A US man has been charged with rape and child abuse after allegedly keeping his wife and four children inside a filthy, roach-infested caravan for three years.

Raymond Thurmond kept his alleged captives in such disgusting conditions that when police finally searched the mobile home, one officer had to wear a gas mask and another refused to continue.

They found thousands of cockroaches and other insects breeding in drawers, cupboards and furniture.

Spoiled food littered the place, and a plumbing problem left the floors rotten and mattresses covered in mould.

Investigators say the 36-year-old forced his wife and four children to live in the three-bedroom trailer in the town of Lavonia, Georgia, for three years, allowing them to leave only once.

Even then, it was only fleeting - a two-hour Easter visit to see his wife's parents.

A spokeswoman for the police called the caravan a "virtual prison".

Lieutenant Missy Collins said: "He controlled what they ate, what they did. He controlled pretty much everything."

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If only his wife or his children had told someone what was going on.......too scared of him I suppose. Reading what this man did just makes me sick to my stomach

I have no idea how this could have happened? Did the kids not go to school? They're all school age. Didn't the neighbors or the park managers wonder why they never saw anyone but the husband? If he was beating his wife and she was screaming how did the neighbors not hear? It says it is a trailer park. The trailers are pretty close together. It's like living in a campground and no one suspected anything for 3 years? I wonder if they were afraid if they asked for help they'd end up in a worse situation. I'd like to hear what they have to say about why they were living like that. Why did police finally search the mobile home? Too many unanswered questions.

"He controlled what they ate, what they did. He controlled pretty much everything."........but to keep the trailer clean...well that was beyond his reach

I would say no one wanted to get involved. All too often this is the case, how many abuse cases are there where someone could have told what they knew and stopped children from being abused. I don't know the stats but I am sure they are up there. I would immediately turn anyone in if I suspected any kind of abuse but it seems that is pretty rare as people just do not want to get involved and that is sad!

I read this article somewhere else and police said that the youngest 3 had never been to school and the oldest was taken out two years prior. The father told authorities that they were homeschooling the children when they really weren't. He didn't want anyone in contact with the children. But at the same time I'd say that whoever was supposed to be monitoring the parent's home schooling skills and seeing if the children were really learning anything really ****ed up.

To say the least! I thought when parents were homeschooling the children still had to take tests and stuff administered by the state. What a mess. What tragedy... once again.

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-New...215078145?f=rss

Here is a little video on the trailer.

Thanks for posting the link I was wondering what the trailer looked like........what a mess

The video is currently unavailable, but I have a pretty good idea as to what this hell-hole looked like. People never cease to amaze me and the things that they are capable of. To be that big of a control freak that you keep your family held hostage in their own home is just beyond me. Hopefully they have gotten the children out of this mess soon enough where they can go on to lead normal lives. Alot of counseling and faith will get them through. I pray for all the vicitms in this mess.

I suspect there is far more to this story than we're being told.

First, one mother and four kids, none of which are todd.ers. Three that are teenagers. Come on....

This is not the kind of "home" that can't be gotten out of with very little effort.

The guy worked away from the trailer park for hours and hours a day. They had plenty of time.

Had it been a mom and a small kid, I understand the fear factor. Teens?? Come on.

And....in regard to the state of the trailer...even if they thought they were prisoners, they could have cleaned the ****hole up themselves.

They did not have to live in that filth. Five freaking grown humans can pick up garbage and clean up spilled food.


I'm not buying it.

There is something else going on.

If the children were raised like this, then they would not know any different. They said in 3 years they were only allowed to leave once. It's easy to say what you do in this situation as you are not in it. I'm with you though, why why why? I can't imagine myself putting up with that crap and letting my children live like that, but we don't know all the facts about why it all came to his. Battered women do not have the backbone to stand up for themselves and in turn their children suffer for it. He must've had them all just scared to death not to leave. Another wackadoo! You would think someone in the trailer park would've heard something--anything if the mom was screaming like that. What a strange story.

It was three years.

The kids would still have been over ten.

The media is missing something. I lived in a trailer park for two years. A decent one. My trailer would have been super easy to get out of in a dozen different ways and the article even says the floor boards were rotted. There is a two foot crawl space right there.

And even with battered woman syndrome (I worked with women who had that and ptsd) the wife may have been out of commission but the kids weren'tt

And they didn't grow up with this...they weren't used to it. They knew life outside.



Something's missing.

Something is definately missing. It's a trailer park. Even if they couldn't get out they could have kept screaming when he was gone to work and lots of people would have heard. How many people in a trailer park do you think would have heard this and stayed away thinking they didn't want to get involved? It's a trailer park. You're never alone. And there are wondows in a trailer. Even if they were locked in the bedroom why didn't they break a window and scream for help. This isn't some terrible, dangerous city slums. Someone would have helped. This is strange. We defiantely don't have the whole story.

Is this man the biological father of these kids? Does anyone know where they lived before? I agree there's gotta be something missing from the story. What a strange one. I lived in a trailer fro about a year after I graduated high school and you couldn't do anything without someone getting in your business. We had a guy that even went through our garbage! (we had a little fun with him on that one ) I hope there is more to story that we find out to answer some questions.

I agree something seems amiss here.

If they lived in some remote house with a secure basement or something, but a trailor?. I don't know much but I am sure someone could have broke out- or made a hell of alot of noise.

Dunno, I wonder if some other details will be released.

A thread about this has been started on another forum.......Here's the link for more ifo

http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/forum...howtopic=133063

I think it would be better to have both threads merged

I have to agree to some point with you. Seems as though something is not adding up -I'm just not sure what.

And apparently, the house smelled so bad that "seasoned cops" had to go in with gas mask in the very beginning. That video that's been aired was AFTER the house had been aired out for two days and it still wreaked.

http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/myfox/MyFox/pa...mp;locale=EN-US

Update with new footage and info

Seems he would not allow them to clean and the mom finally told on him because he was having an affair and was gone!

This whole story is just too weird. I just can't imagine what this man could have done to make this woman stay there and keep her children there. I'm sorry but there is also something wrong with this woman. Can someone tell me how he did this? I just don't get it.

Probably they thought they were a Bigfoot family, being from Georgia, and felt it was normal...

This folks is not a man. A man takes care of his family and does what he has to to not only provide but support his family. This is some sort of not quite human animal. Not a man as I was raised to believe a man is.

Certainly not my idea of a man. More like an machine hellbent on control. Even animals aren't this bad.

Oh my gosh, I googled living in filth to get an update and there are literaly hundreds of stories like this where children are living this way! SO VERY SAD!

They had a family on the show Wife Swap where the parents taught the kids to eat raw and rotten meat in their diet. I couldn't believe it! Anyone else see this? When they switched families the kids got sick from eating cooked food t first. Hmmmm,,,,,let me think here, juicy cooked steak or a jar of rotten meat----oh yeah, I'll take the rotten disgusting smelling meat. This is an example of children don't know any different from what their parents teach them. I feel sorry for the kids when the parents are messed up like that. There was also a story on Sally Jesse Raphael (sp) years ago where the dad was such a cheap skate that he made his kids steal toilet paper from public restrooms, they got their condiments from fast food places, napkins, etc. My sister and her friend happened to be there for the taping of the show and they were laughing so hard (they were young and in college) at this guy that they had to stop taping and tell them to be quiet. It was a whole show dedicated to Cheapskates. I guess it takes all kinds........................... It's ok to be thrifty, but not at the expense of your kids.

dkkjf68, I saw that episode too. The only reason why they got that way. Was because they're bodies was so used to the raw meat, it caused them to get sick. I doubt that they were on their "death beds" like the father commented and crying. All they did was get sick. >.O

I agree with everyone else. Something's not right. *Shurgs*

Yeah, their little bodies just weren't used to it. Just like if we'd eat raw meat we'd probably get sick. I'm also waiting to hear (as Paul Harvey would say) ..............................the rest of the story. I can't imagine living in the filth that this poor family did. Maybe the dad brainwashed them somehow to go along with his sickness. When you hit a certain age (teens) you start making decisions for yourself and I can't imagine these children, no matter what their father told them, going along with such a thing. They weren't allowed to clean?????? How bizzzzzaaaaarrrrrrrriiiiiooooo.

You've obviously never been in an abusive relationship. It's all about the slippery slope. And making the other person feel utterly helpless without you there. It's not a 5 minute deal. That sort of thing takes years to setup.

Part of it is people thinking it's not their business. Some of it's thinking that someone else will do something. Some people just don't care. Take your pick.

OMG!! I definitely need to watch more TV..

Unreal.

Yeah. Exactly.

I agree. I don't think I could ever live like that.

But I agree with one poster. That they had plently of time to get away. >>"

Maybe there is more to the story than what the public's being told, however, I can testify firsthand that I protected my very abusive and slovenly mother all throughout my high school years, even when there were school officials asking all the pertinent abuse questions. I protected my mother out of sheer utter fear of HER. Not of the school officials. If this man attacked and raped his wife on a regular basis and the kids heard it going on, they lived in fear of this man. What gets me is the man! Someone who HAS to have that much control over everyone else close to him but has absolutely no control over his environment shows me that he has no power in his personal life at all. It's too bad that his wife couldn't hone in on that part of him and leave him, regardless of her fear of him.

I do find it odd that the only time the wife attempted to get any outside help was when she believed that he was having an affair. The reports I've read on this man clearly state that he came and went. I understand the battered woman's syndrome and the fear of him, however, why wasn't she so afraid when she left to go get help once she believed he was having an affair? Something's not right with her.