Becoming Anne Again

Chapter Sixty-Two

A/N Warning: This chapter has more gory depictions of Anne's past. If you don't want to read it, I'll give another summary at the end. 

The Crime of the Century: The Story of the Children Who Found Themselves at the Hands of Sadists

Caution: the following article contains disturbing imagery and content. Reader discretion is advised.

From the outside, Robert and Ellen O'Keafe seemed to represent the pillars of their community. They regularly attended community events, made meals for the elderly, visited nursing homes, tutored impoverished children, and helped found a school specifically designed around foster kids to aid in transitioning and accommodating the children whose education had suffered through every move. They have also been found guilty of leading a prolific child sex ring and aiding and abetting in the murder of Sadie Evans and Hannah Wright. But yet the O'Keafe's were just the tip of the iceberg.

At a glance, the O'Keafe home looks like the American Dream—white picket fence, a flower garden out front that neighbors could see fostered and adopted children planting, and a house decorated with rustic "Family" signs and décor that look as though they came straight out of the Pottery Barn. It was the perfect operation. The FBI had been tracking missing children for years, but it seemed as though they had vanished.

The O'Keafe's got most of their victims from the foster care system, a pool that was ever growing and constantly in need of families willing to take children in. The missing children were most often utilized by those underneath the O'Keafe's and moved outside to a barn where the most horrific acts were committed. Pedophiles would pay the O'Keafe's for time spent with the children. The "tamer" acts were committed inside the home, with the children being gagged while being molested. When children were moved to the barn, the acts grew more vicious. Some paid to be able to torture the children, including sticking them with hot pokers, burning cigarettes on their arm, cutting them, and performing violent sexual acts. Other money was made when the children were recorded and the videos sold as snuff films.

The school the O'Keafe's had helped found was complicit in all of these acts. Attendance rolls were fixed, supposedly recording a student's presence when they were not there. Any signs of suspicious behavior were overlooked, and any bruising that wasn't able to be covered by makeup were ignored. The police are still investigating the extent to which the workers were involved.

The children themselves stayed quiet through fierce mental conditioning. The O'Keafe's often encouraged bonds among the children, and then would use the friendships formed against them, threatening to harm or even kill another child should one of them speak out. Others were successfully conditioned to believe they enjoyed the treatment, others believed they deserved it, and still others believed they were simply doing their part in the household.

But this system, which had served the Mr. and Mrs. O'Keafe well, was about to fall apart when the noose around them tightened and the FBI moved in. In a panic, the couple successfully sold all of the children, giving them over to sadists whose ultimate goal was torture and subsequently murder.

The O'Keafe's were apprehended at Chicago O'Hare International Airport, attempting to flee the country and settle down near Rio de Janeiro. The result was a state-wide manhunt, trying to recover all of the children. Unfortunately, it was too late for Sadie Evans and Hannah Wright. Five other children have yet to be accounted for. The rest had to be rushed to the ICU, and spent weeks in critical condition. One child was found with the tendons in the legs severed. They will never be able to walk again. Another child had miraculous recovered after being strapped to what appeared to be a dirty surgical table, with various deep set wounds, bacteria festering inside and some organs visible.

Ellis Keery made quick work of Sadie and Hannah, disemboweling anti-mortem and then decapitating them. The police recovered the children in pieces, and it is believed that Ellis intended to keep various sexual organs as "trophies." Others who were apprehended included Bill Hodges, Stephen Callow, Rebecca Hook, Elvis Jackson, and Mark and Betty Sikes.

The children have a long road of recovery ahead of them, and some will never be able to fully recover. Many of these children will have to be placed back into the fostering system, once again rolling the dice to determine their own future and safety.

Both Robert and Ellen O'Keafe will receive capital punishment and are currently on Death Row.

A/N In summary, the O'Keafe's ran a child sex ring that Anne was trapped in, sold the kids off to psychopaths when the FBI were closing in, and then the FBI caught them and they were sentenced to death. 

Thanks for sticking with me! I posted this because this is extremely short and really only an addendum to the previous chapter. I love you all and hope you are having a great week!