Owners of southwest Missouri reform school arrested on numerous abuse charges
The owners of a Cedar County girls boarding school have been arrested on numerous abuse charges related to a months-long Missouri attorney general investigation, sources told The Star Tuesday evening.
Boyd and Stephanie Householder, who ran Circle of Hope Girls Ranch in southwest Missouri, have been taken into custody, sources said. The pair, who are in the Vernon County Jail, face 102 charges.
When contacted Tuesday night, a spokesman for the attorney general’s office said he could not comment but that more details and information would be shared Wednesday.
An advisory later sent from Attorney General Eric Schmitt’s office said there would be a news conference at noon Wednesday outside the Capitol building in Jefferson City to “give an update on his office’s investigation into Circle of Hope Girls Ranch and Boarding School.”
Cedar County prosecutor Ty Gaither requested the attorney general’s help with the case in mid-November, saying his county did not have the resources to handle the case on its own. Missouri Gov. Mike Parson directed the attorney general’s office to assist with the investigation and possible prosecution.
Gaither made the request after he said he spent days reviewing the case.
The Householders closed the boarding school shortly after authorities removed about two dozens girls in mid-August amid an investigation by the Cedar County Sheriff’s Office.
In a nearly two-hour phone interview with The Star, the Householders said the allegations of physical, sexual and emotional abuse were all lies, the machination of their estranged, troubled daughter and a group of girls whose lives didn’t turn out the way they wanted after they left the ranch.
This is the girls’ revenge, the Householders say, their plan to ruin the couple’s lives and shut them down.
“They’re angry and they’re bitter, and they want to blame somebody,” said Stephanie Householder, 55. “They feel like they’re victims, and they just want to take their anger out on somebody.”
Added Boyd Householder: “The girls that are making these comments and stuff, they’ve gone nowhere in life. The girls that are praising us have gone to college, have a career in the military, have a career in office buildings as secretaries and so forth.
“The ones that are saying this stuff are the ones that have not succeeded.”
During The Star’s investigation into Missouri’s faith-based boarding schools, former Circle of Hope students described punishment that included withholding food and water and being forced to stand against a wall for hours on end for even the most minor infraction. And they explained how they were restrained — pinned on the floor with Boyd Householder’s knee pressed on the back of their necks while other girls or staff members pushed as hard as they could on pressure points on girls’ arms and legs.
In recent years, the state has substantiated four reports of abuse and neglect involving Circle of Hope, according to the Missouri Department of Social Services. One was for neglect, one for physical abuse and neglect and two were for sexual abuse allegations.
In 2018, a Missouri Highway Patrol sergeant spent months investigating abuse allegations against the Householders. Sgt. Travis Hitchcock’s report was filled with allegations of physical abuse, sexual misconduct and possible human trafficking. Several former students and two former staff members told the sergeant that girls ages 17 and 18 weren’t allowed to leave the ranch.
But according to Hitchcock’s 44-page report, obtained by The Star, the investigation didn’t go any further than the U.S. attorney’s office in Springfield. A federal prosecutor there declined to file charges against Boyd and Stephanie Householder.
A decades-old Missouri statute allows boarding schools like Circle of Hope to claim a religious exemption, which means they are not required to be licensed and the state has no authority over their operations.
After The Star’s initial report on Circle of Hope, Rep. Keri Ingle, D-Lee’s Summit, called for hearings on the issue. In December, she and Rep. Rudy Veit, R-Wardsville, introduced identical bills that for the first time called for some regulation of these unlicensed schools.
The Missouri House Committee on Children and Families unanimously passed those measures last month and they are expected to head to the House floor for consideration.
This story was originally published March 9, 2021 at 8:38 PM.
