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Tonight on Nova, the shocking story of a girl who spent her childhood locked in a bedroom.

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The girl reportedly was wearing diapers, social workers discovered the case two weeks ago.

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Raised in isolation, Genie was a wild child,[br]uncivilized barely able to walk or talk.

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The indications are that she was[br]beaten for making noise.

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(narrator) With footage never before [br]seen on television.

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Nova follows the controversial efforts to[br]unlock the secrets of the wild child.

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(narrator) Once in a great while, [br]civilized society comes across a wild child.

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A child who has grown up in severe isolation, [br]with virtually no human contact.

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This is the story of such a case.

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The story begins in Los Angeles, [br]on November 4th 1970.

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(reporter) Specials in the Los Angeles suburb of Arcadia,

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have taken custody of a 13-year-old girl and[br]they say was kept in such isolation by her parents

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that she never even learned to talk.

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Her elderly parents have been [br]charged with child abuse

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(Narrator) This is the scene of the crime,

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the child was locked in the room and[br]tied to a potty chair for most of her life.

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Completely restrained she was forced to sit alone day after day and often through the night.

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She had little to look at and no one [br]to talk to for more than 10 years.

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The girl reportedly was making infantile [br]noises and still wearing diapers,

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when a social worker discovered [br]the case 2 weeks ago.

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Authorities are hoping that she still may [br]have a normal learning capacity.

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Here was a 13-year-old who seemed like an infant, girl who would be known as Genie.

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Genie was taken to Childrens hospital in Los Angeles

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where she immediately won the [br]heart of doctors and scientists

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She was fragile and beautiful almost haunting and[br]so I was pulled and I was very drawn to her

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even though I was nervous and had no idea [br]in many respects what to expect.

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Genie was about to test an idea important to [br]science and society.

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That a nurturing environment can make up for even [br]the most nightmarish past.