Former students describe abuse at unlicensed Missouri boarding school whose owners were charged with kidnapping

Former students say they lost their childhoods at a secluded boarding school in southeast Missouri. Instead of slumber parties, family dinners, campouts or prom, they say they spent their days doing physical labor and extended exercise. When they got in trouble, they were given ice bucket showers and made to stand at a wall for hours, and they often went to bed hungry when food was withheld. They say the smallest students received the worst treatment.

The school, Lighthouse Christian Academy, was a faith-based boarding school that was not licensed. It operated for about two decades, according to reporting, without oversight from local or state authorities until recently. The Star noted that it was separate from Circle of Hope Girls Ranch and Agape Boarding School, two other Missouri facilities that were investigated in 2020 and 2021 and are now closed. The school was run by ABM Ministries.

Some students were taken to the campus by force. Others were dropped off by parents who were led to believe the school would help their children through strong discipline and the word of God. Promotional literature highlighted horses and other animals, and parents were told their children would learn responsibility by caring for them. Former students, however, say they learned little beyond how to endure the harsh environment. Aaron Blackburn, now 32, described a culture of silence. “After a certain amount of time out there, I realized it was just keep your head down. Don’t ask questions,” he said. “It was a survival thing.”

The Star spoke with more than a dozen former students around the time the school’s owners, Larry and Carmen Musgrave, were charged with kidnapping in March. The school later closed. Both Musgraves have pleaded not guilty, and their attorney did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Wayne County Sheriff Dean Finch said the arrests were only the beginning of an extensive investigation. He said that when investigators interviewed Larry Musgrave after his arrest, Musgrave denied everything. “Whenever we interviewed him, he laughed about it,” Finch said. “And he said, ‘That is not going on. That never happened.'”

For some former students, the arrests marked a turning point. Michael McCarthy, who left ABM in 2012, said he cried after learning that the couple had been arrested. “It’s the first time I could breathe in 13 years,” he said. “It just felt very vindicating. People were listening to us.” Weeks before the charges, former student Aralysa Baker told The Star that the couple had fooled authorities and others for decades. In February, after several current students had run away, she said, “They’re abusing those kids just like they abused me and my fellow classmates.” She added that children at the school were calling out for help even when visitors believed everything was fine, and that she had once been one of those children and still thinks about a time she could have spoken up and did not. Baker, a stay-at-home mom in Oklahoma, is now one of the leaders of a group of former students. The group stays connected on Facebook and a group chat, and many of its members attended the Wayne County school between 2004 and 2015.

Source: Read the original report