Born in 1956 in a quiet Michigan town, her life began with chaos. When she was just four years old, her 20-year-old mother packed up and disappeared, leaving her and her brother behind.

The mother later said that it was probably “the biggest mistake” she have ever made in her life.
Almost at the same time, her 23-year-old father, already behind bars for the kidnapping and assault of a young girl, took his own life in prison.

From that moment, the children were left in the care of their grandparents. But instead of safety, their new home became another nightmare.
Her grandmother struggled with alcoholism, and her grandfather was said to be violent, even predatory.

”I should have . . . adopted them to strangers. We, in our family, suffered a form of child abuse. My father was verbally abusive. My mother was verbally abusive, and we were always told we were no good,” the girl’s mother later told The Tampa Bay Times.