomable pain and terror,” said the
mother of one of the alleged victims, a boy who is 4. What her son
endured, the mother said, is “shocking and unbelievable.” She said, “I
don’t know if the public is ready for this story yet.”
She said her boy was treated in a psychiatric hospital for several weeks
after the allegations of abuse surfaced. “His prognosis is he will
probably need therapy off and on the rest of his life.”
Parents described how their preschoolers’ behavior changed in odd ways and how that didn’t seem overly significant, at first.
Last summer, a parent of a 3 1/2-year-old girl noticed the child playing
with her underwear and her sexual organs. “She was playing with herself
and doing things that little girls just don’t do,” the parent said. “I
recognized it, and my parents recognized it.”
The family was puzzled and concerned but didn’t know what to make of the child’s behavior.
Then, one day, “She was playing with herself. . . . She was spreading
her legs apart,” the parent said. “She was being kind of coy about it. I
said, `Wow, something’s going on.’ ”
Another parent said her preschool-age boy began “talking in bathroom
terms and laughing about it.” He also crawled on the floor naked,
carrying a pillow and talking baby-talk, and would reach out to play
with his father’s male organ. These inappropriate “out of the blue”
behaviors, she came to realize, were symptoms of child abuse, she said.
“I want to stress how important it is to notice, notice, notice and
listen to the child,” said the parent. Once, she said, her son stood
beforeher and “said `I’m gonna cut your head off.’ It occurred to me to
say, `Did anyone ever tell you they were gonna cut your head off?’ He
said `Yes,’ and was making a sawing motion at his neck….
Hearing for 5 charged in crimes at Oak Hill day-care center begins
Man voluntarily confessed to abuse of children, ranger testifies
Jim Phillips September 29, 1992
Austin American-Statesman
A suspect in the sexual abuse of several children at an Oak Hill
day-care center voluntarily confessed, implicating the owners of the
center and two deputy constables, a Texas Ranger testified Monday.
Ranger John Waldrip said Douglas Perry, 30, admitted the crimes after he
failed a polygraph test in July. Perry has since recanted the written
statement he gave investigators, attorneys in the case said. The
testimony came in a pretrial hearing for five people charged with
abusing children at Fran’s Day Care in Oak Hill….
The hearing is to determine whether Perry’s confession and statements by other defendants can be used against the accused.
Perry also told investigators that White had given a copy of a police
report to the Kellers, and that the constables had been questioned about
reading police reports about the investigation on their computers,
Waldrip said. The Kellers initially had been charged last year; the
other three defendants were charged in July.
The ranger said Perry, after failing the polygraph, described sex acts
between the Kellers and two victims, a boy and girl. Perry said that
White had photographed the sex acts and that he and Quintero also
participated, Waldrip said.
Also testifying was Roger Wade, a Travis County sheriff’s deputy, who
said that when the Kellers were first confronted with the accusations in
August 1991, they denied the charges….
Man confessed to abuse, ranger says at hearing
Jim Phillips September 29, 1992
Austin American-Statesman
A suspect in the sexual abuse of several children at an Oak Hill
day-care center voluntarily confessed, implicating the owners of the
center and two deputy constables, a Texas Ranger testified Monday.
Ranger John Waldrip said Douglas Perry, 30, admitted the crimes after he
failed a polygraph test in July. Perry has since recanted the written
statement he gave investigators, attorneys in the case said. The
testimony came in a pretrial hearing for five people charged with
abusing children at Fran’s Day Care in Oak Hill….
Perry also told investigators that White had given a copy of a police
report to the Kellers, and that the constables had been questioned about
reading police reports about the investigation on their computers,
Waldrip said. The Kellers initially had been charged last year; the
other three defendants were charged in July.
The ranger said Perry, after failing the polygraph, described sex acts
between the Kellers and two victims, a boy and girl. Perry said that
White had photographed the sex acts and that he and Quintero also
participated, Waldrip said.
Also testifying was Roger Wade, a Travis County sheriff’s deputy, who
said that when the Kellers were first confronted with the accusations in
August 1991, they denied the charges.
Daniel Keller said “anyone who did that should be shot and put out of
their misery,” Wade said. “He was very adamant about that.”…
6-year-old testifies he witnessed abuse of girl
Jury may begin deliberating molestation case today
Denise Gamino November 24, 1992 Austin American-Statesman
A 6-year-old boy, testifying in court by closed-circuit television, said
Monday he saw Frances and Daniel Keller sexually abuse a 3-year-old
girl on numerous occasions at “Fran and Danny’s Hate Care” center.
When a prosecutor began questioning the boy about Fran’s Day Care near
Oak Hill, the child interrupted by saying, “You mean Fran and Danny’s
Hate Care.” He said he called the facility that “because they hated
kids.” The boy, who drew on a notepad and sometimes hugged a teddy bear
named “Boo” while testifying for 40 minutes in a closed room near the
courtroom, said he saw the girl abused with “sticks, fingers, toes and
mouths.”
The boy is one of three children who have said they were sexually abused
at the Kellers’ day-care home in 1991. He was asked just about the
abuse of the girl, who is now 5, because the Kellers are on trial only
in the molestation of the girl. Charges against the Kellers in the other
two cases are pending….
The boy said the Kellers “tried to touch her in her private parts.” When
Brian Case, an assistant Travis County district attorney, asked the boy
where the abuse occurred, the child said, “outside, in the house,
everywhere (they) owned.”
“First one person went (to touch her), and then the other person, then the other person and the other person,” he said.
Three other adults, Doug Perry and former Travis County deputy
constables Janise White and Raul Quintero, have been charged with
sexually abusing children at the day care. They have not been tried.
When Case asked the boy what else he had seen, the boy said, “And they
like, well, they, hmmm, they took us to a graveyard and dug up this
body.
“They made (the little girl) carry all of the bones that they dug up.”
The boy, who is in first grade at a local school, said the Kellers
forced children to touch each other’s genitals and showed them horror
movies. He also said the Kellers gave him a drug to make him forget
things.
“It looked like stomach-ache medicine, but it wasn’t,” he said. “It
didn’t stop my stomach from hurting, even for a minute. It made it feel
worse.”….
But after the boy completed his testimony, the Kellers’ defense lawyers
showed the jury a September 1991 videotape of the boy being interviewed
by a woman from the Travis County sheriff’s office.
In the videotaped interview, the boy said attending Fran’s Day Care “was
pretty good,” and said no one had touched his genitals and that he
never had seen anyone touch another child’s genitals….
“What happened over at Dan and Fran’s?” he was asked. “I can’t remember that,” the boy said.
Later, the interviewer asked: “What about anyone touching on your
private parts?” The boy said, “Yeah, yeah, that’s true ’cause I was
there.”
Defense lawyers say the videotaped interviews with children allegedly
abused by the Kellers show inconsistent stories. They say the difference
between the taped interviews and other allegations show the children
have been coaxed.
Shipway said the boy’s videotaped interview was different from his
testimony because he had been traumatized and threatened in an effort to
keep him from speaking up about the abuse. “What he said on the video
is that he forgot or did not want to remember those things.”
She said the boy was exhibiting the same type of memory disorder
discussed earlier Monday by an expert in ritual abuse, who testified for
the state. Randy Noblitt of Richardson, who has a doctorate in clinical
psychology, said many sexual abuse victims have memory lapses or feel
they are not themselves because they have been so traumatized and
intimidated.
Noblitt said he has reviewed law enforcement reports and psychological
reports on the 5-year-old girl and believes there are many similarities
to ritual abuse. He said he found no evidence to suggest the girl had
been coaxed into making the allegations….
Defense lawyers presented their own expert witness, clinical
psychologist George Parker of Austin. Parker testified children “are
very susceptible to leading questions and suggestion,” and may make
statements just to please adults.
But Parker said he did not know enough about the girl to know whether she had a tendency to lie.
Also testifying Monday was Brenda Keele, 23, the eldest child of Frances
Keller. She testified that her mother never abused her or her two
siblings.
But under cross-examination, Shipway presented Keele with a letter she had written to Frances Keller in November 1990.
In the letter, Keele wrote, “First, I disown my brother because he was
perverted enough to ask me, his own sister, to sleep with him.”
Keele denied the incident and said she wrote the letter because her
brother angered her by not paying for a car he was buying from her.
Shipway later said she introduced the letter to show “these things
(sexual abuse) are patterns. Her (Fran’s) brother is in prison for
sexual abuse of a 5-year-old. There are some indications that other of
Fran’s family members may have that problem.
Mother says girl revealed sex assault by couple
Pamela Ward November 18, 1992
Austin American-Statesman
The mother of a 5-year-old child and the child’s therapist testified
Tuesday that the girl described sexual acts performed on her by Frances
and Daniel Keller, a couple who ran an Oak Hill area day-care home.
In the opening day of testimony in the child molestation trial, the
mother said her child had experienced night terrors and had become
hysterical at bathtime in the days before she confided that “Danny hurt
her.” The mother said her child, who was 3 1/2 at the time of the summer
1991 revelation, told her “Danny took his pee-pee and put it in her
hole and got glue all inside her and it was yucky.” The woman also said
her child told her Frances Keller had put a writing pen in her vagina
“lots of times.”
That same day, Aug. 15, 1991, the child visited with therapist Donna
David Campbell. The child used anatomically correct dolls to demonstrate
oral sex, Campbell testified, adding that the child made biting noises
and said, Frances Keller “ate me all up.”
Dr. Michael Mouw, an emergency room physician at Brackenridge Hospital,
said he examined the child and found tears in her vagina that were
probably less than 24 hours old. No sperm was found.
Dr. Beth Nauert, a pediatrician with expertise in examining child sexual
abuse victims, testified Tuesday that she examined the child a couple
of weeks after the examination at Brackenridge. Nauert said the child’s
vaginal tears had healed….
He said the couple figured out which child might have made the
accusation, and that Frances Keller said the child was “a liar, that she
lied about all kinds of things, about putting her shoes away, about
eating her vegetables.”….
5-year-old testifies in day-care abuse case
Girl’s testimony often contradictory Denise Gamino November 19, 1992
Austin American-Statesman
A fidgeting 5-year-old girl, sitting on the lap of her teen-age sister
and chewing on a lollipop, took the witness stand Wednesday and
alternately denied and admitted that anything bad happened to her at a
day-care home near Oak Hill.
The girl sometimes glanced at former day-care home operators Frances and
Daniel Keller, who are on trial for aggravated sexual assault and
indecency with a child, but did not acknowledge them. Prosecutors put
the child on the witness stand two times, about half an hour apart, but
neither period of testimony yielded consistent answers. The child was
too shy to be sworn in before spectators, but she became increasingly
playful on the stand, and answered one question with “No way, Jose.”
The most incriminating remark the child made, “I don’t know why Fran and
Dan hurt me,” was not admissible evidence because the child whispered
the statement to her sister and the court reporter was not able to
record it.
During her initial 10-minute testimony, the child said she didn’t know
anyone named Fran or Dan, was never hurt or touched inappropriately by
anyone, and never attended Fran’s Day Care. “I didn’t go there at all,”
she said.
But the girl contradicted herself later during an additional 20 minutes
of testimony when she was allowed to whisper her answers to Judy
Shipway, assistant Travis County district attorney.
“Did you ever go to a day care named Fran and Dan’s?” Shipway asked. “Yes,” the girl whispered.
“Did anything ever happen at Fran and Dan’s Day Care you didn’t like?” Shipway asked. “Yes,” the girl said.
“Did Danny ever do something to you that you didn’t like?” Shipway
asked. “Yes,” the girl said after standing up and offering her yellow
lollipop to those nearby.
But when Shipway asked the girl to “go ahead and tell them” what
happened, she began to get playful. She blew air into the microphone and
began saying “Hello, hello.”
Shipway, kneeling next to the child, tried again. “Did Danny ever touch you where you didn’t like?” The child said, “No.”
“Did anyone else ever touch you where you didn’t like?” Shipway asked. “No,” the girl said.
“Did Fran ever touch you where you didn’t like?” Shipway asked. “No,” the girl said.
After more negative answers, Shipway asked, “Does `no’ mean, no you don’t want to talk about it, or no, it didn’t happen?”
“No, it didn’t happen,” the child said….
Parents of the alleged assault victims said Daniel Keller’s brother, who
was outside the courtroom, and someone in the courtroom flashed
threatening hand signals to the child before and during her testimony
that may have frightened her into silence. The parents believe hand
signals were used as part of a pattern of ritualistic abuse of their
children.
Shipway said she doesn’t know whether hand signals were flashed at the
child, but said she is aware that similar tactics have been reported in
other ritual abuse cases around the country.
Prosecutors attributed the child’s inability to provide consistent testimony to her age and fear of the crowded courtroom….
But the court-appointed defense lawyers said the child’s testimony
showed she had been coaxed into making her previous statements about
being abused by the Kellers….
During the afternoon, the jury heard a graphic tale of five adults engaging in sexual acts with two children at Fran’s Day Care.
The details came in a July 7th confession read aloud by Douglas Perry,
30, one of three adults besides the Kellers who have been charged with
molesting children at the day-care home. The other two adults charged
are former Travis County deputy constables Janise White, who at the time
of the alleged assaults was married to Perry; and Raul Quintero, who
was White’s working partner.
Perry has since recanted the confession, but he testified in the Keller
trial after Flowers granted him immunity. None of his testimony or
evidence gathered through his testimony may be used against him when he
goes on trial.
On the stand, Perry denied participating in the adult-child sexual
encounters to which he confessed, and said he had recanted shortly after
confessing….
In a voice sometimes cracking with emotion, Perry read his original
account of a Friday evening beer-and-sex party at Fran’s Day Care. He
said Frances Keller phoned White and Perry and invited them over.
Quintero also showed up, he said.
A young boy and girl were at the home, and White, wearing a constable
officer’s shirt, told the children she knew where they lived and said
“if they told anybody she would do to them what she was about to do to
the doll. Then she tore the head off of the doll.”
Then, according to the confession, a number of sexual encounters
occurred: Frances Keller put a pen in the girl’s vagina and engaged in
oral sex with her, the girl performed oral sex on Daniel Keller and
Perry, Quintero put his finger in the girl’s vagina, Daniel Keller
inserted a pen in the boy’s anus, and the boy was forced to perform oral
sex on Frances Keller and White.
Jury mulls day-care abuse case
State, defense make their final arguments
Denise Gamino November 25, 1992
Austin American-Statesman
A Travis County jury continued deliberating late Tuesday in the trial of
Frances and Daniel Keller, who are accused of sexually abusing a
preschooler last year at their day-care home near Oak Hill.
During the six-day trial, prosecutors argued that the Kellers had abused
the girl by engaging in several forms of sexual acts with her and
threatening and terrorizing her into silence. They presented medical
records and testimony about the girl’s torn vagina and psychology
reports about her August 1991 outcry, which they said was so sexually
vivid it could not have been fabricated….
The Kellers’ court-appointed defense lawyers argued that the girl and
other alleged victims were coaxed into making the allegations against
the Kellers. They said the children could not be believed because many
of their allegations, such as witnessing killings and flying in
airplanes, were outlandish.
The trial was highlighted by the testimony of the girl, who is now 5
years old, and by a 6-year-old boy who also was allegedly abused by the
Kellers.
While the girl’s testimony from the witness stand last week yielded
inconsistent answers to questions about what had happened to her, the
boy wavered little Monday in his accusations against the Kellers. He
said he saw the Kellers abusing the girl on numerous occasions….
Therapist describes ritualistic abuse claims
Defense begins its case in day-care molestation trial
Pamela Ward
Denise Gamino November 20, 1992
Austin American-Statesman
The focus of a day-care sexual molestation trial shifted dramatically
Thursday to a bizarre tale of ritualistic torture of babies, children
and cats and graveyard ceremonies.
The therapist who has counseled a child who prosecutors say was abused
by Frances and Daniel Keller, the Oak Hill area day-care home operators
on trial, was asked to detail for the jury the child’s stories of events
while in the Kellers’ care. Donna David Campbell related a string of
comments from the child, who was 3 1/2 when the alleged abuse occurred.
Among the many stories the girl has told in the preceding 16 months,
Campbell said, are tales of candles burning while needles were stuck
into screaming cats, the killing of a baby named Rachel and a visit to a
cemetery where child and adult bodies were unearthed in the presence of
a police officer or sheriff’s deputy.
The child also told her therapist that the Kellers wore white robes when
they hurt her, that she saw Easter bunnies and dogs shot, that she took
a ride in an airplane and that all the children had to help Daniel
Keller dismember a person with a chainsaw.
The therapist’s testimony came at the request of defense attorneys, who
began their case Thursday. The prosecution previously interviewed
Campbell but appeared to be building a case based solely on sexual
molestation. Nationally, prosecutors have had poor success when claims
of ritualism were introduced….
A day after the girl testified in court, offering conflicting testimony,
the jury watched three videotapes of her speaking with sheriff’s office
staff.
The girl gave inconsistent answers when asked what the Kellers had done
to her, sometimes showing how they had molested her and sometimes
denying they had hurt her. At times, she mixed up the names of body
parts.
Also on the videotapes, she was offered candy or a “special treat” for
talking about what happened. At one point, the girl’s mother told her
she should make the videotape “to help save the other kids and protect
them.”…
Kellers deny abusing kids at day care
Two fled Austin because of fear, woman testifies
Pamela Ward
Denise Gamino November 21, 1992
Austin American-Statesman
Day-care home operators Daniel and Frances Keller testified in their
criminal trial Friday and denied they ever engaged in sexual acts with
children in their care.
Frances Keller, who testified first, burst into tears shortly after
taking the stand and answered “no” to all the charges against her.
“Well, if you didn’t do any of those things, then why did you go to Las
Vegas,” her lawyer, Lewis Jones, asked, in reference to the Keller’s
fugitive flight after their November 1991 indictment.
“We were scared, humiliated and hurt,” she said as she blotted her eyes
with a tissue. She continued to sniffle as she testified they fled
Austin because she believed that she would go to jail and have to pay
$10,000 – money she didn’t have – for a lawyer to fight the charges.
Her husband later took the stand and often seemed confused by the
questioning. To prosecutors’ questions, he answered “yes” it was a
coincidence that his wife dyed his hair on their trip to Las Vegas, and a
coincidence that, as police arrived at their hotel, they left behind a
steaming bowl of food, belongings and a car and moved to a different
hotel.
“So it’s all just a coincidence,” prosecutor Judy Shipway asked.
“Yes,” he replied.
The next question came from Keller’s court-appointed attorney, Dain Whitworth: “What’s a coincidence?”
“I don’t know,” Keller answered.
“Then why are you up there testifying it’s a coincidence if you don’t know what it is?”
“I don’t know,” he said….
The Kellers said they never had taken the children to a cemetery, never
had dressed in robes or costumes in front of them and never maltreated,
killed or injured animals in the children’s presence….
Defense witnesses on the fourth day of testimony included a next-door
neighbor and three mothers of children who attended the day-care home at
the time of the alleged abuse. All testified they never witnessed
anything suspicious….
Kellers found guilty of sexual assault
Day-care owners face sentencing Monday
Denise Gamino
November 26, 1992
Austin American-Statesman
After deliberating 14 1/2 hours, a Travis County jury Wednesday found
Frances and Daniel Keller guilty of sexually assaulting a child at their
day-care home, which prosecutors portrayed as a horror chamber for
children….
Nash’s 6-year-old son was a key witness in the six-day trial. He came to
court with his teddy bear and testified via closed-circuit television,
steadily recounting details of how the Kellers terrorized children in a
cemetery and the many ways in which they sexually abused a 3
1/2-year-old girl. The Kellers were being tried only for abuse of the
girl, who is now 5 years old, but they also have been charged with
abusing the 6-year-old boy and another boy….
The Kellers remained in jail all spring and summer. In July, police
arrested three other adults and charged them with molesting children at
Fran’s Day Care. Arrested were Doug Perry and former Travis County
deputy constables Janise White and Raul Quintero. Their trials are
pending….
The three were arrested after Perry confessed that the three adults,
along with the Kellers, had engaged in a beer-and-sex party during which
several children were sexually assaulted by the adults while
photographs were taken.
Perry later recanted his confession, but the prosecution instructed him
to read his confession last week after he was granted immunity. His
confession contained graphic details of a variety of sexual acts
performed on two children, and it substantiated claims made by the
children that they had been threatened and terrorized into not speaking
out.
According to the confession, White tore the head off a doll and told the
girl and boy if they reported being abused their heads would come off
the same way….
Kellers are given sentences of 48 years
Appeal is expected in child-abuse case
Pamela Ward December 1, 1992
Austin American-Statesman
A Travis County jury handed child-care home operators Frances and Daniel
Keller 48-year prison sentences Monday for sexually assaulting a
3-year-old girl.
The defendants stood calmly before District Judge Wil Flowers as he read
the jury’s decision. Frances Keller offered a soft “no” when the judge
asked if she had anything to say. Her husband, in a voice close to a
whisper, uttered “I am innocent,” and moments later proclaimed “We are
innocent” as he and his wife were led back to jail…..
Parents who trusted their children to the Kellers said they were pleased at the sentences but would have preferred more years.
“I feel that if ever there was a case for life, this was it, that these
two individuals should have had life sentences,” said Carol Staelin,
whose 5 1/2-year-old son was committed to a psychiatric hospital after
his summer at Fran’s Day Care home near Oak Hill….
When the Kellers were indicted on the eve of Thanksgiving a year ago,
they told officers they would turn themselves in after the holiday.
Instead, the couple fled to Las Vegas where they were arrested in
January.
Charges dropped in child abuse case
Pamela Ward December 4, 1993
Austin American-Statesman
Child sexual abuse charges were dropped Friday against former Travis
County Deputy Constables Janise White and Raul Quintero in the Fran’s
Day Care case, a decision that dismayed parents….
Prosecutors defended the decision to drop charges pending further
evidence. Bryan Case, an assistant district attorney, said that since a
grand jury indicted the two Precinct 3 officers, important additional
evidence failed to materialize….
Douglas Wayne Perry, another co-defendant, pleaded guilty last May and
received 10 years of probation. Perry, who was accused of having a
3-year-old girl perform oral sex on him, gave police a confession –
later recanted – in which he implicated the deputy constables. He was
married to White at the time. They have since divorced.
Perry told police that he, White, Quintero and the Kellers had engaged
in a beer and sex party during which several children were sexually
assaulted by the adults while photographs were taken….
Parents decry child abuse case plea bargain
Douglas Perry agrees to 10 years probation in Fran’s Day Care sex abuse case
Pamela Ward May 25, 1993
Austin American-Statesman
Douglas Wayne Perry, one of five people accused of sexually abusing
children at Fran’s Day Care, pleaded guilty to a lesser charge Monday
and agreed to a sentence of 10 years probation and community service – a
decision that angered parents.
“We think it’s a grave injustice,” said Sean Nash, father of one child
who attended the Oak Hill area child care home. “This shows clearly that
there is no justice for children in Texas.” Last November, child care
center operators Fran and Dan Keller received 48-year prison sentences
for aggravated sexual assault of a 3-year-old girl in a case that
includes stories of ritualistic torture of babies, children and cats,
and graveyard ceremonies.
Assistant District Attorney Judy Shipway, who prosecuted the Kellers,
arranged the Perry plea bargain. She said it was based on three
considerations: “The fact that he confessed and opted to plead guilty”
and avoid a trial. “Also, apparently he did not have the magnitude of
involvement that Fran and Dan Keller appeared to have. And the main
consideration was not to put child witnesses through another trial.”…
Perry confessed that he, White, Quintero and the Kellers had engaged in a
beer-and-sex party during which several children were sexually
assaulted by the adults while photographs were taken.
A reluctant witness in the Kellers’ trial, Perry read aloud from his
confession after being granted immunity. His confession contained
graphic details of a variety of sexual acts performed on two children,
and it substantiated claims made by the children that they had been
threatened and terrorized into keeping the abuse secret….