Candace Newmaker
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Candace Elizabeth Newmaker (November 19 1988—April 19 1999) was a victim of child abuse who was suffocated to death during a 70-minute therapy session to overcome reactive attachment disorder.
She was born Candace Tiara Elmore in Lincolnton, North Carolina to Angela and Todd Elmore, a teenage mother and alcoholic father. When she was five years old, she and her younger brother and sister were taken away by social services and separated. On June 14 1996 Candace moved to Durham to live with Jeanne Elizabeth Newmaker until she was taken to Colorado to help cure a diagnosed mental disorder. While in Durham, she enjoyed life and embraced her new opportunities. She remained in contact with her brother and sister and still talked about her biological family to friends and neighbors, which made Jeanne jealous.
Candace was killed during so-called "rebirthing" therapy by Julie Ponder and Connell Watkins, therapists at their house in Golden, Colorado. They wrapped blankets around her causing her to suffocate. She died in her own vomit and feces. The entire scene was videotaped.
Her story made national headline news, appearing in Raleigh-Durham's The News and Observer, Denver's Rocky Mountain News, USA Today among others. Exercpts from the death video were widely distributed on several news broadcasters.
The case generated controversy about rebirthing and practices used in psychiatric hospitals in the United States and is the inspiration for Candace's Law. It also demonstrated the manipulation and tendency of parents to label their children with a mental disability just because a doctor says they are when they may actually be mentally stable.
Both the therapists were prosecuted, one got sixteen years in prison and the adoptive mother Jeanne was also charged with neglect and abuse.
Further reading
- Attachment Therapy on Trial: The Torture and Death of Candace Newmaker by Jean Mercer, Larry Sarner, Linda Rosa. ISBN 0275976750
External links
- [Children in therapy victims]
- [Excerpts from the death of Candace Newmaker]
- [Find-A-Grave]
- [Denver Rocky Mountain News coverage] Ongoing Coverage on Rocky Mountain News
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