A 21-year-old girl named Lauren Kavanaugh had bursted the bubbles of the sexual abuse she suffered from her mother, Barbara Atkinson and stepfather, Kenny Atkinson, from Dallas, Texas, who locked her in a dark 4ft by 9ft wardrobe for five years and raped her nightly when she was just three years old.The couple who were convicted for abuse in 2002 received a life sentence which makes them ineligible to associate with people until 2031.
Lauren Kavanaugh in a hospital bed after she was rescued from a wardrobe where her parents kept her for five years. (Photo Credit: Mirror UK)
According to Mirror UK, she was rushed to surgery where she was fitted with a colostomy bag, but her organs were shutting down.
The victim who is now a student was rescued in 2001 and she was adopted by Lauren Sabrina and Bill Kavanaugh.
Lauren Kavanaugh whose parents kept inside a wardrobe for five years. (Photo Credit: Mirror UK)
She shared her terrible experience in order to encourage other victims of sexual abuse.
Narrating her ordeal, she said, “One day mum was so sick of me sobbing. She grabbed my arm and told me, ‘get into the closet.’
“I was huddled in there for hours under a rail of dresses and shirts. I thought it was a punishment.
“There was no water or food, just darkness.”
After five years when she was about eight years old, she was brought out of the cupboard and weighed just 25.6 pounds.
She said her parents often ” put country music on blaring,” to make her screams unheard while they raped her.
“After hours of abuse, I was bundled back into the closet, confused and in agony.
“From then on, it became my new home.
“I couldn’t do anything in the darkness. I slept in there and had to use it for the bathroom. The carpet was drenched in urine and I lay under a thin, wet blanket.
She said, “I was weak from hunger and was tied down so I couldn’t fight back.
“I had to eat anything I could find in the closet.
“I was only let out for torture.
“One day, mum ran me a bath and pushed my head under water.
“When I was six mum put a bowl of macaroni cheese in front of me.
“She told me I could chew it – but then had to spit it out.”
Adapting with the normal daily living proved difficult and she was mentally backward unlike her agemates.
It took a little while before she stopped sleeping inside wardrobes.
She said, “The first time I saw grass I was eight and I thought it was biting my feet,” she said.
“When I had baths I would yell, ‘don’t drown me.’”
Lauren Kavanaugh eventually went back to college where she is studying Psychology after she was rescued from the wardrobe where she stayed for five years. (Photo Credit: Mirror UK)
Meanwhile, she went back to school where she is studying Psychology.
“I’ve started studying psychology at college.
“I plan to go to university next year. My dream is to qualify as a counsellor.
“But I really want to help victims like me to overcome their abuse and be strong. I’ve been in their shoes and came out the other side,” she added.
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