Police: Pa. couple hid 5 children from society

[n2doc]

By MICHAEL RUBINKAM, Associated Press – Sun Nov 28, 2:32 pm ET

YORK, Pa. – They lived outside society, hidden from the world in a squalid row house with no heat, electricity or running water. They had no birth certificates, no schooling, no immunizations or evidence of medical care — nothing whatsoever to prove their existence.

Police in this south-central Pennsylvania city are still piecing together how the parents of five children — ranging in age from 2 to 13 — managed to conceal them for so many years. And why.

"I don't know what would possess them at all," said detective Dana Ward Jr., who tracked down the children after a child welfare agency received an anonymous tip about the clandestine family.

Ward charged Louann Bowers, 33, and Sinhue Johnson, 45, with five felony counts of child endangerment. They are scheduled to be in court Friday, though Bowers' lawyer said she will waive her right to an arraignment. Both are locked up in York County Prison.

more
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101128/ap_on_re_us/us_hidden_children

[hayu_lol]

1. Wonder how many more there are like this group...

out there waiting to be discovered?

[msanthrope]

2. You don't know the half of this story---the mother was declared dead

years ago so her sibs could divvy up her grandmother's estate.

Apparently, she ran away when she was 16. Possibly with Johnson. From an abusive situation into another abusive situation.

[riderinthestorm]

3. The mother has some fucked up Islamic values about purdah it appears.

What a terrible story.... Those poor kids.