Gregory Jr. initially thought that his trip to Atlanta to visit his father would only last a couple of days. Four years later, he was living a daily nightmare, and he went through dire straits to get himself out of it...
His New Stepmother
Four years earlier, Gregory Jean Jr. set out to visit his father's new family in Atlanta, GA. His dad had just married a woman named Samantha Davis who, according to his father, was overjoyed by the opportunity to meet him. However, Gregory Jr. quickly learned that she had other ideas, and the feelings she initially expressed wouldn't stick around.
One Boy Returned Home
Gregort Jr. left his home in Florida with his brother, Samuel early one summer morning. They had both planned on staying a few days with their father in Atlanta to meet their new stepmother. When it was time to head home, only Samuel came back...
Meeting Samantha
When the boy's vacation was coming to an end, Gregory's new stepmother asked him to stay in Atlanta with them for a bit. Gregory was hesitant, but Samantha was persistent, and she continued to harass him until he eventually caved and decided to stay. As soon as Samuel left with the car, Gregory knew he had made a massive mistake.
She's Making This Up
Several hours after Samuel took off, Samantha pretended to answer a phone call for Gregory's father from his mother. Samantha sat Gregory Jr. down and explained that his mother didn't want him to return home. She insisted that Gregory's mother begged her to take care of him there in Atlanta...
Starting Anew
Gregory was upset and confused, but after a few months, he conceded to his new life. He began attending a local public school when the summer ended. He made new friends, enjoyed his new classes, and he even joined the soccer team.
Strange Things Started Happening
As soon as Gregory's life started to stabilize itself, his new stepmother went from being sweet and inviting to angry and violent. Samantha started to beat Gregory whenever he did something she didn't like. As things progressed, Samantha started starving, abusing, and humiliating Gregory in front of his stepsiblings whenever she saw fit...
Kicked Outdoors
Samantha made Gregory sleep on a covered cot in the garage. Then, she decided to move his cot into the back yard. She allowed him to come in when it rained, but she only gave him a thin blanket to sleep with through all of the seasons. He had no privacy, no place to put his things, and no pillow.
He's Done nothing Wrong
Gregory was a good kid. He followed the rules, was kind and generous, and he did well in school. He would lay awake at night thinking about his stepsiblings and his father sleeping peacefully indoors. He had no idea what he did to deserve this treatment...
Things Get Even Worse
At a point, Samantha banned Gregory from entering the house altogether. She gave him a metal bucket to use as a toilet, and she told him to use the hose when he wanted to shower.
Breaking His Spirit
Samantha encouraged Gregory's stepsiblings to bully him. They would antagonize the tortured boy constantly. They were young, they didn't know better than to listen to their evil mother...
Working for His Meals
Before Gregory was allowed to eat, Samantha made him spell out words that she would randomly look up in the dictionary. If he misspelled a word, she forced him to write it until she was "satisfied," and sometimes, she just wouldn't feed him at all.
Systematic Punishments
Samantha built a system for Gregory to follow. If he misspelled a word, he would have to write it out as many times as Samantha would demand. If he didn't finish spelling out his words by 8:45 AM, he wouldn't get fed breakfast. Samantha would repeat the process at noon, usually yielding whatever result that she wanted...
Public Humiliation
There was one particular instance in which Samantha decided to strip Gregory naked and force him to wear a diaper. She called all of her friends, her children, and her children's friends over and encouraged them to poke fun at him. Gregory was young and he didn't understand what was going on or how to deal with it at all.
Threats Turned to Action
Samantha started to punish Gregory with housework whenever she determined that he was "misbehaving." On top of starving Gregory, she would force him to clean the house that he was not allowed in. This kind of degradation was a new low. Gregory started to give up. He broke down every day. He couldn't wrap his head around the insane abuse that he was subjected to, he couldn't understand why nobody was stopping it...
Surviving Beatings and Starvation
Gregory Jr. wouldn't be allowed to eat if there was a single leaf or stick in the lawn outside the house. If he got caught slacking, Samantha would come out of the house and beat him with a stick in front of the neighborhood.
No Time Off
Gregory was given no breaks. Every single day there was something new for him to clean, spell, or fix around the house. He wasn't even permitted to join the family for holidays...
Not Allowed to Celebrate Christmas
Gregory wasn't even allowed to celebrate Christmas with his family for two years of his four-year stay. For the other two years, he was locked outside in the cold without a jacket.
The Presents Weren't His
In the two years that Gregory was allowed to be with the family for Christmas, he wasn't even allowed to keep the presents that he opened. One year he got a PlayStation that he was forced to hand over to his stepbrother immediately. The next, he was given a basketball that was later taken by his stepmother because he wasn't "responsible enough" to have it. Gregory had hit his breaking point, and he decided to open up to an adult at school about the life he was being forced to live...
Letting the Word Out
When Gregory told one of his teachers about his living situation, she sent him right to the school guidance counselor. Gregory spilled the entire story to the guidance counselor who was completely stunned.
Sending Help
The school sent CPS to Samantha's house. But, almost as if she was warned that they were coming, she was able to cover her tracks and make it look like there was no wrongdoing going down in her house...
She Hid the Evidence
By the time the social workers arrived at Samantha's house, she had removed Gregory's cot and bucket from the property. She left no evidence that he was being mistreated whatsoever...
Fearing the Worst
Samantha pulled Gregory out of public school and began to "homeschool" him. Instead of actually giving him a structured schedule of school work, Samantha just made Gregory Jr. do more manual labor...
He Became Her Servant
Every Sunday, Gregory Jr. was forced to clean the entire house and write out "punishment" words until Samantha was satisfied. Sunday was the day that Samantha went easy on him. The rest of his week was absolutely insane...
The Daily Routine
Every Thursday, Gregory was forced to sweep the yard, the car, the roof, and the entire inside of the house. On Fridays, Samantha forced him to write from sunup to sundown. She would lock him out of the house while she took her children to dinner or the movies...
Starting to Lose It
Gregory hadn't seen or heard from his mother or biological siblings in almost four years at this point. He made the absolute decision that he would see them no matter what. That's when he started to devise a plan...
Reaching Out With His Phone
Gregory's father allowed him to use a cell phone every once in a while to contact people from his school. Now that he wasn't in school anymore, his father left the phone locked inside of the house. He needed to break into the house and get that phone back to contact someone for help...
The Mission
So, Gregory had to create a diversion for himself while his parents were home because they locked the house from the inside when they were gone. He decided to sneak through the back entrance and hide in a closet until the coast was clear enough for him to grab the phone...
Mission Success
Gregory Jr. was able to navigate his way to the phone and then hide again. He downloaded an app called Magic Jack that allowed him to text and call people using a temporary phone number. From there, he was able to contact his biological mother...
Talking to His Mother
Now that he was free from his stepmother's grasp, Gregory Jr. hid behind a loose wall panel in a closet that only he knew about. He texted his mother briefly, asked her to contact the authorities, and disclosed his location for her to give to the police...
Super Mom
Gregory's mother called 911 immediately after seeing the text messages her son sent. The officers that responded to the scene issued a quick warrant and broke down the front door of Samantha's house...
Disaster Strikes
When the police entered Samantha's home demanding to talk to Gregory, he made some noise behind the panel that he was hiding behind. The police retrieved him, but his stepbrother ran ahead of them to stop Gregory from leaving. He punched Gregory in the face and pushed him down the stairs before he was detained by the cops...
Booked and Processed
Both Gregory's father and stepmother were arrested and charged with false imprisonment, obstruction of justice, and cruelty to a child. Fortunately, the police were able to send Gregory back to his biological family before the case began...
Bringing Him Back Home
Gregory Jr.'s mother picked him up outside of the police station near where they lived in Florida. They shared a tearful reunion, ate a meal together, and went back home. For the first time in four years, Gregory Jr. got to sleep in a real bed...
Gregory's Respite
Gregory Jr. stated that he doesn't believe that his father and Samantha should be penalized for what they did. He thought that they had been given adequate punishment by having to face the consequences of their terrible actions. Unfortunately for them, Gregory couldn't revoke their charges...
A Happy Ending
Gregory took that experience in stride. He began seeing a therapist as soon as he returned to his normal life. He decided to dedicate the rest of his life to becoming a lawyer so he could defend other individuals that have had similar experiences to him. Believe it or not, this is more common than one would think...