JUPITER – News {that a} Jupiter couple was accused of locking their 14-year-old in a specially-built room in their garage for as much as 18 hours a day despatched shockwaves round Florida and the world.
The group scrambled to determine what occurred — and the way it might occur in a quiet neighborhood comparable to Jupiter’s Egret Landing.
Slowly, information began to come back out: The teenager had been adopted by Timothy and Tracy Ferriter, who’d moved again to Jupiter after a four-year stint in Arizona. Tracy advised police the teen had extreme behavioral points.
Now, The Palm Beach Post goes deeper.
In 4 tales, reporters study how adoption techniques can fail households who need assistance, what life is like with a child with reactive attachment dysfunction and the way public data present that hassle adopted the Ferriter household wherever it went.
A Palm Beach Post investigation: A Florida couple stored an adopted teen locked in the garage. Their lawyer says that they had no alternative
Who are the Jupiter dad and mom who locked their teen in a garage room?
Timothy and Tracy Ferriter lived in Palm Beach Gardens and Jupiter from 2004 till 2017, after they moved to a brand new residence outdoors Tucson, Arizona.
In late 2021, the household moved again to Jupiter, just some streets away from their earlier home in Egret Landing.
Timothy Ferriter as soon as labored as vice chairman of publishing for a Catholic media firm after which began a well being care and enterprise podcast. Tracy labored as a classroom aide at a close-by church.
Dig deeper: Did Florida’s adoption system fail Jupiter teen pressured to reside in a locked garage room?
What was life like contained in the locked garage room?
The room the Ferriters constructed and locked their teenager in was 8 toes lengthy by 8 toes huge. It had a twin-sized boxspring and mattress with grey sheets and a pillow when police discovered it on Jan. 30, 9 days earlier than the Ferriters’ arrests.
The room additionally had a small desk that had youngsters’s’ books on it and a foldable chair. Mounted on the ceiling of the room was a doorbell digicam that the Ferriter dad and mom might use for surveillance, police stories present.
The teen had a big bucket to make use of as a rest room in the room, which had a wall air-conditioning unit and a single mild on the ceiling, in line with police stories.
Keep studying: Jupiter dad and mom say adopted teen locked in garage room had attachment dysfunction. What meaning
Who was the Jupiter teen locked in the garage room?
The Palm Beach Post is just not figuring out the teen or their gender.
They have been a pupil at Independence Middle School and have three siblings. Tracy advised police in Arizona that they adopted the teen after they have been slightly below 2 years outdated.
All 4 youngsters have been put into the custody of Florida’s Department of Children and Families after their dad and mom’ arrests.
‘They were in such a rush’:After arrests, Florida couple demolished garage room the place teen lived
When will the Jupiter dad and mom go to court docket to face child abuse expenses?
Timothy and Tracy Ferriter, each individually charged with aggravated child abuse and false imprisonment, have pleaded not responsible. They have had a number of hearings in-person on the Palm Beach County Courthouse and on Zoom.
Timothy’s legal professional, Nellie King, and Tracy’s legal professional, Jennifer Marshall, most lately issued three subpoenas concentrating on communication between DCF investigators and the Ferriter youngsters.
Circuit Court Judge Howard Coates has stated he’d just like the case to go to trial in fall this yr.
Katherine Kokal is a journalist protecting northern Palm Beach County at The Palm Beach Post. You can attain her at kkokal@pbpost.com. Help help our work, subscribe at this time!
