Two Women Accused of Locking Boys in Closet Threatened (Kenmore Update)

WJW Fox 8 ^ | May 6, 2003 | The Associated Press and FOX Television Stations

[mabelkitty]

(5/6/03) — Two women accused of abusing five boys in the home they shared expressed fear in court Monday about death threats they have received.

Mary Rowles, 30, has been charged with five felony counts of child endangering. Alice Jenkins, 27, was charged with five felony counts of child endangering and two counts of felonious assault. Rowles and Jenkins were arrested Friday after Rowles' three boys, ages 8, 10 and 14, were found wandering city streets early April 28. Rowles and Jenkins posted bond Monday after appearing with their attorneys in Akron Municipal Court.

The three runaway boys, along with Rowles' other children, two other boys, ages 6 and 13, and a 12 year-old girl, have been removed from the home into foster care. Police said the three boys who ran away told a story of being forced to live inside a closet that reeked of urine, with the only light coming in at the bottom of the door.

The boys told detectives they were allowed out three times a day to eat and use the bathroom. They were not missing from any public or private school because they were home schooled.

The girl was well-fed and hadn't had to spend time in the closet, police said. Jenkins — whom the children were ordered to call "Dad" — disciplined the children, police said, while Rowles took a more passive role.

On Monday, Judge Eleanor-Marsh Stormer placed Rowles and Jenkins under a supervised pretrial release program because they were afraid to return to their home. The women said they have been receiving death threats. The case now goes to a Summit County grand jury. Rowles and Jenkins are due to appear before a Common Pleas magistrate May 14. Rowles' lawyer, Kirk Migdal, would not discuss the case Monday. Jenkins' lawyer, Don Malarcik, said his client "is devastated" by her arrest.

"Alice has no prior criminal record whatsoever," Malarcik said. He said Jenkins has cooperated with police and the Summit County Children Services Board.

[The Old Hoosier]

Again, no mention of the fact that these two child abusers are lesbians.

Wouldn't want anyone to connect unnatural lifestyles with evil, unnatural cruelty. Media bias once again.

[mabelkitty]

MORE LOCAL SANITIZED COVERAGE OF THE STORY:

Akron child-abuse case puzzles experts

05/06/03

Karen Farkas
Plain Dealer Reporter


Akron- The five boys were severely malnourished, forced to live off meals of dry cereal or half of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, police say.

Their sister, police say, was better fed, received toys as gifts and was not punished like her brothers, who were often locked in a closet by their mother, Mary Rowles, and her partner, Alice Jenkins. "They said she was a good child - that she was perfect," said Akron police Detective Crystal Bowen Carter.


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Bowen Carter and experts on child abuse say they might never know why Rowles and Jenkins would treat the children differently. The women are each charged with five counts of child endangering. Jenkins, called "Dad" by the children, is also charged with two counts of felonious assault, accused of hitting two children with hammers and kicking another child in the groin, Bowen Carter said.

Rowles, 30, and Jenkins, 27, were arrested Friday. Jenkins provided the $1,000 each needed for bond.

Neither woman has a criminal record, and they have received death threats as a result of intense media scrutiny, said their court-appointed lawyers.

"She is scared, frightened and shell-shocked in some respects," said Kirk Migdal, who represents Rowles.

Akron Municipal Judge Elinore Marsh Stormer agreed that the women, partners for seven years, did not have to return to their Florida Avenue house because of the threats. They do have to report daily to the court.

Police said three of the boys, ages 8, 10 and 14, escaped from a closet the morning of April 28, left the house via a second-floor window and were found wandering barefoot in their Kenmore neighborhood.

The two youngest said they had been kept in the closet, with a dresser against the door, since mid-February, said Bowen Carter.

They and the two other boys, ages 6 and 13, told officers they were not allowed to sleep on the beds in their room, she said.

"They were scared of both of them, but terrified of Alice," Bowen Carter said.

When Summit County authorities took custody of the boys, they were shockingly underweight - the 14-year-old was 75 pounds, the 13-year-old 60 pounds, the 10-year-old 40 pounds, the 8-year-old 28 pounds and the 6-year-old 29 pounds, Bowen Carter said.

The girl, 12, was thin but not malnourished, Bowen Carter said.

In cases of battered-child syndrome, there is a pattern where one child is abused and another is spared, said Jill Korbin, a professor of anthropology at Case Western Reserve University and co-director of the Schubert Center for Child Development.

"Why that occurs is very complicated and can be due to the parental perceptions of the different children or the characteristics of the kids," she said.

Perhaps being female and well-behaved gave the girl an edge, Korbin said.

But even if a child is not abused, seeing abuse occur in the home can be just as destructive, she said.

Zoe Breen Wood, an instructor in social work at CWRU's Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, said the treatment of children can be based on many factors, including birth order and the relationship of the parents.

The six children are in foster homes. Officials at the county's Children Services Board are conducting internal investigations into how it responded to phone calls about the children's care, some made years ago.


To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:

kfarkas@plaind.com, 1-800-628-6689

[mabelkitty]

I heard a story on the news this morning, but am unable to verify.

Seems the biological father tried to get custody of the boys, but the mother did something (I missed this) so the father dropped it.

I will post follow up as soon as I can locate it. Scratch that.

I will post it if anybody has the cajones to print the threats the mother made to get full custody.

[The Old Hoosier]

Earlier story

[VA_Gentleman]

Lost in this abuse tragedy is this thought of mine. If the mother is 30, and the daughter is 14, doesn't that mean mom had the child when she was 16 and was probably 15 when she became impregnated? That's just lovely. Future welfare recipients.

[Living Free in NH]

Again, no mention of the fact that these two child abusers are lesbians

What's the big deal? The raping priests weren't gay either.

[detsaoT]

Bowen Carter and experts on child abuse say they might never know why Rowles and Jenkins would treat the children differently.

Ummm, let's see... The "parents" in this case are militant lesbians.

The boys are treated like dirt.

The girl is not.

Would someone please mail the idiots who "can't figure this out" a clue?

:) ttt

[Post Toasties]

The boys told detectives they were allowed out three times a day to eat and use the bathroom. They were not missing from any public or private school because they were home schooled.

This is garbage. What kind of home schooling could they get being locked in the closet? The person who wrote this should be reassigned to obituaries.

[fml]

What?! No homeschool ping?

[JennysCool]

Every time I see "Kenmore" I still think the boys were locked in a dryer!

[F16Fighter]

Hate Crime In Effect -- Hetrosexual Minors Abused By Gay Couple

Here's another headline we'll see once hell freezes over.

[AmericanInTokyo]

lesbian 'white trash'? yuck

[SquirrelKing]

...locked in a dryer...

Ahh. I used to love those chilly winter mornings before school when mom would lock me in the dryer. I still get a warm fuzzy feeling around fabric softener.

[yonif]

Ahh. I used to love those chilly winter mornings before school when mom would lock me in the dryer. I still get a warm fuzzy feeling around fabric softener.

ROFL

[skeeter]

"Alice has no prior criminal record whatsoever," Malarcik said. He said Jenkins has cooperated with police and the Summit County Children Services Board.

Well then, I guess everything's OK. Nothing to see here.

[Nick Danger]

Hence the term "Man-hating lesbians."

[ThanhPhero]

Again, no mention of the fact that these two child abusers are lesbians.

Was it necessary? How do you even know if the piece doesn't mention it?

[Orlando]

This is happening more and more. The family courts are evil, I bet you when the father tryed to get custody,, the
courts hit him hard, and broke him down, and punished him with child support and arrears, and took his rights to visit his sons away... Lord end this, your son's are being destroyed by evil..

[judicial meanz]

Bowen Carter and experts on child abuse say they might never know why Rowles and Jenkins would treat the children differently.

Probably because they absolutely hated men? experts often look in textbooks for answers that appear under their noses.