In the last days, a bombshell in the case of a Florida children's book author and her husband

accused of horrific abuse of her adopted children.

I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us.

Did a successful Florida children's book author Jennifer Wolfthall and her husband Joseph

Wolfthall execute a years-long campaign of horrific abuse, including beating her adopted

children with a so-called whacker, forcing them to write lines over and over and over like Harry Potter had to do,

and feeding them only a mixture of cereal and vegetable puree.

The little eight-year-old daughter rushed to the hospital, critically ill, put in ICU with a litany of medical emergencies,

such as kidney and liver failure, sepsis, a staff infection, open infected wounds on both legs

and pneumonia in both lungs?

Oh, according to an affidavit we obtained.

The child also suffered sores on her leg, infected and ruptured, a chipped tooth, two black eyes,

and this little girl weighed only 40 pounds at age eight.

There were also two other victims, a nine-year-old boy and an 11-year-old girl.

What more do we know about the abuse? Joining me, an all-star panel to make sense of it all, if we can, first of all, a renowned defense attorney,

Atlanta trial lawyer, Randy Kessler, Professor Emery Law School Passed chair in the ABA, author of Divorce, Protect Yourselves, Your Kids, Your Future,

and you can find Randy Kessler at KSFamilylaw.com and on Instagram at R. Kessler 23.

Karen Stark joining us, psychologist out of Manhattan at Karen Stark.com.

Former cop, now private investigator, started his own PI firm, Crispin Special Investigations,

and you can find him at crispin Investigations.com.

Special guests joining us from ChildHelp, National Child Abuse Hotline as well, Daphne Young.

And you can find her at childhelp.org.

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