Couple who owned Missouri boarding school charged with more than 100 counts of abuse

(The AEGIS Alliance) – Boyd and Stephanie Householder is facing over 100 charges of sex-related, physical, and also psychological abuse that purportedly happened at their Missouri faith-based boarding school.

Officials charged Boyd Householder with 80 offenses, consisting of numerous counts of second-degree rape and sodomy. The charges against his spouse vary from abuse to endangering the well-being of a child.

“With 16 victims so far, we believe this to be one of the most widespread cases of sexual, physical, and mental abuse patterns against young girls and women in Missouri history,” Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt stated. “As the father of two young girls, it is simply unthinkable to me.”

Since 2006, the Householders owned and run the Circle of Hope Girls Ranch in Cedar County, a Christian school they claimed would change defiant teens to reform themselves.

Authorities got every one of the girls out of the boarding school in 2020 and the ranch has been shut down ever since. Several of the girls had explained their allegations of abuse on social media sites. The facility shut down in September 2020.

The Householders’ daughter, Amanda, stated she believes the victims’ accusations.

“I kept getting messages from random girls that I don’t even know, telling me the same thing,” Amanda stated. “I do believe them.”

In a recent meeting with the Kansas City Star, the Householders said the accusations against them are “all lies” and also claimed their accusers are “bitter” and “angry.” If found guilty, the pair would be expected to spend decades or life in prison.

Kyle James Lee – The AEGIS Alliance – This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.