How Could You? Hall of Shame-Travis Lanier and Amy Michele Headrick
This will be an archive of heinous actions by those involved in child welfare, foster care and adoption. We forewarn you that these are deeply disturbing stories that may involve sex abuse, murder, kidnapping and other horrendous actions.
From Melvina, Wisconsin, adoptive parents Travis Lanier Headrick, 46, and Amy Michele Headrick, 39 were arrested “after receiving evidence that the couple was keeping their children in cages. On Monday they were charged with reckless endangerment, child neglect and false imprisonment, Monroe County authorities said.
Authorities found the couple kept their five children – four adopted and one biological – in the makeshift cages, including a so-called horse trough, in their Melvina home. Amy Headrick told police that her kids’ sleeping arrangement was closer to a “glorified crib,” according to the New York Daily News.
Amy Headrick admitted to investigators cages were “zip-tied shut,” the Daily News reported, citing a police complaint. She reportedly described the trough as a “washable membrane.”
“I didn’t want to put him in a bathtub and make him sleep in the bathroom, so I thought this was something I could wash and take out for him,” she told authorities, adding that the child nearly fell out of a two-story window.
She described instances where one child would choke the other and defend the cages as protection for the kids.
“At night when I am sleeping at 10, I don’t know what’s going on,” she told officials. “I don’t want them choking each other. So I just make sure they’re safe. I’m not tying them up. I’m not beating them, I don’t even spank them.”
The children’s ages were not revealed.
A witness told authorities the children were being abused and that one child was being held under a faucet while scalding hot or freezing water poured out, according to WEAU-TV. The witness also reportedly said the four adopted children ate the same things everyday: a bologna and cheese sandwich.
The couple was being held on $20,000 bond and are due in court on Sept. 6.”
Wisconsin couple kept their children in makeshift cages, police say
[Fox News 8/30/18 by Ryan Gaydos]
“An 11-year-old was found locked in a cage, and a 12-year-old girl was found in a locked room. The other children in the home were able to move freely. A disabled person was also living in the home.
The 11-year-old child had been known to choke his little brother, according to Amy Headrick.”
” “There was a lock on it. I don’t like to classify that my kids are dogs. I was doing it for their safety. If not, we would have had a kid jump through the window with broken legs on the ground.””
[NY Daily News 8/29/18 by David Boroff]
“The complaint says the children were kept in rooms that were locked from the hallway, and inside one room, a deputy found makeshift cages on top of one another. One cage was a horse trough with metal fencing over the top of it, secured with 17 industrial strength zip ties. The witness said the cages were new, and were built after the previous wooden cages became maggot-invested.”
“When questioned, the complaint says Amy Headrick said the children had to be kept in cages because they were cognitively disabled and had behavior and incontinence problems.”
“Deputies also listed in a search warrant that there was not enough food in the home to sustain the amount of people living there. A witness told deputies the four adopted children ate the same meal every day, three times a day: a bologna and cheese sandwich.
Also in the search warrant, investigators noted the home had no toys, no kid’s clothes or any evidence at all that children lived in the home. It also stated that Amy showed no sign of remorse or emotion when being taken into custody. ”
Complaint: Children with disabilities kept in makeshift cages in Monroe Co. home
[WEAU 8/27/18 by KC Brown]
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