Borrowed Bones

The Most Dysfunctional Family in America: Part 1

• Sarah Sexton • Episode 9

Share episode

Eddie Lee and May Sexton resided in a house on Caroline St. in Canton, OH with their 12 children. Eddie Lee ruled his home with an iron fist. Often turning sibling against sibling. Eventually taking his family on the run from the authorities; when they were caught, each sibling slowly revealed the true horrors of their upbringing. 

Sommer Sanchez YouTube 

"House of Secrets" by Lowell Cauffiel 

The Akron Beacon Journal 

Tampa Bay Times: Story of Tortured Family Emerges 

America's Dysfunctional Family: The Sextons 


Support the show

E-Mail the show at BorrowedBonesPodcast@proton.me

BorrowedBones Instagram

BorrowedBones BlueSky

DaughterofMarauders BlueSky



Sarah:

Hello, everyone.

Speaker 2:

Hey,

Sarah:

I'm Sarah.

Speaker 2:

I'm Cole,

Sarah:

and you're listening to Borrowed Bones, a podcast about fucked up, interesting, and toxic families. It's been a while, It's been a few weeks. Apologies to everyone. We have had

Speaker 2:

our loyal listeners.

Sarah:

Yeah. Yeah. But we just, we've had quite a bit of life hit us this, month.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Past couple weeks.

Sarah:

Luckily we have this to keep us occupied

Speaker 2:

Coming back to make the absence worth it.

Sarah:

With some deluxe multi-part episodes. Yes. And before we get into this one,'cause it is a big one, I wanted to announce. I did cave and make an Instagram account. Oh yeah.

Speaker 2:

I had no idea where you're going with that.

Sarah:

I scared you. Yeah. Um, no, I

Speaker 2:

encouraged her to do it.

Sarah:

Yes. many of you did. So I caved because I am spineless and I make one. I've actually been really liking coming back. I was only gone for six months.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Sarah:

But that's a long time. Our Instagram is borrowed Bones podcast. Pretty simple and upfront. Yeah. I didn't want it to be confusing. No

Speaker 2:

weird numbers. No. Mm-hmm. Z's for S'S,

Sarah:

everything is as it spelled. Sounds. As it spelled. Spelled yes. So please follow. My goal is to post daily and become more engaged with everyone. Yeah. Also a quick reminder, if you could rate and review us I know if they're good

Speaker 2:

reviews.

Sarah:

I cringe saying it. Even if they're bad, do it because it helps us so much and I just didn't wanna be that guy, but I'm gonna be that guy.

Speaker 2:

No press is bad. Press. Yep. Rate and review

Sarah:

please.

Speaker 2:

Everybody I write about would disagree, but, uh,

Sarah:

All right. I've avoided getting into this episode long enough. There's nowhere else to go. No more announcements.

Speaker 2:

Okay.

Sarah:

Today we are talking about the most dysfunctional family in America.

Speaker 2:

Is that like an award you get? Do you apply for it? It's like the Oscars.

Sarah:

That's what they were labeled. Who are the

Speaker 2:

nominees?

Sarah:

The Sexton family.

Speaker 2:

Oh, that hits close to home.

Sarah:

Mm-hmm. My last name is Sexton and no, this is not my family.

Speaker 2:

Oh, okay, good.

Sarah:

No, no, no. We're not getting that personal. but it is the Sexton family, which is. What drew me to them.

Speaker 2:

I'm not familiar with this case at all.

Sarah:

I wasn't either, and I found it when I was watching YouTube. I follow a great YouTuber. Her name is Summer Sanchez. Summer spelled S-O-M-M-E-R. And she does, cults and sometimes family true crime things. And she covered this, however, she covered it in less than an hour, and she does a great job of a nice overview. I dug deeper and holy shit. She admittedly in her YouTube, episode does say that there's a lot that she didn't mention. So if you don't want to listen to a multi-part podcast about this, go ahead and listen to her. She's fantastic. Alright.

Speaker 2:

All right.

Sarah:

Let's get

Speaker 2:

into

Sarah:

it.

Speaker 2:

Let's do it. Deep dive into the sextons. Yes. We are going. Are they grave diggers? Are they a family of cemetery caretakers? That'd be cool if they were.

Sarah:

Yeah. That is the meaning of the name. Yeah. Um, no, no. Unfortunately that would be a much better job. Hoping it was a

Speaker 2:

family of ghouls. Yes. With an appropriate name.

Sarah:

Yes. We're going to start with Eddie Lee Sexton the patriarch and Estella may Sexton the mother. Okay. When they were younger. Trigger warning, there's going to be a lot of unwilling sex, rape, um, incest, pedophilia, a few other things. So this is your warning right now. I simply cannot warn you, so the whole thing's gonna be bad. So to start from the top? Yes. There's so much. Alright. Eddie Lee Sexton was born May 12th, 1942 in Logan, West Virginia.

Speaker 2:

Okay. So it's an American. Mm-hmm. All right.

Sarah:

Yep.

Speaker 2:

He was born during World War II in West Virginia?

Sarah:

Yes. Gotcha. He was one of 10 children. He was the seventh child and his brother Otis, was the sixth child,

Speaker 2:

Otis. And

Sarah:

they, we need to know their names. Otis is just a little bit older and they are big players in this. Okay. Eddie Lee came from a family of coal miners

Speaker 2:

in West Virginia.

Sarah:

No, shocker. Doesn't track. He's actually from, where like the Hatfields and McCoys are from that area. Okay. Yeah. a shared

Speaker 2:

universe. The borrowed bones universe. Yes. Yeah. They cross over. Okay.

Sarah:

His father was also a part-time Baptist preacher on top of being a coal miner.

Speaker 2:

Mm-hmm.

Sarah:

And Otis would describe their home as relatively normal, but very poor. The girls shared one room and the boys shared another and they grew and raised their own food. According to Otis, Eddie Lee was a major mama's boy.

Speaker 2:

Okay.

Sarah:

She favored him. Babied him. Eddie Lee did go to reform school, though at the age of 14.

Speaker 2:

Do you know what? For, um, what was he reforms? Stealing watches.

Sarah:

Oh,

Speaker 2:

okay. That's like shoplifting or pickpocketing. Yeah. Yeah. It just petty theft. I just red

Sarah:

stealing watches. Okay. Yeah. I got most of my information from the book, house of Secrets by, I don't really know how to pronounce the last name. Lowell is the first name. Uh. I have it, linked in the show notes okay. So you can see it. So When he turned 18, Eddie Lee enlisted in the Army.

Speaker 2:

Okay.

Sarah:

He was only there for six months before he was discharged for bad conduct.

Speaker 2:

Ooh.

Sarah:

Yeah. He only lasted six months.

Speaker 2:

He was 18. So you said he was born in 42?

Speaker:

Yes.

Speaker 2:

Okay. So it was been around, around Korean war time at the time? He was of age. Oh, okay. Okay.

Sarah:

So yeah. And they were like, we don't want you. Yeah. Wow. In 1963, Eddie committed his first armed robbery. He robbed a gas station just 24 hours after his 15-year-old wife gave birth to their son.

Speaker 2:

Wait a minute. Was she his wife at that time or it be Yes. Okay. Like legally? Yes. Not like common law, like call each other. Her parents signed it over. Okay. Yes, they are on paper. Husband and wife? Yes. At 15. And he's 21. 21, okay. Yes.

Sarah:

And this is not Estella May Sexton, this is his first wife.

Speaker 2:

Oh, okay. Yes.

Sarah:

However, when he went to prison for the armed robbery, his 15-year-old wife soon filed for a divorce.

Speaker 2:

So, so he committed the armed robbery a day after the marriage? I, he was trying to fund their honeymoon,

Sarah:

I think. Yeah. I'm sure there was something in his brain like, oh, I need money now. I have a kid, I'm a grownup now. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Well, not married her, but she had the baby. Yeah. Day after he had, she had the baby. Okay.

Sarah:

Yeah, yeah. Sorry, I got that

Speaker 2:

wrong. Okay.

Sarah:

Eddie did serve five years at a state prison for this. Okay. And. Later, he would then meet Estella May. They would go on to have 12 children together. Wow. Yes. And they moved to Stark County, Ohio together, and that's where Estella May and her family resides. Now, Eddie Lee was of course, polite and charming at first, as they all are, but once you got to know him, you saw him for the con man that he was, he was receiving Social Security disability checks for a fake back injury. Yeah. And then of course, he was working under the table as like a painter or handyman while he was receiving these checks,

Speaker 2:

odd jobs around town.

Sarah:

Mm-hmm. He was also suspected of insurance fraud by setting at least three of his houses on fire in the 1980s. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Eh, I feel like insurance fraud. I mean, if you can get away with it, do it because screw insurance companies, like screw them. If you can get away with it, more power to you. Those are the men doing God's work. Okay.

Sarah:

He was also faking burglaries and break-ins to report stolen items, which of course, he was getting insurance money before never place. They broke and stole my giant deluxe

Speaker 2:

tv. Yes. No, there's no such tv.

Sarah:

Yeah. Yeah. So that's an idea of who Eddie Lee Sexton is. Okay. Now we're gonna go into Estella MA's Early Life

Speaker 2:

is the first wife. She's just outta the picture. Yep. That's, she just divorced. Okay. We're, and the, the kid that they had is

Sarah:

with

Speaker 2:

her. Okay. So, yep. All right. Yep. That's a closed chapter. All right.

Speaker:

Almost ah,

Speaker 2:

little ellipses there

Sarah:

Estella May was born in West Virginia as well. Okay. She goes by May. she had a pretty standard childhood. May was one of 10 children.

Speaker 2:

Wow.

Sarah:

West Virginia, man. They like to have a lot of kids.

Speaker 2:

Was she seven of 10 as well?

Sarah:

I don't remember where she fell. Okay.

Speaker 2:

That'd be interesting if

Sarah:

that would be interesting. She began dating around the age of 16. She would go to the movies, the mall school dances, you know, typical teenage stuff.

Speaker 2:

Mm-hmm.

Sarah:

Eventually her family did settle in Ohio and May wanted to become a nurse. She was in the Future Nurses of America, and she also was working at a nursing home. So she had like goals and ambitions? Yeah. She did quit the nursing home because her patients passed away and that was too hard for her. So then she tried her hand at cosmetology or possibly becoming a go-go dancer.

Speaker 2:

When did she become a real estate agent?

Sarah:

Oh, that would've been a fine path for her to take. Trust me. Before Mai met Eddie Lee, she met Bill. Bill and Mai met at a dance. They began dating and soon May became pregnant

Speaker 2:

by Bill.

Sarah:

And then Bill had to fight in the Vietnam war.

Speaker 2:

Oh.

Sarah:

And he never returned and may never found out what happened to

Speaker 2:

Bill dodged a bullet there. I dunno if he did.

Sarah:

He didn't. Oh, may had her child, Patrick, he was born in 1967. And May was only 20 years old at that time. All right.. May then moved in with her sister in Canton, Ohio. She worked at the local five and dime saving up for cosmetology school. She decided to go that route, not to go go dancer. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

That's weird to like, consider that as like a career. Like, that's not gonna last. Yeah.

Sarah:

Well, think about it. Go-go. Dancers existed.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Sarah:

Someone had to want to be that,

Speaker 2:

but as like a career choice, like, it's like a short, that's she's young.

Sarah:

She's like 20. Yeah. That's, that's the thing to do. I'll go into

Speaker 2:

nursing, cosmetology things that could last a lifetime or go-go dancing. Would you get a few years in before you're, I guess then you can go into cosmetology or dancing? Exactly. Yeah. Yeah.

Sarah:

she's trying to live her life. When Mai was staying with her sister, Mae's brother-in-law introduced her to Eddie Lee. She was told that the minister at the church had a good looking younger brother and that minister was Otis. Otis. Hey, look at you. Did I drop some foreshadowing down on there or just, or are you just super smart?

Speaker 2:

I hate the name Otis, so it just sticks out. Whenever I hear it, it just, it's in there.

Sarah:

He's a complex man. We don't hate him.

Speaker 2:

I'm not saying I hate him. I just hate the May Otis.

Sarah:

Okay. All right.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Sarah:

May, when she went to the church was a little, um, felt out of place'cause it was more of that southern revivalist style. Mm-hmm. And she was Lutheran.

Speaker 2:

Oh. But

Sarah:

Still enjoyed it. she didn't really get to talk to Eddie Lee, but she did sit next to him. Then they were able to properly meet a few days later when they were invited to a weenie roast at Otis's house. And then Maye and Eddie Lee got to know each other a bit more. Eddie Lee was working for Goodwill as a truck driver and a painter mm-hmm. And May told him that she's never been married, and he tells her I've also never been married.

Speaker 2:

Oh, so he lied? Mm-hmm. Okay.

Sarah:

Yep. Then a few months later, Mae moves to West Virginia to live with her mom. Eddie Lee follows her.

Speaker 2:

So went from West Virginia to Ohio. Back to West Virginia. Yeah. All right.

Sarah:

Mm-hmm. Eddie Lee, when he arrived in West Virginia, took May out to dinner, he put on the charm and convinced May to move back to Ohio.

Speaker 2:

Jesus.

Sarah:

Yes.

Speaker 2:

Took in the tour states. I know.

Sarah:

I mean, we live in Michigan. Yeah. We have, yeah. There's uniqueness. We have water

Speaker 2:

to Michigan.

Sarah:

Lots of water. Yeah. Cherries. We're

Speaker 2:

the only state blueberries composed of two peninsulas.

Sarah:

Anyway. Eddie Lee and may officially start dating when they get back to Ohio. Eddie Lee was clean, cut, well built. He got along well with his mom and Mae's mom. They even went on like three to four days before Eddie Lee kissed May. He was very much the gentleman.

Speaker 2:

This is not what I was picturing.

Sarah:

Yeah, it gets there real quick. Don't worry. He lied to her about being married mm-hmm. And may also never knew that he was in jail. After two to three years of this casual dating, things started to change. May began talking to another guy.'cause Eddie Lee wasn't like fully committing.

Speaker 2:

Mm-hmm.

Sarah:

So what she just playing the

Speaker 2:

field a little bit? Yeah.

Sarah:

Kind of. Yeah. She wanted to get married and he wouldn't marry her. So what May did, which honestly it is the only thing I enjoy about this person that she did this, another guy was interested in her, so she made plans with Eddie Lee and this other guy on the same day at the same time.

Speaker 2:

Oh, she made them fight over her?

Sarah:

Yes. But what happened was they saw each other on the porch, and the the new guy just walked away. Oh. He was like, fuck this, I'm not, yeah, nope. And then Eddie Lee slapped me across the face and called her a slut.

Speaker 2:

And then she was like, oh, the man after my own heart,

Sarah:

um, almost she swung back at him and missed, and then she broke up with him after that. Oh. But the following day, Eddie Lee was being all nice and apologetic and may forgave him, and they got back together.

Speaker 2:

That was foolish. Mm-hmm. I don't even know where it goes from here, but just inherently That's foolish.

Sarah:

Yep. Mm-hmm. Yeah. This is a great way to start off. They would move in together, but May was still wanting marriage and. Eddie Lee finally admitted that he was still married. Oh, his wife filed his child bride for divorce. He never

Speaker 2:

signed it.

Sarah:

Exactly. But they they don't see each other again. Yeah. So she is out of the picture. Yeah. But that's the last thread, thread, legal thing

Speaker 2:

hanging over his head.

Sarah:

Right. So he finally admitted to May that he had a wife back in West Virginia, but they haven't seen each other in years, which I do believe is true. Um, I don't know if I mentioned this. I think I skipped over it. They were pregnant.

Speaker 2:

Oh, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Yeah,

Sarah:

they got pregnant. I think I skipped over that actually.

Speaker 2:

And her child from Vietnam Hill, Patrick. Okay. Patrick, yeah, he's Patrick is the son's name. Yeah. He's still around. Yep. Yep. She's keeping him,

Sarah:

he stays. Okay. He's a part of the group. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Yeah. So Eddie Lee and May are pregnant, and they welcome their son, Eddie Junior. And they're not married yet, but because they have a son and a child and they're living together with this little family unit, may quit working at the Five and Dime. And she finally just put that cosmetology dream. To bed. She was done.

Speaker 2:

Kill a dream. Have a kid.

Sarah:

Yep. Yep. Huh? I just said yes so quickly to that. Yeah, that I was like, well, had a little of that woman guilt anyway, so you still have those dreams instead? Yeah. Eddie Lee said that the man is the one who works, not the woman. So of course May had to quit. Now there's a random Wednesday, Eddie Lee and May got into a pretty bad argument over his drinking and weed smoking.

Speaker 2:

Yes. What year is this? This is in the eighties, right?

Sarah:

This is in like the early seven, like late sixties maybe. Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We're not there yet. Okay. Yeah,

Speaker 2:

I was just thinking when you mentioned him starting fires and Yeah. I

Sarah:

just wanted to give an overview of who this person is. Okay. But we'll come back to,

Speaker 2:

okay.

Sarah:

So

Speaker 2:

late sixties, he's mm-hmm. Drinking, smoking weed too much.

Sarah:

Yep. Um, in the fight, Eddie Lee hits may smacks her around a bit, and that's how that fight ends. They just rough it out. So that was Wednesday. On Saturday, three days later they got married. Eddie Lee's brother Otis would perform the ceremony in Eddie Lee's mom's living room.

Speaker 2:

Okay.

Sarah:

And may stood up there with a black eye.

Speaker 2:

Yep. West Virginia.

Speaker:

Mm. Well this is in Ohio now. Well, you can't

Speaker 2:

take, uh, you can take the, the hill folk outta West Virginia. Yeah.

Sarah:

So of course after the marriage, Eddie Lee quickly becomes even more controlling. He wouldn't let may do anything without him.

Speaker 2:

Fuck her.

Sarah:

Mm-hmm. And May's dad didn't like Eddie Lee. He discovered that Eddie Lee was in prison for five years. And he also found out that Eddie Lee lied about his Army career. He said that he had a Green Beret, um, he, you know, was a Green

Speaker 2:

Beret,

Sarah:

or sorry, was hat I said hat Yeah,

Speaker 2:

yeah. Was a Green Beret.

Sarah:

I have a Green Beret.

Speaker:

Yeah,

Sarah:

I, that's funny. He

Speaker 2:

wore a Green Beret one day.

Sarah:

I was thinking of the Prince song. Raspberry Bere. The raspberry, yeah. Yeah. So that's what happened there. Yeah. Anyway, I'm getting all the funnies out now'cause it really does get worse. He was never a Green Beret and was actually kicked out of the army. When may confronted him about it. Eddie Lee put a bar of soap in a sock and beat her with it. May then threw a vaporizer at him, which is another word for a big, those big humidifiers. Oh yeah, yeah. That bust out steam like a, like a box, but it's heavy plastic. So she threw a big one, big vaporizer at him, knocking him down. And when Mai tried to run away, Eddie Lee was able to catch up to her, knocked her out. And then when Eddie Lee left for work, Mai went to her sisters and stayed with her for a few days until Eddie Lee found her, threatened to kill her and her children if she didn't return.

Speaker 2:

We face with that sweet talk. How can you not return?

Sarah:

Yep. Hmm. So May and Eddie Lee were now living on welfare together, but that did not slow Eddie Lee's gambling and spending And May was not allowed to get her license. She was not allowed to see her family and there was no phone in the house. May didn't see her family for 10 years. Oh. Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2:

Did they come looking for her?

Sarah:

I think they tried to reach out, but they weren't able to, they couldn't communicate with her. Yeah. So May's dad filed a report in 1982. He called the Jackson Township Arson investigator on Eddie Lee. the Jackson Township investigator then reported it to the FBI and her dad said in his statement to them that in July of 81, so the year before he was visiting his daughter and Eddie Lee. So this must have been right after the 10 year lift.'cause it was about 10 years when they first got married. So this is when he is back in their life or in her life. Um, he went to visit his daughter and Eddie Lee. And Eddie Lee asked Mae's dad about like setting his house on fire, like Eddie Lee setting his own house on fire. His, yeah.

Speaker 2:

For the insurance. Yeah. Yeah.

Sarah:

And if he would help him with it, then he would get 10,000 of the insurance money. And then he also told the FBI that Eddie Lee mentioned wanting four to five of his children inside the house to burn up

Speaker 2:

four to five.

Sarah:

Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Okay.

Sarah:

That,,

Speaker 2:

dunno How many kids he has at this point.

Sarah:

I don't know when they're all born, but it is, in like the seventies, eighties. Okay. I know a few of the boys are in like their teen years at this point. He's got some toddlers, so I mean, may eventually becomes a baby making machine.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Sarah:

Yeah. It's hard to keep track of so don't break your brain. It's okay. They, you'll know their names soon enough. Um, May's dad also mentioned that Eddie Lee said that he would get his chemicals from Detroit through the mafia.

Speaker 2:

Why would this I. Loser have a mafia connection.

Sarah:

I don't know. So this was in July of 1981. This conversation happens. Mm-hmm. Jump to May of 1982. There was a fire and sure enough, four of the children were home at the time with a babysitter.

Speaker 2:

Oh

Sarah:

yeah. The babysitter and the children all get out fine. And that's it. I don't really know what happens with the babysitter, who the babysitter was, but that's, that's it. So May's dad is the only one who reports this to the FBI and. Nothing comes of that, like Eddie Lee just, I don't know how it happens, but a lot of these things they just don't

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Follow through with. Yeah. I, the F fbi, I doesn't really handle like arsons of

Sarah:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

I mean maybe if the collected the insurance through some, you know, cross state lines through like a wire transfer somehow the FBI would get involved. We'd

Sarah:

have to prove fraud on the insurance though too. Yeah. And if there's really no physical proof, it's just one guy saying it. Yeah. Then I guess, yeah, it's a little too messed up or too, I don't know.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I know.

Sarah:

Alright, so that's Eddie Lee Sexton and May Sexton. Now, I can't seem to find the date that Eddie Lee and May got married, but they did get married in the like early seventies.

Speaker 2:

Okay.

Sarah:

After Eddie Junior was born. She really starts cranking them out. I have them listed here and I'm giving you the ages. They are in the early nineties.'cause that's where most of the story takes place. So we have Patrick, who is Bill's son. Yeah. He's counted in all of this. And in 1992, he's 24 years old. All right. Eddie Junior is 23. Then we have the first daughter who is Estella, which is her mom's name. So Estella goes by Pixie.

Speaker 2:

Pixie, yes.

Sarah:

So we have Pixie, who's 22 years old now. Pixie has two kids of her own. Dawn and Shasta.

Speaker 2:

Are they twins or No, they're just two little girls. Okay.

Sarah:

And then we have William, who's the fourth child, and he's 21 years. Then we have Sherry, who's the fifth child and she's 19. She also has a child, a son named Christopher. Then we have Michelle who also goes by Shelly, and then Charles, James Matthew. Michelle's 18, Charles 16. James 15. Matthew 14. I mean, may is like just going. Uh, Christopher is 13 years old. Lana is 12 years old and Kimberly is seven years old. So May finally got a little break, but she has kids that are 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 21. Like there's probably a lot of like 22, 23 Irish

Speaker 2:

twins in that.

Sarah:

Yeah. Yeah. It's

Speaker 2:

gotta be,

Sarah:

she just wasn't pregnant for so long. My god.

Speaker 2:

No. Room for dreams in there.

Sarah:

Oh,

Speaker 2:

just embryos.

Sarah:

If you lost, count that 17 people. That make up including children and grandchildren? Yes. Including every single person. 15 of them are all living in a house on Caroline Street in Ohio.

Speaker 2:

How big is this house?

Sarah:

It's very average size. Not big. There are two floors. I never saw the blueprint of the house, but it's, yeah, kids are sleeping in the living room. They're making space wherever. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

All right.

Sarah:

Now Patrick and Eddie Jr. Moved out when they turned 18, so they're not living in the home anymore. Okay. But everyone else is.

Speaker 2:

So the family's not like anti moving out then, unless the eldest two went against,

Sarah:

well, the oldest two are boys.

Speaker 2:

Okay.

Sarah:

And they moved out. I think that's the biggest thing.

Speaker 2:

All right.

Sarah:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Just compared to these like weird religious cult families around here that like have like a thing of five, six generations and you can't leave the household like those ones out in the thumb.

Sarah:

Oh, like they have like little compounds. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. It's, yeah. There

Sarah:

is a sexton compound in Florida that they go to.

Speaker 2:

Mm.

Sarah:

I, to

Speaker 2:

make sure what someone, those, the weird Christian cults, you know what I'm talking about? They always have like the whole generation living in one giant modified house.

Sarah:

Yeah. No, no, no, no. Okay. This is just a normal house. Okay. With all the kids, everyone living there and they just make due.

Speaker 2:

And it's not due to Christianity?

Sarah:

No. It's due to poor. Okay, cool. Yeah. Yeah. Just lack of funds for all of these kids. He gets social security checks, he gets disability checks. That's how he makes his money. And then like under the table jobs.

Speaker 2:

Okay.

Sarah:

All. We are going to jump into our main storyline now in the nineties. We have the background, we've got the setup, everything. We are going to start in the month of May, 1991. The

Speaker 2:

month of May.

Sarah:

Yes. Well, I wanted to say the month of May because we've talked about May Sexton a lot. Oh, yeah, yeah. You're welcome. Listeners. So in May of 1991, Michelle Sexton, who is 18 years old right now.

Speaker 2:

Mm-hmm.

Sarah:

She's a senior in high school and she tells her school counselor of her home life, um, the counselor would call the Department of Human Services or DHS and Social worker, Wayne Welsh is going to take this case.

Speaker 2:

Kinda surprised that she's a senior in high school. Surprised they're going to school and

Sarah:

Yeah, they do go to school. I'm like, yeah,

Speaker 2:

yeah,

Sarah:

yeah. All

Speaker 2:

right.

Sarah:

Now when Welsh gets there, he interviews Michelle and Michelle mentions how her dad has turned the family against her and makes her siblings ignore her, and that Michelle had to do most of the chores, the cooking, the cleaning, and taking care of the younger siblings. She had to be in bed by nine and wasn't allowed to leave the house or use the phone. She said that every morning her dad would give each of the kids one quarter and said to call him and tell him if they saw another sibling talking to someone else, a teacher, a friend. Anyone.

Speaker 2:

All right,

Sarah:

anyone. When Welsh asked more about her home life and how things were, she replied, there's only one way to do anything. There's only one way to think. That's Dad's way.

Speaker 2:

Okay, so it is like a. It's a little cult thing. It's becoming a cult of No, it is. That's why I

Sarah:

was kind of being weird with you asking. I'm like, eh, I mean, like, they didn't, they didn't make a compound or they didn't build on their house, but I just wonder

Speaker 2:

if they were one of these bigger movements that you hear that he's like, and it's not religion, the homes ruling. He makes up his own shit. Yeah. It's not like, it's not a part of a larger Pentecostal doomsday, but

Sarah:

they have the, he did do a cult. Like they are, their brains are washed. Yes. So that's all that happened with that interview. Michelle I think was probably terrified and got up the nerve and then didn't know what to say. Mm-hmm. So Welsh put it on the back burner even though nothing came of that interview, there were a few things dating all the way back to 79 19 80. In 1979, there were three anonymous referrals to DHS one from a relative of the Sextons, one from a professional at the hospital and one from a township police officer.

Speaker 2:

All right.

Sarah:

They all contacted DDHS hs. When the social workers spoke with the Sexton children, they claimed that everything was fine. There were some surprise visits from DHS to the home in 1979, and then again, there was a few more visits in 1983, but every time they came to the house, it was clean and organized to the DHS workers. They just looked like a large family that was just trying to get by. Mm-hmm. Yeah. One social worker even complimented Eddie Lee on his parental skills.

Speaker 2:

One way to make it easier to get by is not have 12 fucking kids. Yeah. That's one way to make the dollar stretch a little bar.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Sarah:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, look at this predicament of got myself into.

Sarah:

Then fast forward to 1989, there was another referral from the school after Sherry Sexton showed a classmate, her bruises from a beating that she received at home.

Speaker 2:

Hmm.

Sarah:

Wayne Welsh was the social worker on the case again. Yeah. And in 1989, when he knew of Sherry's bruises, he decided to start asking the older sister Pixie what happened, because Pixie seemed to be the one that the kids would talk to first.

Speaker 2:

And she's the eldest that's in the household.

Sarah:

She's the oldest in the household and the oldest daughter. Yeah. Yeah. and she would end up being their voice. They would go to her first and then she would speak for them. So he goes to Pixie. When the interview with Pixie was over, she didn't really give up anything. So then he moves on and interview Sherry and asks her like, who beat you? And she just said no one. And then the same day that Welsh interviewed Sherry, he finds out that Willie Sexton, their brother, who's a junior in high school, was a fire starter.

Speaker 2:

Mm-hmm.

Sarah:

He didn't do anything that day, but Welsh just took in that information. Yeah. Like, all right, I'm noting this. Okay. He's a pyro. Yeah. Yeah. again, there's still nothing illegal here. This is 89, nothing illegal And then we'll

Speaker 2:

check again in 10 years.

Sarah:

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. We're not gonna check up on you ever again, even though there's smoke. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

God.

Sarah:

Alright, so now we're gonna fast forward to 1992. Michelle did her first interview with Welsh in 91 when she was talking about being ignored. Now we're skipping forward a year she was being interviewed by Welsh saying that she was pregnant and that her family was trying to kill her baby. Michelle claimed to get pregnant by her boyfriend

Speaker 2:

mm-hmm. I was gonna ask who,'cause I know that there's grandkids.

Sarah:

Mm-hmm. We'll find out.

Speaker 2:

Okay.

Sarah:

Michelle said that her younger brother, James saw her and her boyfriend kissing, and then James tells Eddie Lee. Mm-hmm Eddie Lee then backhands Michelle across her face and James tried to kick Michelle in the stomach. This is when Sister Sherry steps in and yells at James saying, get out. You child killer. In 1991, Sherry was pregnant and Eddie Lee did not want her to deliver the baby. So he told James to kick Sherry in the stomach and she miscarried the following day. So James is like. Really the, the child killer in the family. He's the

Speaker 2:

abortionist of the family. The

Sarah:

abortionist. Yeah. Michelle told Wayne Welsh that there were four conceptions in four years from the Sexton daughters.

Speaker 2:

None carried to term,

Sarah:

right?

Speaker 2:

Hmm hmm.

Sarah:

Now I don't really understand legally what could be done at this point. The excuse I saw in the articles and things that I found was that Welsh was talking to Michelle, who was 18.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Sarah:

So he couldn't do anything unless she's not a child anymore. She wanted, but like, could she press any charges at this point? I guess not.'cause her younger brother punched her in the stomach. That's all Welsh knows.

Speaker 2:

And that's what she's alleging. I mean, and this happened sometime beforehand. Right, right. She's, I guess there's really nothing that have the medical, I'm assuming she's not still bearing no physical evidence and she's alleging her younger. Brother did, right? Younger. Yeah. James is

Sarah:

younger,

Speaker 2:

so I don't really, it could be done to no police.

Sarah:

Okay. Yeah. So we're not at the point yet where Welsh can really even do anything. Even though Welsh couldn't do anything, Michelle told him I, I'm too scared to go home. He did help her. He set her up with, the YWCA crisis program for women. Okay. So she's out of the house. She's outta the house. He takes her there and on the way Welsh convinces her to stop by the police station. Okay. And she writes a statement. She does not press charges, but she writes a statement

Speaker 2:

Okay.

Sarah:

That's a step. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. As a cop, I'd be like, what do you want me to do with this though? If you don't wanna press charge?

Sarah:

Turns out that the police were very aware of the Sexton family and they have a history of reports and visits to the house on Caroline Street.

Speaker 2:

I'm, yeah, I'm sure they do. They're probably a known boogeyman family. They're troublesome. Yeah.

Sarah:

Yeah. Yeah. A few things that they were called out for, back in the seventies, it was mainly just a bunch of little things like you were saying. Every cop seemed to know them. They, they were like a family that you knew. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2:

There's families like that in areas I cover. Mm-hmm. You just, yeah. the same last names were arrested every day for the pettiest shit. Can you just not shoplift and can you just not smash your girlfriend's car door? Can you just not do these things that you get arrested for all the time?

Sarah:

Yeah. Yeah. Now, in 1982 and 1987, there were major fires at the house.

Speaker 2:

Okay. That, that insurance thing. Yes. Right.

Sarah:

No, Eddie Lee reported a lot of burglaries that happened there he claimed once that a Coleman tent, like the brand Coleman, was stolen from their yard. He also filed a report that his house was broken into while he was on vacation and over$20,000 of items were stolen. Didn't have

Speaker 2:

$20,000 worth of items.

Sarah:

Exactly.

Speaker 2:

Why is he on vacation? For what? From not working

Sarah:

Well, if he's not around, how can

Speaker 2:

he blame him? I'm just, yeah. I mean, I get he has an, Ali's became an alibi, but in. Yeah.

Sarah:

However, though Eddie Lee, he gave the police a three page itemized list for the insurance

Speaker 2:

I can make a list of things I wish I had in my house.

Sarah:

It worked. I mean, I don't know how much he got, but this kind of stuff worked for him. Yeah. Like he claimed ridiculous things. He claimed an entertainment center was stolen worth$2,700. In today's money, that entertainment center would cost$6,300. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

And that's not even the tv, that's not the electronics itself. No. That's the furniture it goes in. Yeah. Bullshit.

Sarah:

There's no way. He also said he had four large brass eagles that were valued at$300 each today. That's$704 each. This was also in the early nineties, which feels a lot farther away now that I've done the price difference.'cause those are big jumps. Yeah. Fuck.

Speaker 2:

It's only gonna get worse folks. So ready for that. Hooray.

Sarah:

Eddie Lee, unfortunately, was very well versed in the law. That's how he could skirt around all of this, even if he didn't get as much as he wanted. He did usually get some money out of this. Yeah. And the police knew it. It was like one of those things where they couldn't prove it as a fact, but they knew it to be true.

Speaker 2:

Mm-hmm.

Sarah:

So they, they just didn't like the sextons, but they were just a, an annoying family to them. Yeah. Eddie Lee was great at scamming the system, getting government money, but he was also really good at getting everyone else's government money. If you received anything from the government, you were a target to Eddie Lee. And in early 1991, Eddie Lee called the police himself saying that his nephew was kidnapped at gunpoint by his brothers, the nephew's brothers.

Speaker 2:

Oh, okay. So his other nephews?

Sarah:

Yes.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Sarah:

When the police investigated, they discovered that the nephew was a 45-year-old mentally challenged man.

Speaker 2:

Okay.

Sarah:

And it was his nephew, but he's an adult. And Eddie Lee, somehow, became his legal guardian and was receiving his nephew's benefit checks. The nephew told the police that Eddie Lee was beating him and that his brothers came to rescue him. And that's done. They just let that go. Yeah. I don't know what happened there. Why did the police would've been helpful if's in the, the police reports The police

Speaker 2:

had called first and been like, Hey, we're going to rescue my brother because being, I'm sure guns were involved, I'm sure. Care caregiver and,

Sarah:

yeah. Caretaker, Sexton,

Speaker 2:

whatever. Yeah. Caretaker, caregiver. What?

Sarah:

And then there was also an issue with their neighbors, they were a retired couple husband and wife, taking care of their adult daughter who was mentally challenged at first. Everyone got along and everything was great, no big deal. But then the wife got cancer and she passed away. Soon. Eddie Lee was pushing his neighbor, giving him some advice to get some social security benefits for his daughter's disability because

Speaker 2:

Oh, she wasn't getting those already, right. He

Sarah:

wasn't doing that. Okay. So when the gentleman decided to look into it, he discovered, oh, wow. Yeah. I, I, I can get help a lot of money for,

Speaker 2:

I can get money for my daughter. Yeah. And now that

Sarah:

his wife has passed Yeah. And he's retired, like he probably needs a lot of extra help at this point. So he's grateful to Eddie Lee for this help.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Sarah:

Then the neighbor himself got cancer and Eddie Lee offered to become his legal guardian saying, I'll take care of you and your daughter. It'll be fine. The neighbor declined.

Speaker 2:

Good.

Sarah:

When he did decline, that's when Eddie Lee got mean. Some people would say, this is a feud. It's not. It's Eddie Lee harassing this man. Eddie Lee had his boys, climb the neighbor's fence and beat on his doors. They broke his windows, destroyed his tomato garden that he had with his wife. they stole his tools and they tried to light his garage on fire.

Speaker 2:

This old man should just wait in his windows with the rifle and just wait for him to come up and

Sarah:

pick him off. Oh, I never thought of that.

Speaker 2:

Like this clearly wasn't all happening at one time.

Sarah:

I don't know if it happens, like when he's asleep, when he is not there, if he's coming home to things like this. I don't know. Eddie Lee would file a police report claiming that his neighbor hit his kids with his car. And that's obviously a false report. Like they couldn't get anything on Eddie Lee. Like he's being so just an annoying human right now. Yeah. And the police can't do anything. That's not enough, I guess. Now their neighbor eventually was just scared to call the police because every time he did it would get worse. He'd call for one broken window. The next day there'd be two broken windows. The police just weren't fucking helping. Yeah. Whenever the police did show up though, Eddie Lee was really weird about it. He would stare out of his window at the neighbor and he would like tap on the window to make sure that they would look at him.

Speaker 2:

Okay.

Sarah:

One time Eddie Lee did come out and he approached an officer and he handed him his minister card and he said, I don't want trouble. I'm a man of God.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I got a minister card too. Yeah. It doesn't mean shit. Oh, you do? That's

Sarah:

right. If I have

Speaker 2:

a plaque, it's all framed and everything. Took me 10 minutes to get it.

Sarah:

And I mean, this isn't really relevant in the story, but he was at one point, a part-time preacher. Yeah. This is kind of where some of the culting has started. Who wasn't in those areas. Yeah. Yeah. on one call, an officer did go into the sex and household, and he looked around and he saw that it was filthy. It was not neat and organized like before. It appeared as if the carpet had never been cleaned. There were dirty dishes with old, menstrual stains on the beds or not dishes? Dirty sheets. Oh, okay. Sorry. On the

Speaker 2:

dishes. I didn't

Sarah:

mean to say dishes.

Speaker 2:

Eating it. What?

Sarah:

I know, I know. I saw two words. Yeah. And I put them together. This microphone kind of covered it.

Speaker 2:

Menstrual blood on the dishes.

Sarah:

Oh, the fine China. Oh, maybe I needed that break of a joke there. Yeah. Whew. There were dirty sheets with old menstrual stains on the beds, and there were also crusty towels in the bathroom. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So the officer tells DHS about this. He's like, Hey, this is a really intense situation. Doesn't look so good. Sounds disgusting. Yeah. And DHS apparently said, we don't have enough manpower and didn't really look into it when another officer was called to the scene for something else. Eddie Lee greeted him in a wheelchair. Which he doesn't need. Yeah. He uses for fake shit. Did he have a a neck brace

Speaker 2:

on too?

Sarah:

Right? He claims to have diseases, to have ms to have whatever, just, but he does somehow get charity money from it. He does somehow get them to come in and rework his house and make it more accommodating for a wheelchair. Like, I don't know how he can convinces, like, does he not need a doctor's report to show a charity this? There's a Because he really got away with that.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Sarah:

That's not even in this story. I just, it's in my mind though, and it bothers me.

Speaker 2:

There's a local guy who's always riding around on his amigo except when he needs to stand up to commit a crime and it, it's, it's like he's on all these, security cameras. You know, leaving his amigo behind to, break into the store on foot, but then he flees in the amigo

Sarah:

yeah. Fuck. Yeah. Well, during this visit, Eddie Lee shows the officer a line on the palm of his hand, and he claims that only he and his daughter Lana, have it. This line somehow earns him a multi-million dollar deal with Burger King and Wendy's. We'll come back to that Burger

Speaker 2:

King and Wendy's. Yeah. And I wanna know what the cop is like when he is like, why are you showing me this? Mm-hmm. Why are you telling me this? What, what? Yeah,

Sarah:

the line. We'll get into it more. because right here the cop really does just kind of say, okay, I am done. But you find out that he thinks the line. The palm of his hand means that he's a future tron.

Speaker 2:

Oh, okay.

Sarah:

Yeah. We'll, we'll get into that. So, back to the neighbor who Eddie Lee is upset with his daughter, the neighbor's daughter's name is Kathleen. She's an adult daughter, like I said before, but she is mentally challenged. So Eddie Lee decides to target her.

Speaker 2:

Mm-hmm.

Sarah:

He tells his oldest son, which is his stepson, Patrick, who's 22 at the time, to flirt with Kathleen and to winter over. So Patrick goes over to Kathleen, they get along, he, gains her trust and they go to Kathleen's bank together when she withdraws$2,000 and gives it to Patrick. Now Kathleen has full authority over her bank account.

Speaker 2:

Okay. Yeah, it's legal.

Sarah:

Her dad didn't wanna take that away from her, he would get her disability checks and he would put them into her account and they'd always had a trusting relationship with that. All of a sudden she's$2,000 shy but there's nothing they could do. Mm-hmm. He was just really upset about it. So that's where that ends. Yeah. Okay. So now back to the main timeline where Michelle is with the social worker Welsh

Speaker 2:

Yes. 92.

Sarah:

Yes. And she just filed the report no charges, but she made a statement. Now The following day, Welsh picks up Michelle from the YWCA and takes her home to get some of her belongings.'cause she left just real quick. He stays with her of course, while they're at the house. Yeah. Even though Welsh is there, Eddie Lee is saying to Michelle, telling her to tell the truth and that he never hit them. And that it's all a misunderstanding.

Speaker 2:

It's always a misunderstanding. Yeah.

Sarah:

When Michelle was done gathering her things, she went back with Welsh and was united with a shepherding family. It's a program, it's basically a foster family. Oh, okay. It's like a different It's a religious program that she got into Christian, I think. Not

Speaker 2:

like literal people. No, no, no, no. Moving sheep along. No. Okay. That's happened like a shepherd family. I'll call it a

Sarah:

foster family. Just to ease it all. Yeah. Michelle did take a pregnancy test because she said she was pregnant at this time, and it came back negative. Hosanna. Yeah. We don't know. It's always

Speaker 2:

good news when her pregnancy test is negative.

Sarah:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Always.

Sarah:

Yeah. Yeah. I don't know why she thought she was pregnant. Maybe her periods are irregular because she's stressed as fuck. But either way, she's not pregnant. Thank the Lord. All right. And she's outta the house.

Speaker 2:

You can have a, what's called a hysterical pregnancy where it's like a psychosomatic, where you're, you believe you are, you legit believe you're pregnant. Yeah. And your body will adapt.

Speaker:

Oh, yeah.

Speaker 2:

And then the doctor's like, there's no, there's nothing There's going on. No, no, no. It's just, yeah. It's rare, but it happens.

Sarah:

Oh, yeah. Well, she was not pregnant, so there's that. Now, her foster family did mention some odd behaviors from Michelle. She would sleep under her bed, or she would huddle in her dark closet. Eventually Michelle admitted to her foster family that Eddie Lee raped her.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Sarah:

She still did not want to go to the police about it yet, because she believed that Eddie Lee had spies all over and that he had friends in the police department.'cause he told them that. Yeah. Yeah. Eddie Lee, he would also point guns at his kids and say A good snitch is a dead snitch. I mean, he terrified them.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Sarah:

Michelle had issues with her host family. She would throughout this period kind of swing between different homes. Yeah.'cause she just has a hard time with That's difficult acclimating. Yeah. You know, she doesn't know what to do. when she was placed with another family after a few weeks, Michelle was ready to talk to the police. Her story about her dad raping her, okay.

Speaker 2:

Yes.

Sarah:

Michelle said that one day her dad asked her to go for a ride and talk about her future and college Michelle was excited because she never got to go for a car ride. She never got to leave the house. When I say that, I mean literally never. Only to school and back. Mm-hmm. No car rides anywhere. No running errands with anyone. No stepping outside if he didn't say so. She's inside. All right, so when he says, come for a ride with me, she's like, yes. That's like a holiday. Yeah, let's go. Eddie Lee drove to a secluded lot and then slapped Michelle in the face and then forced her into the back of the van. He then ripped off her underwear, pinned her down, and raped his daughter. He told her if she said anything, that he would kill her. That's as detailed as I'm gonna get there. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Sarah:

Um, but that's what happened with Michelle. And the following morning, Michelle saw her dad kiss the two youngest daughters, Lana, who's 12, and Kimberly, who's seven. She said that she saw him kiss them inappropriately before school and that's what pushed Michelle to finally come forward.'cause she Yeah. Protect the younger siblings. Knew what they could go through now

Speaker 2:

yeah.

Sarah:

And that's usually how it goes if, you know, they don't, the older kids don't want the younger kids to go through what they did, and so brave for Michelle to come forward and finally say something. Yeah. That's how you find them. I've, yeah.

Speaker 2:

I've covered, I mean, not all of'em, but a lot of the stories with multiple siblings who have been Yeah. Sexually abused within the household. It's the first, the oldest one keeps it quiet until she learns. A younger brother or sister is also being subjected to it. And that's what, that's what breaks often compels them to report it. Yeah.

Sarah:

After Eddie Lee raped Michelle, he would tease her about being pregnant. Oh. He would waddle throughout the house like a pregnant woman and he would point to Michelle's belly and say, I know what's growing in there. Ugh. at this point though, He said it was okay for Michelle to have a boyfriend now. Yeah. Oh, okay. That was just, I mean, nothing comes of that. She obviously, you know Yeah. She wasn't pregnant you Yeah. Yeah. But that's how his daughters can have boyfriends, is that once he Yes. Has sex with them. Yeah. As Michelle continues to describe her home life, she mentions daily whoopins that they would get. the kids would go into their parents' bedroom and they would remove their pants and underwear. Then Eddie Lee would hit their thighs and bottoms with a switch. while May watched.

Speaker 2:

So, while Mei watched. Yeah. Okay.

Sarah:

So May knows what's going on. I know you were surprised earlier when I said the kids go to school, they go to school. That's it. Mm-hmm. There's no extracurriculars. They don't go to dances. They don't play sports band, nothing.

Speaker 2:

Okay.

Sarah:

The only dances they ever attended were thrown by their dad.

Speaker 2:

I was gonna say family dances. Yep. A lot of, uh, father daughter dances going on here.

Sarah:

Oh, yeah. He would gather the kids in the living room on Friday nights, turn on the radio and order them to dance as they danced. Eddie Lee would sit in his chair smoking cigarettes and just watch them. He would move the girls near the front. He would instruct them on how to move their bodies.

Speaker 2:

Jesus.

Sarah:

I know, God, this is so uncomfortable. As I was reading the book, I had to walk, like, get up physically and walk away from the book a few times. I think you saw me do that. Oh yeah. Like I was just like, all right, I need a break out of Shake it off. Oh my God.

Speaker 2:

Okay. Remember what songs they were dancing to? Early nineties pop? Was that contemporary music or,

Sarah:

oh, I don't know. I wanna know, don't, I don't want anything ruined for me. I, I don't know. And I'm not gonna say, and we don't need to know.

Speaker 2:

All right.

Sarah:

In March of 1992. Michelle is now staying at a women's shelter. So it's only been like a month-ish. Mm-hmm. when she's staying at a women's shelter, she goes missing. She is found outside, shivering. She ran away. Okay. But she didn't know where to go. She said she hated the shelter, so she moved in with an older woman she met from a safe house. Okay. Michelle would continue to hop around. And then in April of 1992, she did try to kill herself by taking a lot of pills and she needed her stomach pumped Also. Also in April of 92, DHS received another anonymous tip from a female relative of the sextons saying that Sherry was also raped and she feared for the youngest two daughters as well. Okay.

Speaker 2:

And DHS is like, we'll get to that next year.

Sarah:

Basically. Yeah. Like,

Speaker 2:

we'll look at it next year or so. I get,

Sarah:

I understand that there's not like a fire, a blazing right now, but there's something smoldering. I think there's more than smoke and like DHS police, they need to really be looking right now when they're not, While Michelle was hospitalized, she received a phone call from her older brother, Eddie Junior. He tells her if she talks, he would shut her up. So she's getting threats in the hospital. Yeah. This poor girl after receiving the anonymous tip Welsh was back on the case. He interviews the two youngest girls, but they didn't give him anything, I don't think I'm gonna say. Yeah. He then interviews Michelle again and she gives a little more information this time saying that Eddie Lee first molested her at the age of 12 and he tried to do more, but he couldn't get it in. Okay. Is what she said.

Speaker 2:

Lovely. Yeah.

Sarah:

Michelle also said that her sisters, pixie and Sherry have been having sex with their dad since they were 12.

Speaker 2:

Okay. So he's got a, an mo starting around age 12.

Sarah:

Yep. And then on April 16th, 1992, a judge agreed that this was enough for a pickup order.

Speaker 2:

Okay.

Sarah:

They would,

Speaker 2:

for all the kids or select,

Sarah:

they would take all of the kids out of the house. Okay. For 30 days. I mean, 17 and younger of course. Yeah. Yeah. Children. Yeah. Yeah. Only 30 days though, the judge said that they needed to gather stronger evidence in those 30 days or the kids would be returned home. Mm. So it's kind of like, you got a little time here. Yeah. You here, you got something, but you don't have enough yet. You

Speaker 2:

got a deadline. Yeah. You got a ticking clock.

Sarah:

The kids were saying stuff, but they were so like, just emotionless. They had what they call a sexton stare where they just stared off and disassociated and just had these blank, far off stairs.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Sarah:

Uh, yeah. So I think, see, I think

Speaker 2:

the burden of the proof in these situations, it should be on these parents to prove why they should get their kids back, not on the state to prove.

Sarah:

Honestly, like, yeah. Look at how they're behaving. Yeah. Look at that stare. Yeah. Look at them. Is that a healthy, happy child? Prove to me that she's happy and healthy right now. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

We have to prove they're being abused. Let's go look at the house. You should to prove that they're not being abused. Yeah. And I know the whole, you know, and so to proving guilty, but I'm not talking about a criminal law here. Yeah. Before someone's in prison. I'm talking about the safety of the kids and it's weird to me. It's always been weird to me that it's always deferential to the parents. Mm-hmm. It always like. We wanna keep the family together. Yeah. Why? If it's in a bad family. Mm-hmm. Why is that a goal? Yep.

Sarah:

Well, also, in the background of all of this too, I read some articles about just the culture of the early nineties at this time with this kind of stuff. And apparently there were like a handful, well they probably got sensationalized because it's like a haha, see it's not us. But there were a handful of young people accusing teachers of raping them, molesting them,

Speaker 2:

yeah. That's still what was going on.

Sarah:

And the students were wrong though. They, they did it for other reasons and it was like proven. So in the nineties there were a few of those things that happened. Yeah. And it seemed like all of the pedophiles were like, see, ha ha, we, it's not us. And I'm like, just because a few kids suck doesn't mean that you guys don't either. Like, come on. Like, anyway. I'd argue

Speaker 2:

that if a kid is accusing, even falsely accusing their parents or whatever of sexual assault. If there's a reason they're making that accusation and maybe the household should be broken up.

Sarah:

Yeah. Something's going on. Yeah. You have to look into it. A healthy

Speaker 2:

household won't have a child accuse their parent of sexual assault.

Sarah:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

It just won't.

Sarah:

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2:

So even if they're not sexually assaulting them and they're accused, she's like, where's that accusation coming from? Yeah. Yeah. Anyway.

Sarah:

That was a big sidetrack, but we're both really passionate about this. So anyway, While this is all going on, the kids are being taken away. Eddie Lee saying still, it's all a misunderstanding. And May is denying everything. Now, Sherry and Pixie, they're both adults.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Sarah:

And they both have children in the home.

Speaker 2:

DNA test. Those kids

Sarah:

well. They both have children though.

Speaker 2:

Oh yes. Yeah. So their kids are removed exactly as well. Okay. So

Sarah:

Welsh tells them you guys need to move out with your kids, or we're taking your children too. Yeah. Like no kids can live here.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Pick going with your kids or staying with your parents. Like a creep,

Sarah:

right?

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Sarah:

So Pixie decides to move out into an apartment, and we'll talk about this, with her boyfriend, Joel.

Speaker 2:

Oh, she really does have a boyfriend. Okay. Yes. Okay.

Sarah:

Okay.. So they move out together and then Eddie Lee tells Sherry to move down to Florida with his brother Dave. So there's Dave Sexton and Gene Sexton that live down in Florida, and they have three trailers, like a small little compound kind of thing. So

Speaker 2:

they're full Florida.

Sarah:

Oh yeah. Yeah. They live in like Swampy Florida. They moved from West Virginia

Speaker 2:

to Florida. Bought the trailers with them.

Sarah:

Yes. Yes. So Sherry takes her son down to Florida, goes there and Pixie moves out with her boyfriend

Speaker 2:

Just once I, with like a trashy company to like, we're moving to Vermont. Yeah, yeah. Come on. Load it up. We're going to Massachusetts. Like, why do you always go to the shitty swamp? I mean, obviously'cause it's

Sarah:

weather. Yeah. I'm guessing, but like Yeah. Cheaper to live too. New England's expensive as fuck. Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Well lower the property values by your presence.

Sarah:

Alright, I just wanted to break down a quick little timeline of things. Okay. And see if I'm going crazy. If I think that it's fast enough or not fast enough. I don't know. Maybe I'm wrong. Tell me. I'm not sure. The timeline from when Michelle first reported anything to when the kids were taken out of the Sexton home. Like the 1992 report. Mm-hmm. I'm not counting the 91'cause she really didn't say anything there. 66 days have gone by since Michelle first spoke up to the kids being picked up. Okay. Okay. Fair. 46 days since Michelle mentioned being raped

Speaker 2:

mm-hmm.

Sarah:

28 days have gone by since she reported all of this to the Jackson Police Department I don't understand what took so long. It a month after it's officially in the police's hands.

Speaker 2:

Yep.

Sarah:

A month of a girl saying my dad raped me, and he's got, uh, 12 other kids in there including, you know, grandkids and shit. Yeah. Like, he's got a lot.

Speaker 2:

I wish I could say that was an anomaly, but

Sarah:

is that pretty standard timeline for this kind of stuff? I mean, you can only speak on what you see. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

And obviously when we're talking about a different era and the That's true. Different, different police department and different

Sarah:

technology, even different, even different tech. Okay. Okay.

Speaker 2:

I mean, things have changed a lot since then. Like the, you know, like there's children advocacy centers that are like specifically for children, victims to go be interviewed by a professional as opposed to, you know, a hardened police detective who, you know, just tell me

Speaker:

what happened. Right? Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

They're, you know, they're taken to these centers, which are more like a, you know, conducive to a child friendly environment. Okay. A lot of things have changed. So things I would say at least, again, yes, from my, where I cover crime, things do move. Faster than that for an allegation of nature. This nature, so, okay. Yeah. I mean it does seem like a, there's no getting around that a month, a month-ish of after rapes are reported of minors. That seems ridiculous. Yeah. Yeah. Again, you wouldn't wait a month if someone was reported actively shooting their kids in the house. Yeah. Yeah. I just left the house. My dad shot my sister in the arm and yesterday he shot my son in the leg. And I know like, you wouldn't do that for physical violence, but like

Sarah:

what's the thinking on this? Like, oh, they can handle being raped a few more weeks, they've lasted this long. Like, what the fuck? Kind of thinking is that what happens? Sorry. I just hate when people don't take kids seriously. Listen to your children, mothers listen to your children. Mm-hmm. Anyway, um, that's where we're gonna end part one. Okay. We will. Dive into Pixie story in part two. Yeah. So we're gonna follow her a little bit, but Michelle was the first one that broke, out the first one that said anything, and the first one that stood up, so I wanted to follow her thread. Okay. but yeah, we'll start with Pixie next time. She's the oldest daughter, the oldest one still in the home we talked about how all of the kids needed to speak to her first. Um, yeah,

Speaker 2:

she's their times later, so to speak.

Sarah:

Yeah. She was referred to as her dad's eyes and ears, and she was daddy's girl. Oh, she was a favorite. So

Speaker 2:

she's like the favorite, like she's like the go-between on both sides. Like from the kids to the parents and from the parents to the kids that,

Sarah:

yeah, she's not really on the sibling side. Oh,

Speaker 2:

okay.

Sarah:

Yeah, it's weird. I couldn't do her and Michelle in one episode. Yeah. So we'll do Pixie next time and in the meantime. You can follow us on Instagram at borrowed bones podcast. Yeah. And please again, follow rate review us. Yeah. Yeah. Good. Do it. We will see you next week. Do it. Bye. Bye.

People on this episode

Head Shot

Sarah and Cole

Host

Podcasts we love

Check out these other fine podcasts recommended by us, not an algorithm.

Morbid Artwork

Morbid

Morbid Network | Wondery