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(photo of Lucy, six months after her rescue) Born February, 1969
Lucy is the pseudonym given to an American child, who was a victim of severe abuse, neglect and isolation.
Born in Seattle, Washington to teen parents, under the pseudonyms Harriet and Wesley, both sixteen,. Two years later they moved across the country to Charlotte, North Carolina, where Lucy's parents got married. Up until Lucy was about four years old, things were largely normal.
Her family lived in a two floor house, with her and her parents. Shortly after Lucy turned four, her mother died after being in a head on collision. After her funeral, Lucy's father moved the two to a house in the North Carolina mountains, where he began abusing alcohol and soon enough, Lucy.
He began keeping her confined in the basement during the day, rarely allowing her out, even at night. It was shortly after he began keeping Lucy confined to the basement, that he got a new girlfriend, under the pseudonym, Maryann.
Maryann was very nice to Lucy, almost becoming like another mother to her. Lucy's father was highly abusive to both his daughter and Maryann. For several years, Lucy's father told Maryann that he would kill her in the most painful way possible if she told anyone about Lucy.
For several years, Lucy was physically, sexually and verbally abused by her father. According to Maryann, who oftentimes was force to watch, he began feeding Lucy less, only three times a day, and at very inconsistent times. Wesley would tie his daughter down as he raped her and would masturbate in her face afterwards. Normally, though, she'd be allowed to walk around the basement, but go no further.
If Lucy talked or really made any noise, her father would severely beat her, leaving her to entirely stop speaking when she was seven, not even around Maryann, on the rare occasions they were allowed to be alone. In the middle of the night, if she was able, Maryann would try to bring food for Lucy, causing her to develop an abnormal sleep pattern, where she'd go to sleep, wake up at around 2-4 am, be awake for up to twenty-thirty minutes and then go back to sleep.
Two months after Lucy's eleventh birthday, Maryann went down there in the middle of the night, picked up Lucy, got in the car and left. She drove down to the nearest police station and filed a report. When asked why she didn't do this sooner, Maryann said it was because she was beyond terrified of what Wesley would do if he caught them.
Police arrested Wesley, who later died in prison in 1999.
When police spoke to Lucy, she refused to speak, didn't even nod or shake her head. She was offered a notebook to write in but Maryann told them that she didn't know how to write or even read.
Lucy was placed in the care of the staff of a local children's hospital, where she spent the next year. During that time, she began to speak more but only in whispers. They began teaching her to read and write, which proved particularly difficult.
After a year, she was placed in the custody of Maryann, who homeschooled Lucy. Today, Lucy is in a ward of the state of North Carolina, after Maryann's death in 2009. According to the media, Lucy talks more, but still exclusively in whispers. Today, she is living at an undisclosed address is Charlotte, North Carolina.
