Genie--Feb 3, 2009-Genie Wiley
Susan Wiley, (b 18 Apr 1957), daughter of Clark Wiley and his wife Irene, the famous case of the "feral child" called "Genie" by a few scientists, who was raised under severe conditions until she was 13 years old. She was kept isolated in a back bedroom, locked in a bed surrounded by chicken-wire at night and strapped to a potty chair by day. She couldn't walk normally, couldn't speak and had abnormal reactions, such as the inability to chew food, compulsive silence and inappropriate sexually behavior.Susan Wiley
Why this article?
I had writen on the David Pelzer article and from a mention there, I became curious to do an article about "Genie the Wild Child". Here is what I found out quickly and what you probably knew before you arrived here, which I summarize as:
"Genie" was a child who was kept virtually a prisoner, almost her entire life, by her parents somewhere in the Los Angeles area. Her parents isolated her, penned her up at night and tied her sometimes during the day, malnourished her stunting her growth, and never spoke to her. She never attended school, only being allowed outside rarely. She never learned to speak. She was found in 1970 age 13, her parents were charged, her father committed suicide. She was studied and helped to learn some language skills, her case was remarkable and exciting, as it could finally answer unanswered questions about language development. After four years the funding and the studies ended. She briefly went back under her mother's care, but then was placed in a series of foster homes, and is still living somewhere in Los Angeles in an assisted living home.
Like you, these details repeated over and over, on various websites, were not satisfying to me. I wanted to know more. What were her parent's names? Was her mother convicted? Did her father leave a suicide note? What about her grandparents, what did they know or do? Various postings online claim that her real name has been kept private. I had thought that was because documents were sealed, but as you see shortly, I was wrong. At the time she was found, all the details were reported widely, all across the country. And now I'm going to tell you.
Finding Susan Wiley
Susan aged about 14?
Credit: / "Genie's" situation was discovered in 1970. Susan's mother Irene had recently left her abusive husband and, taking her daughter Susan with her, was living with her own mother in Monterey Park, California. John Wiley, Susan's brother, was living with their father Clark in the family home in Temple City, California. About a month after she left Clark, Irene being nearly blind, went to seek public assistance for the blind, bringing Susan along with her. One version states that an alert social worker spotted the oddly walking and behaving child, alerted her own supervisor who called the police. A second version states that Susan's abnormal background was not discovered until a social services home visit on Nov 4, 1970. Shortly after the real reason for Susan's unusualness was discovered, both Clark and Irene were arrested and charged with Felony Child Abuse.
A 17 Dec 1970 article "Felony Charge Dismissed in Wiley Child Abuse Case" on page 23C of the Valley News of Van Nuys, California gives her name as "Susan". It repeats her parents names as above and adds that she had a brother or half-brother named John Wiley, calling him "Clark's son". In this same article, Irene is called "of Alhambra, California", although their home is described as being "in Arcadia". In 1970, in the Los Angeles suburb of Arcadia. Susan "Genie" was taken into protective custody.
Susan Wiley: The Full Biography
Clark Wiley and Irene Oglesby married, probably somewhere in California, sometime between 1937 and 1948. Irene had come to California with her parents Robert Oglesby and his wife Beatrice from her birthplace of Altus, Jackson County, Oklahoma. Clark Wiley did not like children. In fact he disliked them intensely. Clark and Irene had four children altogether, but certainly one of, and probably both of, the first two had died at Clark's hands.
Their first child Dorothy Irene Wiley was born 2 Jun 1948 in Los Angeles County. She developed some sort of typical childhood illness, so Clark wrapped her in a blanket and put her in the drawer of a dresser in the garage. She died. Their second child Robert Clark Wiley was born 15 Sep 1949 and died 17 Sep 1949 "choking on his own mucus" as it has been reported. When their third child John Gray Wiley was born 11 Mar 1952, he initially lived with them apparently, but when John was about four, Clark's mother Pearl, believing that Clark was unbalanced, took John to live with her. Two years later, on 29 Dec 1958 while Pearl and John were outside together, Pearl was killed by an "out of control pickup truck" and dragged down the street.
At this time, John went back to live with his parents. Meanwhile, Clark and Irene had had their fourth and final child Susan M Wiley born 18 Apr 1957 inLos AngelesCounty.-----
The picture on the far-left shows Dorothy Irene (Oglesby) Wiley with her two surviving children John and Susan "Genie". The side-by-side photo is of that son John Wiley today. The original photo is at the ABC news article linked below in Sources.
-----
The teen-aged driver who killed Pearl was never charged in the incident, which apparently sent Clark even further off the deep end. He blamed his son John for the death of his "beloved mother Pearl"
At this time, the family moved into Clark's deceased mother Pearl's old house on Golden West Avenue in Temple City, California. Although the house had two-bedrooms, Clark did not allow anyone to sleep in his mother's old room, instead the family had makeshift sleeping arrangements in other parts of the house. Clark had been told something along the lines that Susan was perhaps slighty retarded and might develop slowly and developed a strange compulsion that she must be "protected" from the outside world. Clark's idea of protection was to keep Susan shut in her bedroom most or all of every day, and tied into a straitjacket at night. She was also sometimes or often tied to a potty-chair and left that way for hours, all day, or even perhaps overnight at times.
Susan still wore diapers, couldn't talk, and was fed a substandard diet which stunted her growth. Her unusual diet consisted of "warm cereal, honey, milk and an occassional egg". (so reports the 18 Nov 1970 Arcadia Tribune) It has been reported that when found she weighed 59 pounds and was the size of a 7 to 8 year old. From years of confinement, her muscles had not developed normally, which caused her to walk in a peculiar way. "Susan is only now learning that there are other people in the world."
The family were described as "strange people who kept to themselves." "They never went anywhere, and never took the children anywhere." "They never talked to anybody. Sometimes I saw the child sitting on the porch, I always understood that she was mentally retarded." Both Irene and John have stated at various times that they were terrified of Clark and his bizarre behaviour. John has reported that Clark often sat with a gun in his lap.
Around October of 1970, Irene estraged herself from her husband and taking Susan, went to live with her own mother, Mrs Beatrice Oglesby, in Monterey Park. (So reports page 6 of the 22 Nov 1970 Arcadia Tribune, She went seeking assistance for the blind but ended up at a Social Services office where an alert worker, seeing this very odd looking and behaving child with Irene, notified her superior who alerted the police. Clark and Irene were arrested in November, 1970 and charged with Felony Child Abuse for keeping Susan virtually a prisoner, almost her entire life.
John Wiley, had been allowed to go to school and he appears in the Temple City High School year book for one year, but after the story broke, he declined to have a picture taken.
The initial social worker on the case recommended on 5 Nov 1970, that Susan Wiley "Genie" be removed from her parents and made a dependent ward of the state. Susan Wiley "Genie" had a state appointed attorney and advocate named John Miner."Just before he was due in court to be arraigned for child abuse, [Clark] shot and killed himself", as the Valley News reports, adding that he was 70 years old, and killed himself on Nov 20. The article also states that Mrs. Wiley is 50 years old. The trial against Irene continued until 15 Dec 1970 when Judge Peter S Smith in Alhambra Municipal Court dismissed the charges against her. "Smith, in refusing to send the case to Superior Court for trial said there was 'no question of what has happened to this child,' but 'I can't see the Superior Court judge or jury, convicting this woman.'" (so reports the 16 Dec 1970Arcadia Tribune
Susan "Genie" lived first at the Children's Hospital, but scientist Jean Butler stating that she had exposed her to German measles, took her to her own home in quarantine. Genie lived there while other investigators like Susan Curtiss were denied access to her, and Jean applied to be her foster parent. Her application was denied. Susan Curtiss has stated that Jean made-up the idea that she had German measles because she wanted Susan all to herself.
Shortly afterward, Susan "Genie" was placed as a foster child with David and Marilyn Rigler, in 1971. David was a psychologist at Children's Hospital, and Marilyn was a graduate student in human development, who would become Genie's first teacher. Meanwhile, Victoria Fromkin (1923-2000), a professor of linguistics at the University of California at Los Angeles, was working on a linguistics program for the child with two associates, Susan Curtiss and Stephen Krashen.
"Garnered by the Tribune [Arcadia Tribune (Arcadia, CA)] was the 1971 First Place award for Best Individual Spot News Reporting of all weekly newspapers in the state. The award was given for stories and photos in the tragic circumstances of Clark Wiley and his wife who were charged with child abuse in the alleged imprisonment of their 3-year-old [sic] daughter Susan in their Arcadia home throughout her life. Stories were written by Tribune Editor Dick Lloyd and writer Bob Brown with photos by Louis Nunez, and centered on Clark Wiley who took his own life minutes before he was to have appeared in court on the charges, his son John who was waiting outside for his father to come out for the drive to court, and interviews with friends at the scene and County Social Services officers who were watching over Mrs. Wiley. Comments of the CNPA Better Newspapers Contest judges were: 'Spot story met deadline with detail, depth and photo. Top story, commanding local and national attention, was augmented by fast breaking developments, all covered excellently by staff members." (so reports the 13 Feb 1972 Arcadia Tribune Susan Wiley "Genie the Wild Child", lived with the Riglers and their children in their home near Children's Hospital for about four years. Susan's life with the Riglers ended when the National Institutes of Mental Health denied continued payment for the study of Susan "Genie".
At this time she went to live with her mother, who having been acquitted of all charges and following cataract surgery, now wanted to take care of her. But Irene found it too difficult and so Genie was moved to the "Beatrice Mansfield family home" in 1975. She was placed with the Crocketts about 1977. Susan's mother Irene Wiley appears in one of these documents dated Jan 1974. And again Irene signs an authorization form in Jun 1975.
/ Susan Wiley was also placed either for training or foster care at ImmaculateHeartCollege 1973, the "SophiaTSalvinSchool" 1973-1974, "DianeSLeichmannSchool" 1974-5, and the LincolnSchool 1976-7.The picture at the left shows Irene Wiley and Susan Wiley "Genie" in 1989.
In 1979, Irene Wiley, filed a lawsuit against "Hansen, Rigler, Kent, Curtiss, and Children's Hospital of Los Angeles" charging them with "excessive and outrageous testing.... [Claiming] the researchers gave testing priority over Genie's welfare, pushing her beyond the limits of her endurance." The mention of the lawsuit appears in an article in the Los Angeles Times, dated 18 Mar 1979 "Retarded Girl Used for Profit, Suit Alleges", by Myrna Oliver. A photograph of the article appears in the BBC documentary on this case here in Part 6. If you stop the tape at time 3:30 you can read that the article states "...Mrs. Wiley had cared for the child as best she could..." The lawyers for Irene were Louise Monaco and Samuel Paz.
The PBS program "The Wild Child", dated 4 Mar 1997 includes a statement that: "...Genie now lives in an adult foster care home in southern California."
Dorothy Irene (Oglesby) Wiley died in 2003 in Los Angeles. Susan is supposed to still be alive in an adult-care home somewhere in California. Her brother John was reported to me, by a site visitor, as having already died, but ABCnews has just interviewed him. He is now a house painter, living in Ohio.
Clark G Wiley
Clark G Wiley was born as "Pearl Wiley" on 29 Mar 1901 inOregon, to a Mr. Wiley and his wife Pearl May somebody. He was teased for this girl's name, and later changed it to Clark. His still-living son John Wiley states that Clark was "raised by a bar-girl in a bordello".Clark Wiley married Dorothy Irene Oglesby sometime between 1937 and 1948 and probably in California, possibly in Los AngelesCounty where her parents were living at that time. Clark and Irene had four children, all born in Los Angeles County, California but two died young, probably at his hands. The eldest child has been reported to have died due to Clark's neglect and the second child's death, only two days old, "choking on his own mucus" seems suspicious.
Clark and Irene's children were:
- Dorothy Irene Wiley born 2 Jun 1948, died 19 Aug 1948
- Robert Clark Wiley born 15 Sep 1949, died 17 Sep 1949
- John Gray Wiley born 11 Mar 1952
- Susan M Wiley born 18 Apr 1957
Clark's middle name could possibly be "Gray" as his second son carries that middle name. This son John is yet living, in Ohio. When John was age four he was taken to live with his grandmother "Mrs Pearl Martin", Clark's mother. He lived with her about two years, up to the time, when he saw he get struck by an out-of-control pickup truck when he was six. John then went back to live with his parents. His father Clark blamed John for the death of "Clark's beloved mother" (John's grandmother).
ABCnews has just reported that "Clark Wiley was devasted by the death of his mother in a hit-and-run accident in 1958. Within months of her death, he moved in to her two-bedroom house on Golden West Road in Temple City, Calif." "He became enraged when the teen arrested for his mother's death was not prosecuted"
Clark Wiley, a retired machinist, has been described as some sort of recluse — "They never went anywhere and never took the children anywhere. They never spoke to anybody." Clark was the main power in the home, his wife Dorothy being nearly blind was totally dependent on and frightened of him. Their son John has stated that Clark often sat with a gun in his lap. Clark and Dorothy were the parents of Susan Wiley called "Genie" in some of the popular books and scientific papers about her case.
Clark and Dorothy were arrested once the authorities found that Susan had been kept virtually isolated from normal human contact almost her entire life of thirteen years. Susan still wore diapers, couldn't talk, and was fed a substandard diet which stunted her growth. It has been reported that when found she weighed 59 pounds and was the size of a 7 to 8 year old. From years of confinement, her muscles had not developed normally, which caused her to walk in a peculiar way. The family were described as "strange people who kept to themselves."
Just moments before his scheduled arraignment, with his wife Dorothy, on Felony Child Abuse charges, Clark Wiley shot himself in the head on 20 Nov 1970, using a 38-revolver. His body was found in their home, by their son John aged 18, who was waiting outside to drive Clark to the courthouse. (Arcadia Tribune, 22 Nov 1970) Clark's death was handled as a suicide, since he was alone in the house, while his son and other boys were waiting outside to drive him to court. "John Wiley had been staying with a friend Bruce Moore for the past two months." The revolver and a brief note stating "John will understand" he had left, were both found nearby. Another note told his son John what shirt he wanted to wear for his funeral.