Saturday 8 October 2011

Genie

"Their first child Dorothy Irene Wiley was born 2 Jun 1948 in Los Angeles County. She developed some sort of typical childhood illness, so Clark wrapped her in a blanket and put her in the drawer of a dresser in the garage. She died. Their second child Robert Clark Wiley was born 15 Sep 1949 and died 17 Sep 1949 "choking on his own mucus". When their third child John Gray Wiley was born 11 Mar 1952, he initially lived with them apparently, but when John was about four, Clark's mother Pearl, believing that Clark was unbalanced, took John to live with her. Two years later, on 29 Dec 1958 while Pearl and John were outside together, Pearl was killed by an "out of control pickup truck" and dragged down the street." "The teen-aged driver who killed Pearl was never charged in the incident, which apparently sent Clark even further off the deep end. He blamed his son John for the death of his "beloved mother Pearl""
" Clark's idea of protection was to keep Susan shut in her bedroom most or all of every day, and tied into a straitjacket at night. She was also sometimes or often tied to a potty-chair and left that way for hours, all day, or even perhaps overnight at times.

Susan still wore diapers, couldn't talk, and was fed a substandard diet which stunted her growth. Her unusual diet consisted of "warm cereal, honey, milk and an occassional egg". (so reports the 18 Nov 1970 Arcadia Tribune) It has been reported that when found she weighed 59 pounds and was the size of a 7 to 8 year old. From years of confinement, her muscles had not developed normally, which caused her to walk in a peculiar way. "Susan is only now learning that there are other people in the world.""
"Just before he was due in court to be arraigned for child abuse, [Clark] shot and killed himself", as the Valley News reports"