child there knowing what happened. >> what was it like in there? >> it was hell. i was sexually abused. >> there? >> yes, sir. i felt like i was nothing. >> there were numerous concerns about abuse going on at this facility. my dad would pick a girl up by her neck, throw her to the ground. >> he would trip you and shove you. >> knock her out. >> yes, sir. >> i mean it. >> posted it to tiktok. >> knock her out. >> it just blew up. >> these allegations need to be looked into. >> how could i do this to my child. >> your parents deny everything. they say none of that stuff is true. >> what was going on was wrong. something needed to be done. hello and welcome to dateline. on the surface the circle of hope school appeared to be a refuge where so-called troubled girls could receive a christian education. but some students say behind closed doors they suffered abuse. their secret remained hidden in the shadows until an unlikely ally launched a courageous quest to bring it to light. here's keith morrison with broken circle. >> the sky is endless here at the edge of the california desert. it's her heaven. so far from the tree-tangled sky where she grew up. the woods of missouri and the yellow farmhouse where this story begins. her father's farmhouse. his school. do you love your dad? >> i do love my dad. >> are you afraid of him too? >> i'm scared of my dad. >> what a strange, strange thing to love the person you're afraid of. the father you're afraid of. >> it's because at one point in time i wasn't afraid of him. he wasn't what he is now. >> but she wasn't what she is now either. which is why she's come back all these years later to the woods and the old farmhouse at her dad's school. but we begin years ago and far away in a place called feris, texas where teresa tucker a single mom of three was no other word for it, desperate. it was about her middle daughter ashley. spiraling out of control. what were you worried about? >> drugs and just rebellion. very mouthy and so i didn't know where to turn. >> how old was she at the time? >> 16. >> on that december weekend in 2014, ashley was getting kicked out of yet another rehab. so teresa called her best friend, the pastor's wife for help. >> my pastor and his wife told us about circle of hope. >> circle of hope girls ranch and boarding school. it was in missouri on a farm. the students followed a strict regimen of chores and schoolwork and bible study. >> was it important to you that she go to a place where there was going to be some spiritual help? >> at this point i didn't really care. i just needed her to have help. >> there are hundreds of private residential facilities across the country promising to reform troubled teens. they range from it wilderness programs to therapeutic boarding schools to boot camps. and then there are those whose lessons derive from it a very particular religious point of view. circle of hope was run by a married couple boyd and stephanie householder. at the heart of their program. miss householder was a nurse and she was going to facilitate her medications and things like that. >> most important of all, perhaps, they had a free bed and could take ashley right away. for just $100 a month. to teresa it felt like a miracle of sorts. she signed a contract committing ashley to an 18 month stay. and then she said good-bye. the pastor and his wife drove ashley to missouri. >> what was it like for you on the trip to that place. >> my pastor and his wife kept telling me everything's going to be okay. >> what were your first impressions? >> when we first got there it was at night. it was really dark. >> there they were waiting. boyd and stephanie householder. >> they were nice. they were sweet. they were laughing. joking. okay, this is a really good place. i'm going to get help here. >> but as soon as the pastor and his wife left the householders changed. >> they went from smiling and laughing to just straight face and that was it. i mean they didn't show any emotions or anything. >> ashley didn't know why. she suddenly felt very afraid. and she stepped deeper into the farmhouse. into a world of fear. >> what was it like? >> it was hell. it was scary. you were alone. it was basically while you're in there it's survival. >> what was really happening at that ranch? tales of terror from the girls on the inside. coming up. >> they had girls scrubbing the floor with toothbrushes. >> unless you were physically laying in it bed to sleep you were standing and you were facing a wall. >> all day every day? >> all day every day. >> when dateline continues. lin ♪ ♪ have you always had trouble losing weight and keeping it off? 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[coughing] copd isn't pretty. i'm out of breath, and often out of the picture. but this is my story. ( ♪♪ ) and with once-daily trelegy, it can still be beautiful. because with 3 medicines in 1 inhaler, trelegy keeps my airways open for a full 24 hours and prevents future flare-ups. trelegy also improves lung function, so i can breathe more freely all day and night. trelegy won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. do not take trelegy more than prescribed. trelegy may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain occur. ♪ what a wonderful world ♪ [laughing] ask your doctor about once-daily trelegy for copd because breathing should be beautiful, all day and night. because breathing keith morrison: teresa tucker had dispatched her daughter to a religious reform school in a tiny community called teresa tucker had dispatched her daughter to a religious reform school in a tiny community called humansville, missouri. run by stephanie and boyd householder. teresa, did you have any idea what was happening in that place? >> no, i department. i didn't have no idea. >> amanda householder, however, did. knew that very well. boyd and stephanie are her parents. >> was your dad well suited to this kind of work? >> yes because he was a drill instructor. it was second nature to him to just put people in their place. >> before he'd started working in reform schools, boyd householder had been a marine. a trainer of marines. amanda had idolized her strong, commanding father. >> when i was like 2 or 3 i was a daddy's little girl. >> he'd take her for drives in his jeep, she said. listen to music together. but things began to change, said amanda when her mother persuaded the ex-drill sergeant to start going to church. there are many versions of christianity, of course. this one? >> do you remember what the sermons were like or what the preaching was like? >> a lot of the sermons were a lot based on fear and burning in hell for eternity. >> and some, she remembers, talked about how to discipline children. how to beat the sin out of them. >> it was to spare the rod spoil the child. >> it was through someone he met at church that amanda's dad got his first job at a christian reform school. boyd worked at agape. when amanda was 15 he decided to open his own school only this would be for girls. >> what was this place like? this physical house, the location? >> it was just a very run down homely place. >> she was sent there when she was in tenth grade. what had you been doing? committing crimes or something? >> i had never committed a crime. my mom found out that i had become sexually active and that i had tried marijuana for the first time. >> maggie drew arrived in 2007 when she was 15. >> nobody was smiling. i saw the girls and everybody was so quiet and i was like this is so dismal. what is this? >> maggie said the girls were afraid from the minute they woke up. >> it was immediately get up, hurry, hurry. get dressed. get downstairs. >> for bible study. and then chores. bizarre chores. >> they had girls scrubbing the floor with toothbrushes. they had the girls wiping walls down. they had us picking weeds in the middle of the heat all day. >> they would say, you know, the bible says this. the bible says that. no, that is your interpretation of the bible. that's not what the bible really says. >> but you'd talk back like that? >> no. no. no, no, no. it was yes, ma'am. >> why? >> because if we did we got punished. >> punishment. it's right here in the handbook. boyd householder promised to help reform especially difficult children by imposing biblical discipline. it didn't seem so biblical to her. >> he'd sit in his chair like this and be like pushups and they would start doing pushups and it would turn into him going up and kicking their hands out from underneath him. >> another punishment he called standing on the wall. >> unless you were physically laying in bed to sleep you were standing and you were facing a wall. >> all day every day? >> all day every day you'd have to eat like you'd be given one of those old school plastic 80s style lunch trays. i watched him walk past people on the wall and just hit their trays and their food would go everywhere. >> boyd householder denied that. said he didn't knock girls down while they did pushups either. but those weren't the only kind of stories we heard. we spoke to more than a dozen former students and three former staff members whose experiences at circle of hope span more than a decade and all of them told us that boyd householder didn't just subject his students to chores and pushups and other creative punishments. no, they said. he was physically abusive. >> he would go up behind a girl and grab them by the base of the neck behind their head like this like right up behind your ears almost and he would put a foot out and trip you and shove you, follow down and shove you with force face first. >> carpet, gravel, the floor of the chicken pen. didn't matter, said maggie. >> at that point he'd put his fist on the side of your head and one in the middle of your back so you couldn't get up. >> and there was more, said maggie. boyd ordered some of the girls to help. to put their weight on the students pressure points. and they did. >> it was like one of those things where it's like dog eat dog where if you don't fight your way to the top and do what you're told to do then it's going to come back at you. >> she found that out the hard way when she tried not to press too hard on the girl she was helping restrain. >> he dropped his knees on top of my elbows and once he did that and pushed his weight on top of me the girl then started screaming and he looked at me and told me that if she wasn't screaming like that once he let go of me holding her that i was going to be laying next to her until i [ bleep ] myself and said i needed to make decisions of whose side i was on. >> the householders told us they did restrain students when they were violent but never deliberately inflicted pain. and amanda? well, these girls were her age, some of them. could have been her friends. except amanda wasn't a student. and sometimes she was the one handing out the discipline. >> i know i had power trips. i know there were certain girls my dad favored over me and i didn't like them so i treated them poorly in the sense that i'd be like just push, give me 25. >> things she did she said things her father wanted her to do. whose side was amanda on? >> coming up. a stunning new allegation. >> i was sexually abused. >> there? >> yes, sir. >> when dateline continues. ne a slow network is no network for business. that's why more choose comcast business. and now, we're introducing ultimate speed for business —our fastest plans yet. we're up to 12 times faster than verizon, at&t, and t-mobile. and existing customers could even get up to triple the speeds... at no additional cost. it's ultimate speed for ultimate business. don't miss out on our fastest speed plans yet! switch to comcast business and get started for $49.99 a month. plus, ask how to get up to an $800 prepaid card. call today! keith morrison: on sundays, the students at circle of hope sometimes climbed into a bus on sundays the students at circle of hope sometimes climbed into a bus that drove them the 50 miles down highway 13 to a church with a towering white steeple. berean baptist church. the girls walked inside dressed in their sunday best and church smiles. the smiles were fake, said maggie. >> we did whatever we had to to make him happy. >> amanda watched it all. she knew, she said, what the students were hiding. how her dad treated them behind closed doors. what was it like to see your dad punishing other kids? >> i think that to me is the most traumatizing part, um, because to me it was just normal. >> amanda told us her dad had never spared her the rod, beating her regularly as a child. using his belt after church. but hearing the girls scream as they were being punished. >> when you think of souls burning in a lake of fire for eternity, that's what these girls sound like. >> and the screaming is especially hard to forget, she told us. because she helped her dad. >> as a 15-year-old i was forced to restrain the girls the same way my dad would. >> how'd that make you feel? >> i stopped. i refused to go when they yelled restrain. i would always say i have to make lunch or make dinner or i have dishes to do. >> did you ever tell your dad just go easy? >> i never had the guts. i never had the guts. >> when she was 15 she tried running away. failed. her father denied punishing her, but after that she said, things changed for her. >> i was put on the wall. every time my dad walked past me i was yelled at. couldn't use the bathroom without permission. i wasn't allowed to eat until my parents brought me food. i could not leave the wall outside my dad's office. >> just standing facing the wall. >> just standing facing the wall. >> how long? >> i think it was two months. >> amanda was not like the other girls. no one would pick her up and take her away. she counted the days until she was old enough to leave. and in 2009 when she was 17, she moved in with her grandma. then across the country to california. a new life. a fresh start. >> i had a really good job. i had my own apartment. i was doing everything a person does. >> even so, she wasn't quite ready to turn her back on her family. not yet anyway. in 2011 after a parent posted negative comments about the school online, it might surprise you who its loudest defender was. >> you were online defending your parents. >> i know. >> right? why were you doing that? >> i don't know other than i kind of felt guilty that it was my family and so any time that people would say something i just felt -- i didn't want my dad to go to jail. i don't know how to explain it. >> there were some stories she never heard back then. she never met ashley tucker. the teenager from feris, texas who arrived at the ranch in 2014. >> behind closed doors with just us kids, they were monsters. >> ashley said it was in that culture of fear that the worst thing happened to her. >> i was sexually abused. >> there? >> yes, sir. >> the boy was amanda's younger brother, she told us. he was 15 at the time. she said it happened while she was doing chores in one of the buildings on the farm. >> he walked over there, he grabbed me, he pushed me up against one of the walls and he actually ended up raping me right there. >> what happens to you when that's going on? >> i felt disgusting. i felt like i was nothing. i felt like i was never going to get out of that place. >> she told no one. copt tell her mom because she knew when she got calls from home someone was always listening. >> they would have their like their thumb over the little hang up button. >> but then a few months into her stay ashley took a chance. she told her mother that she was losing a lot of weight. >> when she told me that they hung up. so i call back, i'm like what's going on. oh, well she's being rebellious. put her back on the phone and that's when ashley said they're starving me. >> and the phone cut out again. teresa had heard enough. as soon as she could she got in her car and drove from texas to missouri to see for herself what was going on inside that yellow farmhouse. >> coming up. >> i'm not going to lie. i hated my mom. i hated her. i couldn't stand her. >> feel guilty? >> yeah. you know, how could i do this to my child. thinking i was helping her. >> when dateline continues. ne nexium 24hr prevents heartburn acid for twice as long as pepcid. get all-day and all-night heartburn acid prevention with just one pill a day. choose acid prevention. choose nexium. nexgard® plus helps you protect your dog from fleas, ticks, heartworm disease, and more... all in one delicious, monthly, soft chew. use with caution in dogs with a history of seizures or neurologic disorders. nexgard® plus: the one you want for one-and-done protection. detect this: living with hiv, craig learned he can stay undetectable with fewer medicines. that's why he switched to dovato. dovato is a complete hiv treatment for some adults. no other complete hiv pill uses fewer medicines to help keep you undetectable than dovato. detect this: leo learned that most hiv pills contain 3 or 4 medicines. dovato is as effective with just 2. if you have hepatitis b, don't stop dovato without talking to your doctor. don't take dovato if you're allergic to its ingredients or taking dofetilide. this can cause serious or life-threatening side effects. if you have a rash or allergic reaction symptoms, stop dovato and get medical help right away. serious or life-threatening lactic acid buildup and liver problems can occur. tell your doctor if you have kidney or liver problems, or if you are pregnant, breastfeeding, or considering pregnancy. dovato may harm an unborn baby. most common side effects are headache, nausea, diarrhea, trouble sleeping, tiredness, and anxiety. detect this: you could stay undetectable with fewer medicines. ask your doctor about dovato. hi, the hour's top stories. israel saying they rescued four hostages during a raid in gaza who had been kidnapped by hamas during the nova music festival on october 7th. officials say more than 200 palestinians were killed by air strikes nearby. marking one of the bloodiest single days in eight months of war. a giant general mouse invasive species of spider is making its way up the east coast. the joro spider has got an lot of attention on social media. scientists say they're nothing to worry about comparing their bite to a bee sting. for now back to dateline. welcome back to dateline. i'm craig melvin. ashley tucker said she suffered physical and sexual abuse while attending the circle of hope school. during a call she believed was monitored, ashley informed her mom that she was being starved. teresa immediately hit the road to bring her daughter home and alert the authorities. what happened next would leave this distraught mother stunned. back to keith morrison with broken circle. >> teresa tucker left her texas home before dawn to reach her daughter's school in rural missouri. ashley, she was sure, was in trouble. teresa had never laid eyes on circle of hope girls ranch before. >> when we pulled up i was astonished like wow, this is it? >> she'd been so desperate to find ashley somewhere safe she'd sent her there on blind faith. she didn't like what she saw. >> so when ashley came i seen her. >> take a deep breath. >> she had lost so much weight. she looked real sick. so i hugged her and told her we're going home. >> but before they left, said teresa, boyd householder handed her this document. >> i had to sign a paper that officially stated she was not sexually abused and she was not physically abused there. >> what a curious thing for a person to have you sign. >> right. >> did ashley tell you on the way home what she'd been through? >> it was a very long eight hours. >> i told her basics. i didn't really go into detail. it was too hard. >> the householder's son denies ashley's story of rape. she told us as awful as it was, she considers him a victim too. of the world he grew up in. she was, at the time, less forgiving of her own mother. >> i'm not going to lie, i hated my mom. i hated her. i couldn't stand her. i couldn't stand looking at her. >> feel guilty? >> yeah. you know, how could i do this to my child. thinking i was helping her. >> teresa did not want it happening to anyone else. ashley begged her, don't report the alleged rape and so she didn't. but teresa did call child protective services and told them about ashley's other allegations of physical abuse. >> they stated that they were going to go out and check the facility and all that. once they got back with me they stated that they didn't see anything, there was nothing they could do. >> teresa contacted the sheriff's office too. same story. nothing happened. what teresa didn't know was that she was far from the first or only person to make a complaint to authorities about the circle of hope. a mother told us she reported the school the year after it opened and as time went on police records show more relatives and students told stories of abuse. about a girl covered in bruises. a run away who said she'd been choked by boyd householder and four years later another run away who said boyd had grabbed her by the throat. and several times child protective services went out to visit, except. >> i was told if i said anything negative that my life was going to be made miserable. >> boyd coached the girls before they talked to cps investigators. they were sure he was listening, she said. eavesdropping from his office on the other side of the wall. >> i remember being asked like are people being starved and i was like no. i was literally terrified about what would happen to me if i was going to start being the person that was starved next because nothing ever came out of these. >> amanda told us her parents had another way of handling investigators too. >> i was told when cps came down stairs to take the girls outside and basically hide the girls from cps. >> you hid the girls from the authorities who would check on whether or not they were okay? >> yes. >> you know your parents said they had an open door policy with cps that they could come any old time. was that not the case? >> cps could come in but like i said i had to hide them. >> amanda's parents denied that. said they never hid students from cps. they said they told the girls to be honest with investigators. in any case, none of the reports ever resulted in any action. the school prospered and parents like teresa had no way of knowing about the complaints over the years. >> we have no regulations on any religious facilities in the state of missouri. >> none? >> none. none. not at all. >> keri ingle is a missouri state representative and former social worker. >> do these places even have to register with the state? >> no. we have no ability currently to even know about their existence. so i couldn't even tell you how many of these institutions exist in the state of missouri. >> they're invisible. >> correct. until something bad happens. >> and it's not just missouri. a 2021 nbc news investigation found gaps in regulation around the country with at least 21 states that did not require religious boarding schools to tell their education departments that they exist. so who is looking out for these kids? >> currently? >> yeah. >> i would say that there's been a lot of buck passing. >> systems once entrenched, cruel ones especially, can seem unbeatable. impervious to change. and then one little thing like the first crack in a dam. >> coming up. fresh allegations of abuse from boys. >> i'd watch him grab students and chuck them into a wall. grab them by the neck and slam them on the rocks outside.. >> when dateline continues. lin m becomes a pursuit. and with vitiligo, the pursuit for your pigment is no exception. it's time you had a proven choice to help restore what's yours. opzelura is the first and only fda-approved prescription treatment for nonsegmental vitiligo. proven to help repigment skin over time. restoring what's yours. it's possible with a steroid-free cream that you can apply yourself. opzelura can lower your ability to fight infections including tb or hepatitis b or c. serious lung infections, skin cancer, blood clots, and low blood cell counts occurred with opzelura. in people taking jak inhibitors, serious infections, increased risk of death, lymphoma, other cancers, and major cardiovascular events have occurred. the most common side effects were acne and itching where applied. repigmentation is possible. ask your dermatologist today about starting or refilling opzelura. pursue it. ♪ you're the one that i want ♪ nexgard® combo is the only monthly topical that protects against fleas, ticks, tapeworms, and more. use with caution in cats with a history of seizures or neurologic disorders. nexgard combo,... ♪ you're the one that i want ♪ ...the monthly one-and-done you want. everybody wants super straight, super white teeth. they want that hollywood white smile. new sensodyne clinical white provides 2 shades whiter teeth and 24/7 sensitivity protection. i think it's a great product. it's going to help a lot of patients. diabetes can serve up a lot of questions. like what is your glucose and can you have more carbs? 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>> i was constantly getting hit up by girls that left circle of hope telling me about what was going on and i didn't want to hear it any more. i was just -- >> didn't want to know. >> yeah. >> there are some things you cannot escape. >> in 2016 or 17, i got a message from a girl who i had never heard of. and in the message she's telling me my dad raped her. and i'm like no. >> and yet, the message made her think back to a letter written years before. the words of another angry student. >> i was there when my dad got this letter and it basically accused my dad of molesting her. and at that time i was like, that didn't happen. like i know my dad. that didn't happen. >> that letter writer was maggie drew who'd come to circle of hope at 15 and stayed for five years. boyd said it never happened. but now all these years later amanda needed to know. had maggie been telling the truth. >> and she said i know you have no reason to lie to me, like just be honest. >> maggie who had never told her story to police told amanda how boyd had groped her in his private office she turned 18. >> and he'd grab my butt or grab my boob from the side and he started trying to kiss me. >> amanda was devastated. she hadn't always agreed with how her dad ran the school, but this was worse than anything she'd imagined. she apologized to maggie for not believing her all those years ago. >> you're okay. >> i know. >> you're okay. >> i'm glad you wrote the letter though. i'm really glad because that letter is how i started just thinking. >> amanda started thinking about all of it. how her parents had raised her. what she said she saw them do to the children at circle of hope. >> it wasn't until i had my own kids that i realized what was going on was happening to other peoples kids. >> and she wanted to make things right. she and maggie decided to track down the girls of circle of hope, as many as they could. listen to their stories. ask if they were okay. >> it was a big thing for a lot of them to honestly in a safe space speak their truth. >> it wasn't just kids at circle of hope who had stories about her father. amanda began hearing from former students of agape, the boys religious reform school where her dad used to work. colton remembered him very well. >> i'd watch him grab students and chuck them into a wall. grab them by the neck and slam them on the rocks outside. >> boyd denied that. but amanda listened and remembered her childhood at agape. watching boys being dragged off to a room known as the padded palace. >> when you open the door it would go into a weird dark carpeted room. that was the restrain room. all you would see is later these boys were being drug back down from this room and they're all bloody and bruised. >> we talked to a dozen former agape students and four former employees who told us they witnessed staff mistreating kids over a number of years. agape did not respond to our requests for comment. on its website it states its staff doesn't participate in corporal punishment. they have all been trained in proper restraining techniques. colton insisted he was beaten there. years ago and tried to report it to a sheriff's deputy who picked him up. >> i tried to tell him like man, they're beating us and he didn't listen. cuffed me up, put me in the back of the car and dropped me off back at agape. never saw cps. nothing. >> and the cop didn't believe you. >> no. >> agape, like circle of hope was seen in the community as doing good work. helping troubled kids. amanda said it wasn't unusual to see deputies hanging out at circle of hope. sometimes doing target practice with her dad. maggie said boyd boasted about it. >> they had ties with all the cops in the area. we ran away or said anything we'd be immediately brought back and nobody would believe us. >> it was hard for amanda to imagine they would listen to her now. hard to understand how her dad's school continued to operate. in 2018, investigators from missouri's department of social services issued two findings of abuse against amanda's dad. one for physical abuse and one for sexual abuse. but remember, the religious school wasn't registered with any state agency. there was no license to suspend. no agency to go shut it down. >> this facility continued to operate. is, i mean it flies in the face of everything we know about child welfare policy. >> so girls kept arriving at circle of hope. what could amanda do? and then, a few unguarded seconds caught on tape. and that dam with the crack in it gave way. >> coming up. >> knock her out. >> yes, sir. >> i mean it. >> the tiktok video that triggered a fire storm. when dateline continues. when dateline continues. [coughing] copd isn't pretty. i'm out of breath, and often out of the picture. but this is my story. ( ♪♪ ) and with once-daily trelegy, it can still be beautiful. because with 3 medicines in 1 inhaler, trelegy keeps my airways open for a full 24 hours and prevents future flare-ups. trelegy also improves lung function, so i can breathe more freely all day and night. trelegy won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. do not take trelegy more than prescribed. trelegy may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain occur. ♪ what a wonderful world ♪ [laughing] ask your doctor about once-daily trelegy for copd because breathing should be beautiful, all day and night. choose advil liqui-gels for faster, stronger and longer-lasting relief than tylenol rapid release gels because advil targets pain at the source of inflammation. so for faster pain relief, advil the pain away. nexium 24hr prevents heartburn acid for twice as long as pepcid. get all-day and all-night heartburn acid prevention with just one pill a day. choose acid prevention. choose nexium. keith morrison: amanda's dad, boyd householder, the man she once idolized, is now a man she amanda's dad. boyd householder. the man she once idolized was now a man she was determined to shut down. if cps and the police weren't going to do t amanda decided, she'd fight back her way. this soft spoken daughter went where she knew people talk the loudest. social media. tiktok. >> if you ever suffered extreme abuse due to spare the rod spoil the child. >> a platform known more for its stunts and jokes than what she had in mind. >> i want you to know that i tee you survivor. >> she posted interviews with former students. answered strangers questions. >> no, i do not. i absolutely do not regret it. >> assembled her case against her parents. day after day. >> we need to let the whole united states know what boyd and stephanie are capable of. >> and millions noticed. especially after she posted this. a 21 second video recorded by a family friend inside circle of hope on his cell phone. >> knock her out. >> yes, sir. >> i mean it. >> the voice you can hear is boyd householder's. he's telling his students to hit one of the other kids. >> knock her out. >> yes, sir. >> and that goes for any of the rest of you. if she clenches her fist like she's going to hit you, that's a threat. knock her out. >> yes, sir. >> knock her out. what's it like to hear that? even now. >> hearing his voice in that tone made me sick to my stomach. but seeing the video, i felt like i was right back at their house. that scene is exactly what happens every single time. my mom is in the background like nothing is going on playing with her dogs like oh you cute little thing and my dad is just going off like nothing. >> yes, sir. yes, sir. >> all of the little yes, sirs. if you don't say yes, sir, you can be slapped across the face. you have to say yes, sir. >> wow. >> knock her out. >> 21 seconds that struck a nerve. >> i was floored by the amount of support and like sharing and viewing that was like from the tiktok video. and i was like, they're listening. people are actually listening to us for once. >> including a sheriff's deputy. after watching the video, he messaged amanda. there are some people that want to help. >> these girls deserve to have their complaints investigated properly. >> that deputy's boss is cedar county sheriff james mccrary. >> what was it about the tiktok video that struck such a nerve? >> well the allegations, some of the allegations were pretty serious. >> serious enough the sheriff said to launch a brand new investigation. his deputy went back and compiled all those years of complaints that had never gone anywhere. amanda connected him with former students and staff. he put together a case file. >> is that a fairly thick file? >> yeah, it's about five inches thick probably. >> are you seeing a pattern of behavior on the part of the people running that particular school? >> well it seems to be that way, yes. having said that, i think we need to be patient and see where this investigation takes us. >> the sheriff's investigation was just the beginning. in august 2020, authorities removed two dozen girls from the school. two weeks later state investigators descended with their own search warrant and soon after missouri's attorney general agreed to assist the local prosecutor with his investigation. why did it take so long? >> you know over the years we took several of the reports, the complaints to the prosecutor's office. >> any idea why they didn't proceed with any, you know, any further action? >> my belief and what possibly occurred is some of the alleged victims may have been afraid to tell us what was going on. >> if anyone thought that the sheriff's department was somehow protecting these schools when it knew that things were happening in there that wasn't good for these students, if somebody thought that would they be wrong? >> they would be wrong, yes, sir. >> finally in september 2020, amanda got the news she'd been hoping for. her parents shuttered circle of hope for good. >> how'd it feel to you to see girls were being pulled out of a place and eventually it was closed down? >> happy. >> what does it say to you that it takes a tiktok video to finally get authorities to move to protect children? >> it tells me that the system is very flawed. >> something representative keri ingle tried to fix. she introduced a bill requiring religious schools to register and be held accountable if they're found abusing kids. in july 2021, missouri governor mike parsons signed the bill into law. several of the householder's former students sought accountability too. five jane does filed civil lawsuits against boyd and stephanie householder. two accused boyd of sexual assault. in a written statement the householders told us the great majority of their hundreds of students benefited from what they called their christian- based discipline program and school. while they denied liability, the couple settled the complaints for an undisclosed amount. in march of 2021, boyd and stephanie householder were both arrested. the missouri attorney general's office filed more than 100 criminal charges against them. boyd himself faces nearly 80 felony charges. including multiple counts for statutory rape and sodomy. they have both pleaded not guilty and are awaiting trial. as for one of their most vocal critics, their daughter amanda. the householders told us they'd been estranged from her since 2014. >> your parents did an interview to one of the local papers. they said you are addicted to drugs, that you're a satan worshiper. what do you say to things like that? >> when i turned 18 and i was on my own i did experiment with drugs. i'm not going to lie. when i had my kids that changed. >> one of the things said in the newspaper article was people who are complaining about the school they've been failures in their lives and you're a failure in your life and you're blaming them. you need somebody to blame. >> i may not be successful in the sense that i am a millionaire, but my kids are happy. my kids don't have to fear me. to me i'm successful. >> and she told us she's not done speaking out. in the fall of 2020, she led a march to the gates of agape, the boys school where her dad worked years ago. >> it's time that we bring awareness to agape. >> awareness, yes. and accountability too. in 2022, the missouri department of social services said it substantiated multiple allegations of physical abuse against the school's former director. no criminal charges were filed. three staff members also pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault charges. another employee, a school physician, is facing child sex crime charges. he pleaded not guilty. finally, in january 2023, agape announced it was closing its doors. a school spokesperson said the decision was voluntary and due solely to a lack of finances. it's been painful, amanda told us, this reckoning with her father and her own past. she said she hopes it mattered for former students like ashley tucker. ashley kicked her drug addiction and plans to become a paramedic. she's a mother herself now. and calls her daughter her angel. >> now you know how your mom felt about you. >> yeah. now i realize that, you know, she was you trying to help me. >> amanda does not expect to reconcile with her parents any time soon. >> do you miss them at all? >> i miss what i wanted to have happen. like what i -- i would never go back, but i think what i'm trying to say is i just miss something i never had. >> what she has instead is a cause to help those kids she once knew. and the others coming after them and to forgive herself as well. >> that's all for this edition of dateline. i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. ank you i'm andrea canning, and this is "dateline." vehe had gone off the road into this creek bed. >> they tetold me this vehicle had gone off the road intohis creek bed. >> she's got severe injuries to her head. >> little did you know the mystery that was about to

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