When Homeschoolers Turn Violent: Appendix 2, Exclusions

Series note: “When Homeschoolers Turn Violent” is a joint research project by Homeschoolers Anonymous and Homeschooling’s Invisible Children. Please see the Introduction for detailed information about the purpose and scope of the project.

Trigger warning: If you experience triggers from descriptions of physical and sexual violence, please know that the details in many of the cases are disturbing and graphic.

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Appendix 2: Exclusions

We have chosen to exclude from this archive a number of individuals charged with murder or attempted murder whom news reports have referred to as “homeschooled.” The reasons for excluding them vary, so we will list each below:

Alton Romero Young:

In 1993, 17-year-old Alton Romero Young raped and strangled to death 57-year-old Shirley Mullinix. Alton was being taught at home due to suspension from Hammond High School. Shirley Mullinix was a home-hospital teacher in the Howard County school system, tasked with teaching students unable to attend normative classes on account of disciplinary or health problems. Thus while some news reports refer to Shirley as a “home school tutor” and Alton as homeschooled, he must be excluded from this list since his homeschooling was directly under the authority of a public school system and a public school teacher.

Jeff Weise: 

In 2005, 16-year-old Jeff Weise — a student at Red Lake Senior High School in Red Lake, Minnesota — went on a shooting spree and killed a total of 9 people. He first killed his grandfather and his grandfather’s companion and then went to the school and killed 7 others (as well as wounded 5). Following the attacks, he committed suicide. Jeff was living on the Red Lake Indian Reservation of the Ojibwe people. While he has occasionally been referred to as “homeschooled,” there are no verifiable records of this fact. All records seem to indicate short periods of time when he simply did not attend school due to depression and bullying.

Aaron Kean:

In 2003, 10-year-old Aaron Kean from Woodbridge, New Jersey sexually assaulted 3-year-old Amir Beeks and then beat the young child to death with a baseball bat. While some sources have described Aaron as “home-schooled,” there is no evidence that this is the case. He was expelled from public school 6 months before the attack, but the school itself made an arrangement for him to receive tutoring from a teacher at the local library but Aaron remained delinquent from the arrangement.

Jade Gonzalez: 

In June 1999, 12-year-old Jade Gonzalez from Albuquerque, New Mexico was charged with shooting her father in the head and killing him. Jade has correctly been described by some sources as homeschooled. However, in 2007, when she was 20 years old, the case against Jade was dismissed and her father’s death was ruled an accident.

Joshua Stone and David Stone, Jr.: 

In 2012, 21-year-old Joshua Stone — along with his 19-year-old brother David Jr. and his father David Sr., leader of the self-style Hutaree militia — were charged with conspiracy to murder law enforcement officials. David Sr. homeschooled both Joshua and David Jr. for a period of time. However, the charges for conspiracy to murder were ultimately dismissed. David Jr. was acquitted of all charges. Joshua and his father were only found guilty of federal gun law violations.

View the case index here.