0:00:00.830,0:00:03.260 [Reporter] Officials in the Los Angeles[br]suburb of Arcadia 0:00:03.260,0:00:06.460 have taken custody of a [br]13-year-old girl and they say 0:00:06.460,0:00:08.930 was kept in such [br]isolation by her parents 0:00:08.930,0:00:10.820 that she never even [br]learned to talk. 0:00:11.100,0:00:14.260 The girl still wore diapers and[br]was uttering infantile noises 0:00:14.270,0:00:16.820 when a social worker discovered[br]the case two weeks ago. 0:00:17.050,0:00:18.670 But the authorities are[br]hoping she still 0:00:18.670,0:00:20.980 may have a normal[br]learning capacity. 0:00:21.920,0:00:23.890 [Narrator] Among the first to[br]see the child was 0:00:23.890,0:00:26.690 Temple City Detective, [br]Sergeant Frank Linley. 0:00:34.830,0:00:38.300 [Linley] I already knew that[br]the child was 13 1/2 years old. 0:00:39.600,0:00:41.500 And I took one look at her.. 0:00:41.500,0:00:44.360 and she wasn't much [br]bigger than my daughter, 0:00:44.360,0:00:46.760 Beverly, who had just[br]turned seven 0:00:46.760,0:00:48.410 about three months earlier. 0:00:48.940,0:00:53.100 And I really had a hard[br]time conceiving of the idea 0:00:53.120,0:00:55.190 that the child was the age[br]that she was. 0:00:56.340,0:01:00.230 The child obviously[br]had been severely mistreated 0:01:00.230,0:01:02.330 as she was still in diapers,[br]couldn't walk, 0:01:02.330,0:01:05.710 she had no verbal skills[br]at all at that point. 0:01:09.190,0:01:12.750 The last time I was[br]on this street was probably 0:01:12.750,0:01:14.340 30 years ago. 0:01:16.350,0:01:17.560 Yep, there it is. 0:01:18.860,0:01:20.110 Hasn't changed much. 0:01:20.590,0:01:22.030 The back yard looks the same. 0:01:22.030,0:01:24.150 It's all weeds and dead grass. 0:01:26.330,0:01:29.310 Looks the same[br]as it did in 1970. 0:01:30.720,0:01:32.940 [Narrator] The house belonged[br]to Clark Wiley. 0:01:32.940,0:01:35.550 A loner, Clark had turned[br]his back on the world 0:01:35.550,0:01:38.380 after his mother had been killed[br]in a hit and run accident. 0:01:39.390,0:01:40.580 After the accident, 0:01:40.580,0:01:43.610 things in the Wiley house[br]would never be the same again. 0:01:47.510,0:01:49.420 [Linley] The house was completely dark. 0:01:50.150,0:01:54.380 All the blinds were drawn[br]and there were no toys, 0:01:54.380,0:01:57.010 no clothes, nothing[br]that would ever indicate 0:01:57.010,0:01:59.900 to you that a child[br]of any age lived there. 0:02:04.590,0:02:09.340 The child's bedroom was [br]back in this corner. 0:02:10.250,0:02:12.470 That was the bedroom. 0:02:12.470,0:02:16.790 The windows were covered to[br]about three inches from the top. 0:02:17.190,0:02:19.670 Which were the only natural[br]light that had ever come in 0:02:19.670,0:02:22.120 there in all the time[br]the child was in the bedroom. 0:02:23.040,0:02:25.780 Entire furnishings of[br]the bedroom consists of a cage 0:02:25.780,0:02:31.130 with a pull down[br]chicken wire lid and some type 0:02:31.130,0:02:35.320 of piece of wire securing[br]it when they closed it down. 0:02:35.320,0:02:36.700 There was a potty chair 0:02:37.540,0:02:40.370 with some kind of[br]homemade strapping device. 0:02:41.060,0:02:45.710 [Narrator] For 13 years, Genie had spent[br]her nights locked in bed. 0:02:45.710,0:02:48.130 Her days, strapped[br]to a potty chair. 0:02:48.770,0:02:51.570 During that time Clark had[br]ordered his son John 0:02:51.570,0:02:54.180 and wife Irene, never[br]to talk to her. 0:02:55.810,0:03:00.560 In her darkened room, she had led[br]a life of near total isolation. 0:03:02.980,0:03:06.880 Even close neighbors were [br]completely unaware of her presence. 0:03:08.530,0:03:10.500 [Laicans] We came home from work[br]and the police was here 0:03:10.500,0:03:11.420 and they came to question us. 0:03:11.810,0:03:14.190 That's when we found out,[br]you know, 0:03:14.190,0:03:16.610 what happened and, you know,[br]that they had a little girl. 0:03:18.120,0:03:20.510 Nobody knew, nobody knew before. 0:03:21.250,0:03:22.820 And when we found out 0:03:22.820,0:03:24.610 what happened[br]and how she was treated, 0:03:24.610,0:03:28.900 I mean, everybody was shocked[br]and just unbelievable. 0:03:29.990,0:03:31.550 [Narrator] For their whole marriage, 0:03:31.550,0:03:33.770 Clark had imposed[br]his will on Irene. 0:03:34.330,0:03:35.830 And blind with cataracts, 0:03:35.830,0:03:38.010 she had been too[br]scared to resist. 0:03:38.010,0:03:40.090 But one day something broke. 0:03:40.510,0:03:42.570 While Clark was[br]out buying groceries, 0:03:42.570,0:03:44.520 she seized her chance and fled. 0:03:44.520,0:03:45.500 It was the first glimpse 0:03:45.500,0:03:48.370 the world would have of Clark[br]and Irene's dark secret. 0:03:48.990,0:03:52.100 [Linley] I met Clark and Irene at[br]Temple City Sheriff's Station. 0:03:52.100,0:03:54.680 They were both under arrest[br]at the time. 0:03:54.680,0:03:58.030 When we interviewed Irene[br]she would make no mention 0:03:58.030,0:04:01.310 of the family whatsoever,[br]particularly the children. 0:04:01.310,0:04:04.720 I attempted along with[br]my partner to interview Clark. 0:04:05.070,0:04:07.390 He refused to talk to us.[br]He wouldn't say a word. 0:04:07.390,0:04:08.570 He never even acknowledged 0:04:08.570,0:04:10.140 that he understood[br]what we were talking about. 0:04:10.140,0:04:11.570 [Woman] Mr. Wiley?[br][Wiley] Yes. 0:04:11.570,0:04:14.820 [Woman] Why did you keep[br]your daughter in a room-- 0:04:14.820,0:04:16.310 [Man] Mr. Wiley has no comment.[br][Wiley] No comment. 0:04:16.310,0:04:18.190 [Man] We haven't had time[br]to discuss the charge 0:04:18.190,0:04:19.340 and we haven't even seen them. 0:04:20.430,0:04:21.950 [Narrator] Unable to face the truth, 0:04:21.950,0:04:24.130 Clark took matters[br]into his own hands. 0:04:27.610,0:04:31.190 [Reporter] This morning the authorities[br]reported that 70 year old Clark Wiley, 0:04:31.190,0:04:34.030 shot and killed himself just[br]before he was to go to court 0:04:34.030,0:04:35.900 and be arraigned[br]for child abuse. 0:04:37.580,0:04:40.680 [Narrator] After 13 years,[br]Genie was at last free. 0:04:41.080,0:04:42.430 And for scientists, 0:04:42.430,0:04:45.190 she was just the case[br]they had been waiting for. 0:04:47.750,0:04:52.280 For 13 years Genie had lived[br]a life of complete isolation. 0:04:53.150,0:04:55.950 Raised in a city bedroom,[br]Genie was as much 0:04:55.950,0:04:59.190 a feral child as if she[br]had been brought up by wolves. 0:05:00.580,0:05:03.360 At 13 she was the size[br]of a six year old. 0:05:03.960,0:05:06.610 Worst of all she had never[br]been taught to speak. 0:05:07.220,0:05:10.200 The question now,[br]could she ever learn? 0:05:14.060,0:05:17.070 Genie's case was so[br]scientifically important 0:05:17.070,0:05:19.630 that the government funded[br]a team of scientists 0:05:19.630,0:05:22.610 to help answer the many[br]questions she posed. 0:05:25.810,0:05:28.410 Two of the scientists who would[br]become especially important 0:05:28.410,0:05:31.600 to Genie were[br]child psychologist James Kent 0:05:31.600,0:05:33.440 and linguist Susan Curtiss. 0:05:34.100,0:05:36.630 [Curtiss] It's so wonderful [br]to see you. God. 0:05:36.630,0:05:40.430 [Narrator] Neither had ever encountered[br]a case as extreme as Genie's. 0:05:46.630,0:05:49.190 [Kent] We looked at her as a-- 0:05:49.190,0:05:50.390 as a newborn in a way. 0:05:50.390,0:05:51.690 Even though we know she hadn't-- 0:05:51.690,0:05:54.600 she came with 13 years[br]of memories and experiences. 0:05:54.600,0:05:57.400 Not all of them wonderful.[br]Most of them not, I think. 0:05:57.400,0:05:58.870 And so we thought we needed 0:05:58.880,0:06:02.710 to start to expose her to what[br]the world was going to be 0:06:02.710,0:06:04.690 like for her outside [br]the hospital bed. 0:06:05.780,0:06:08.630 [Narrator] To Genie, everything [br]was a new experience. 0:06:10.390,0:06:12.230 [Kent] We did what you[br]would do with-- 0:06:12.230,0:06:13.250 with your own kids. 0:06:13.250,0:06:15.270 If you were introducing [br]them to the world. 0:06:15.270,0:06:17.760 You'd take them out and [br]hold them up and show them. 0:06:17.760,0:06:19.280 Sort of judge from how they reacted 0:06:19.280,0:06:20.150 to whether this was too much 0:06:20.150,0:06:22.460 or not enough and you could[br]move on and do the next thing. 0:06:22.940,0:06:25.390 [Narrator] Genie was making[br]amazing progress. 0:06:25.390,0:06:27.130 As the experts looked on, 0:06:27.130,0:06:29.860 they realized that she might[br]be the answer to the question 0:06:29.860,0:06:32.020 that had troubled science[br]for so long. 0:06:33.600,0:06:37.150 [Curtiss] So we seized[br]this wonderful opportunity 0:06:37.150,0:06:39.990 that she provided us[br]in as loving a way 0:06:39.990,0:06:46.150 as we could but using it[br]to finally get our chance 0:06:46.150,0:06:49.840 to address head-on [br]specific hypotheses 0:06:49.840,0:06:53.480 and notions about human language[br]and the human mind. 0:06:55.370,0:06:58.060 [Narrator] These hypotheses were based[br]on the latest ideas 0:06:58.060,0:07:00.420 about how children's[br]brains developed. 0:07:00.730,0:07:02.320 According to the theory, 0:07:02.320,0:07:05.910 young children could only learn[br]certain things at certain times, 0:07:05.910,0:07:07.950 called critical periods. 0:07:08.230,0:07:10.720 Language was one of[br]these critical periods 0:07:10.720,0:07:12.170 and according to the theory, 0:07:12.170,0:07:16.220 Genie who was now a teenager,[br]had missed her chance forever. 0:07:18.540,0:07:22.070 But incredibly, Genie seemed[br]to be proving the theory wrong. 0:07:22.070,0:07:25.320 As this footage shows,[br]Genie was blossoming. 0:07:25.320,0:07:27.730 Not only was she delighted [br]by the world around her 0:07:27.730,0:07:29.260 but she was learning the words 0:07:29.260,0:07:31.210 for the new things[br]she was seeing. 0:07:35.700,0:07:39.260 [Curtiss] She was extremely [br]interested in everything around her. 0:07:39.260,0:07:41.870 She wanted to know the word[br]for everything around her. 0:07:41.870,0:07:45.280 She wanted to engage [br]people all around her. 0:07:45.280,0:07:47.240 She was not mentally deficient. 0:07:47.240,0:07:48.770 Her lights were on and everyone 0:07:48.770,0:07:54.090 who worked with her from[br]teachers to therapists to me, 0:07:54.090,0:07:56.620 knew that she was not retarded. 0:07:56.620,0:07:59.050 It was clear as day. 0:08:00.090,0:08:02.830 And as she began to learn more[br]and more words, 0:08:02.830,0:08:07.220 hundreds of words, much more[br]rapidly than I ever imagined. 0:08:07.220,0:08:12.140 And string them together, I began[br]to think maybe I will be wrong. 0:08:12.140,0:08:14.010 Maybe she will be the one 0:08:14.010,0:08:17.450 that will prove that[br]this hypothesis is incorrect. 0:08:18.090,0:08:20.170 [Narrator] But Genie could not[br]escape the effects 0:08:20.170,0:08:22.180 of her past so easily. 0:08:22.180,0:08:25.200 She was still haunted[br]by her traumatic upbringing. 0:08:25.200,0:08:28.590 Trapped by the memories of[br]the awful fate she had suffered. 0:08:28.590,0:08:32.230 And linguistically, she[br]had stopped making progress. 0:08:32.230,0:08:33.870 [Curtiss] She learned [br]tons of words. 0:08:33.870,0:08:37.190 She has an enormous vocabulary.[br]But language is not words. 0:08:37.400,0:08:42.320 Language is grammar.[br]Language is sentences. 0:08:42.489,0:08:45.730 How do you make a sentence?[br]What can be a sentence? 0:08:45.730,0:08:46.800 What is a sentence? 0:08:46.800,0:08:49.210 How do you automatically[br]know something's a sentence? 0:08:49.940,0:08:53.670 So it wasn't because she[br]was cognitively deficient 0:08:53.670,0:08:58.900 in other respects, it was because[br]she was cognitively deficient 0:08:58.900,0:09:02.470 in this island of human mind. 0:09:02.470,0:09:05.180 The mental faculty[br]that we call grammar. 0:09:05.180,0:09:06.500 [Narrator] At the time Genie was found, 0:09:06.500,0:09:09.020 brain science was in its infancy. 0:09:09.020,0:09:11.150 But today we have a much clearer picture 0:09:11.150,0:09:12.910 of what actually happens in cases 0:09:12.910,0:09:15.210 of extreme neglect, like Genie's. 0:09:16.430,0:09:19.970 [Perry] In Genie's brain,[br]the left part of her brain, 0:09:19.970,0:09:23.490 her cortex, that has those [br]neural systems responsible 0:09:23.490,0:09:25.220 for speech and language. 0:09:25.220,0:09:27.300 Because she never[br]heard any words 0:09:27.300,0:09:29.490 and because she[br]was never taught-- 0:09:29.490,0:09:31.240 spoken to very often. 0:09:31.240,0:09:32.990 They didn't get stimulated. 0:09:32.990,0:09:34.420 And because they[br]weren't stimulated, 0:09:34.420,0:09:38.640 they got smaller[br]and less functional 0:09:38.640,0:09:41.210 and disconnected and ultimately 0:09:41.210,0:09:43.840 that part of the brain[br]literally physically changes. 0:09:44.390,0:09:47.190 [Narrator] Today with modern[br]imaging technology, 0:09:47.190,0:09:51.390 we can actually see what happens[br]in the brains of feral children. 0:09:51.390,0:09:53.250 And the effects are shocking. 0:09:54.150,0:09:55.940 Without normal stimulation, 0:09:55.940,0:09:58.490 their brains are smaller and malformed. 0:09:58.490,0:10:02.350 And the earlier this neglect begins[br]and the longer it carries on, 0:10:02.350,0:10:04.820 the worse the damage will be. 0:10:04.820,0:10:06.420 Starved of stimulation, 0:10:06.420,0:10:08.520 Genie's brain had simply not developed 0:10:08.520,0:10:10.510 the capacity for language. 0:10:10.510,0:10:12.160 And now that she was a teenager, 0:10:12.160,0:10:14.580 she would never be able to learn. 0:10:14.580,0:10:18.750 Despite this, Genie continued[br]to be a close part of everyone's life. 0:10:18.750,0:10:21.280 But, there was more trouble ahead. 0:10:24.190,0:10:26.220 [Kent] Children have to belong[br]to somebody when they grow up 0:10:26.220,0:10:27.940 and she was still a child. 0:10:27.940,0:10:29.710 And she needed a family to belong to. 0:10:29.710,0:10:31.170 So that's what we would have liked, 0:10:31.170,0:10:33.040 a family that she could belong to. 0:10:34.270,0:10:37.000 And that's not what happened unfortunately. 0:10:37.750,0:10:40.690 What did happen is about the worst outcome 0:10:40.690,0:10:43.400 I think we would have envisioned. 0:10:43.960,0:10:45.680 [Narrator] On her 18th birthday, 0:10:45.680,0:10:48.200 Genie moved back with her [br]mother, Irene, into the house 0:10:48.200,0:10:51.370 in which she had been so terribly abused. 0:10:51.370,0:10:52.830 But after only a few weeks, 0:10:52.830,0:10:55.280 it was clear that Irene couldn't cope. 0:10:55.280,0:10:58.000 From here, [br]Genie was moved into state care 0:10:58.000,0:11:00.260 with terrible consequences. 0:11:01.750,0:11:04.740 [Curtiss] I was a student and [br]people wouldn't listen to me. 0:11:04.740,0:11:08.180 People who needed to intervene[br]did not listen to me. 0:11:08.180,0:11:12.150 And so I spent lots and lots[br]of time on the phone pleading 0:11:12.150,0:11:14.910 with people to intervene and save this person, 0:11:14.910,0:11:18.510 who had had the worst experience 0:11:18.510,0:11:22.690 of deprivation and isolation[br]in all recorded medical history. 0:11:23.260,0:11:25.260 [Narrator] Genie moved from home to home. 0:11:25.260,0:11:28.660 Sometimes with the very people[br]who served as her therapists. 0:11:28.660,0:11:31.660 This potential conflict of [br]interest raised tensions 0:11:31.660,0:11:34.520 among the many people involved in her life. 0:11:34.520,0:11:37.400 And a tug of war erupted over the child. 0:11:37.400,0:11:39.790 As Genie's condition deteriorated, 0:11:39.790,0:11:41.910 Irene decided that Susan Curtiss 0:11:41.910,0:11:45.270 and the other academics had[br]become too close to Genie. 0:11:45.270,0:11:47.320 A lawsuit followed. 0:11:49.780,0:11:53.370 [Curtiss] I went from being asked[br]to be her guardian, to one week 0:11:53.370,0:11:56.960 later being prevented from [br]seeing her or phoning her. 0:11:56.960,0:11:58.670 And ever since then[br]I've been prevented 0:11:58.670,0:12:00.920 from having any contact at all. 0:12:00.920,0:12:05.140 So although I have lots of,[br]you know, I'm still a scientist, 0:12:05.140,0:12:09.470 I'm still interested in knowing[br]things about her language now. 0:12:09.470,0:12:11.820 And all kinds of interesting things 0:12:11.820,0:12:13.800 I would like to pursue academically, 0:12:13.800,0:12:16.980 primarily, I would just like to see her. 0:12:17.530,0:12:19.380 [Narrator] Now a ward of the court, 0:12:19.380,0:12:21.610 Genie lives in an adult [br]care home somewhere 0:12:21.610,0:12:24.840 in Los Angeles, prevented[br]from seeing the people 0:12:24.840,0:12:27.300 who once meant so much to her.