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| Girl Locked In Room Alone For 2 Years
This is so wrong.  Quote: link
Oshkosh girl locked in bedroom alone for 2 years, police say
13-year-old's parents say psychiatrist suggested punishment
By MEG JONES and GINA BARTON
mjones@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Jan. 17, 2007
Oshkosh - Icicle lights line the gutters of Clint and Lynn Engstrom's home on Minnesota St. The newly remodeled house is among the nicest on the block, and a silver SUV is parked out back. Beside the front door hangs a shiny wooden sign; six intertwined hearts contain the names of the Engstroms and four children who lived there as a blended family.
An Oshkosh couple have been charged with keeping a 13-year-old girl locked in a sparsely furnished bedroom in the attic of this home for about 20 hours a day for about two years.
Is this something like a Cinderella syndrome? Even in a storybook, I don't think Cinderella was even treated like this
But authorities say one of the children - Clint Engstrom's 13-year-old daughter from a previous relationship - wasn't treated like the others. Instead, she was kept in near-solitary confinement in a bare attic bedroom for two years, police say, behind a deadbolted door and a video camera, let out only for timed bathroom breaks, meager meals and chores.
Her situation ended only after the parents took the girl to a hospital Friday when they said she began hearing voices.
"Is this something like a Cinderella syndrome?" Oshkosh police Sgt. Steve Sagmeister said. "Even in a storybook, I don't think Cinderella was even treated like this. (This is) far worse than imaginable. I can't even fathom what the parents were even thinking."
The parents were charged Tuesday in Winnebago County with causing mental harm to a child, a felony punishable by up to 12 1/2 years in prison and a $25,000 fine. Clint M. Engstrom, 32, and Lynn M. Engstrom, 35, are being held in lieu of $25,000 cash bail at the Winnebago County Jail, a place Sagmeister noted provides them with more than they are accused of providing the 13-year-old girl: hot meals and a clean bed.
The criminal complaint outlines a horrible life for the girl, who was allowed out of her small room for only a couple hours a day for one-minute bathroom breaks and chores that included taking out the trash and cleaning up after the family's three St. Bernards.
The other three children, Lynn Engstrom's two sons, ages 12 and 9, and 8-year-old daughter, were treated differently, authorities say, and had nice toys, televisions and computers.
The 13-year-old is now living with her grandmother while the other children stay with other family members, Sagmeister said. The suspected abuse came to light Friday, the girl's birthday, when the Engstroms took her to St. Elizabeth's Hospital because she was hearing voices.
Police were called to the hospital and listened in shock as the girl, who had begun to pull large chunks of hair out of her head and pick at her skin, explained what her life had been like for about two years.
Lynn Engstrom, who has worked for a day care and a bowling alley, told police she and her husband kept up the extreme punishment because the girl's psychiatrist told her to do so. She told police the couple "were always questioning what they were doing" but that the doctor "told them not give in," according to the criminal complaint.
The Engstroms told police the girl had been grounded for about two years and said they planned to end the punishment as soon as she behaved properly for two straight days, according to the criminal complaint. Court records did not indicate what behavior prompted the punishment or what behavior was required to end the grounding.
Little food, stained mattress
According to the criminal complaint, the girl got a granola bar for breakfast and was not allowed to eat with the family. Sagmeister said that when the rest of the family ate a hot meal, she was given only a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
In the girl's room, police found only a urine-stained mattress, pillow, blanket, empty chest of drawers and a small space heater, which was controlled from outside the room. A towel was placed over the window. There was a naked light bulb in the ceiling socket, but Sagmeister said the string on the pull switch was too short for the girl to work it.
Clint Engstrom told police that, at a psychiatrist's suggestion, he installed an alarm on the girl's door after she had been sneaking out to eat the other children's candy and watch TV.
When asked why she was singled out for such treatment, the girl told detectives she thought she was grounded for some sort of misbehavior, said Sagmeister, though what she had done was unclear to authorities. He said the girl asked what she had done wrong, and a detective tried to assure her that the punishment was not her fault.
Detectives described the girl as intelligent and strong despite her ordeal. She told police that over the past month or so she tried to cry but couldn't produce tears.
The girl was enrolled in Oshkosh public schools until August 2002, when she was transferred to Grace Lutheran School in Oshkosh, said John Sprangers, human resources director for the Oshkosh Area School District, which has about 10,300 students. School records indicate the girl was re-enrolled on Dec. 11 and is still considered a student at South Park Middle School.
Clint and Lynn Engstrom had financial problems for several years, according to circuit court records that show numerous small claims judgments for unpaid bills ranging from $2,500 for utilities and $2,300 for medical expenses to a mortgage foreclosure on their previous Oshkosh home in 2004.
Court records show that the girl's mother was never married to Clint Engstrom. She has since married and had four more children, according to records. The mother, who was 17 when the girl was born, could not be reached Wednesday.
Neighbors on Minnesota St. and people who know the couple weren't answering their doors Wednesday, and two employees who worked with Lynn Engstrom at Oshkosh Lanes said their boss had ordered them not to talk about her.
| Here's another article from today: Quote: link
Relative tried to report abuse
Cops said girl in attic room was fine, records show
By GINA BARTON
gbarton@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Jan. 18, 2007
Oshkosh police were called a month ago to the home of a 13-year-old kept locked in near-solitary confinement but made no attempt to help her, according to a police report obtained by the Journal Sentinel.
79891Teen Locked In Room 2 Years
Quotable
It's hard to imagine what two years of isolation and abuse would cure.
- Robert Chayer,
Milwaukee psychiatrist not involved in girls treatment
Instead, the girl's grandmother, who told police her granddaughter was being abused, was given a $280.50 ticket for disorderly conduct. Beth Redmann, 52, was given the ticket after the girl's stepmother claimed she forced her way into the family's home.
The girl's father and stepmother, Clint and Lynn Engstrom, were arrested this week and charged with causing mental harm to a child. A criminal complaint says that for nearly two years, they kept the girl "grounded" in an almost empty attic bedroom behind a locked door, monitoring her every move with a video camera. She was confined about 22 hours a day with no heat, a urine-soaked mattress and no toys or books. She was allowed to leave the room only for one-minute bathroom breaks, meager meals and chores, the complaint says.
The situation ended Friday after the parents took the girl to a hospital, saying she was hearing voices, tearing out clumps of her hair and picking at her skin.
According to the police report, two Oshkosh police officers, Joseph Nichols and Mark Lehman, were called to the home Dec. 20. Lynn Engstrom called 911 after Redmann, the girl's paternal grandmother, tried to bring the girl some presents.
After Officer Nichols visited the Engstrom home on Minnesota St., he called Redmann, according to a report he authored.
"I informed Beth at that time that the children were fine and I had seen all the kids," the report says.
Reached Thursday, Nichols referred questions to Oshkosh police Sgt. Steven Sagmeister, who did not return a telephone call. Both Redmann and her attorney, Peter Culp, declined to comment.
According to the report:
Lynn Engstrom told police that Redmann forced her way into the house around 5 p.m. Dec. 20, demanding to see all the children, including Engstrom's three children from a previous relationship, 12- and 9-year-old boys and an 8-year-old girl, and the girl locked away upstairs, Clint Engstrom's daughter from a previous relationship. Redmann had a bag of Christmas presents for all of them and birthday presents for the oldest girl, whose 13th birthday was Jan. 12.
Lynn Engstrom said Redmann shoved past her and the boys to get upstairs, all the while calling out for the girl.
"Lynn reached the top of the stairs and began pulling at Beth's shirt, advising her to leave the residence. Lynn stated that there were words exchanged from Beth to Lynn that she was going to have Lynn investigated for child abuse and that no child should be locked inside of their room," the report says.
Lynn Engstrom said Redmann tried to push her, and she lost her footing on the stairs. She tried calling her husband, Redmann's son, but when she could not reach him, she called 911. Redmann then left with the gifts.
The officers arrived after Redmann left. While they were there, the girl came down from the attic to use the bathroom.
"With all four of the kids I could not see any physical abuse to the children," Nichols' report states.
Nichols gave Lynn Engstrom a victim information sheet and advised her to call the police if Redmann bothered the family again.
Nichols called Redmann a couple hours later. She told him "there was an alarm on one of the bedroom doors and that the alarm started going off. Beth said that she believes that this would be child abuse, due to the fact that the child, . . . she believed, was behind this door, and became very concerned about her," the report states.
"Beth also stated that she was very concerned with (the girl's) well-being," the report says.
Redmann said she had been invited into the house by the 12-year-old boy. When Lynn Engstrom told her to leave, she did, Redmann said. Redmann told Nichols she planned to call Social Services. He told her the children were fine.
"I also advised Beth that Clint and Lynn wanted me to pass on a message that she is no longer wanted at the residence and that she is not to have contact with the family," the report says.
Two days later, Lynn Engstrom filed for a temporary restraining order against Redmann, which was granted. According to the police report, the Engstroms had earlier told Redmann not to come to their house because they were concerned that she and another relative, Clint Engstrom's brother-in-law, "would make problems for the family."
Lynn Engstrom, 35, and Clint Engstrom, 32, will be in court Jan. 25 for a preliminary hearing on the criminal charges against them. If convicted, each faces a maximum of 12 1/2 years in prison and a fine of $25,000. No attorneys had filed appearances in their cases as of Thursday, according to online court records.
Oshkosh police said Wednesday that the 13-year-old is now staying with a grandmother, but did not identify her. Engstrom's three children are now staying with their father.
According to the criminal complaint, Lynn Engstrom told police her stepdaughter's psychiatrist had told them to stand firm in punishing her. The complaint does not indicate the girl's diagnosis. The Journal Sentinel is not naming the psychiatrist because he has not been charged. He declined to be interviewed, but released this statement Thursday: "Our clinic has a history of working closely with the court system and local law enforcement. However, based on patient confidentiality laws, the release of information needs to be done in accordance with Wisconsin and federal law and rules set up by the court."
A Milwaukee psychiatrist not involved in the case said confining a child to an attic bedroom for two years is not appropriate punishment in any conceivable circumstance.
"The idea of locking her up in the attic, even if she were mentally ill, is not appropriate," said Robert Chayer, a pediatric psychiatrist at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin. "It's tragic."
Chayer said he can't imagine that any psychiatrist would tell parents to do that.
"It's hard to imagine what two years of isolation and abuse would cure," Chayer said. "It is such an extreme. It just boggles my mind that this could be considered recommended treatment."
Even for kids who have severe behavioral problems, there are other options, including day treatment centers or residential treatment centers, he said.
Beyond that, punishing a child by confining her in an attic bedroom can cause severe emotional damage, said Chayer, who is also an assistant professor of psychiatry at the Medical College of Wisconsin.
"(She) could become anxious and depressed to the point of being psychotic," he said.
The hardest part is the treatment is coming from a caregiver, he said.
"It sets up a terrible conflict in the child," he said. "It's hard to reconcile that."
The treatment could make it difficult for the child to form personal relationships and to trust other people, he said.
Winnebago County Sheriff Mike Brooks and Assistant District Attorney Christian Gossett, who is prosecuting the case against the Engstroms, did not return telephone calls Thursday.
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