[News anchor] Officials in the
Los Angeles suburb of Arcadia
have taken custody of a 13 year old girl,
who they say, was kept in such isolation by her parents,
that she never even learned to talk.
The girl still wore diapers,
and was uttering infantile noises,
when a social worker discovered the case
two weeks ago.
The authorities are hoping
she still may have a normal learning capacity.
Among the first to see the child
was Temple City detective,
Sergeant Frank Linley.
[Eerie music]
[Sgt. Linley] I already knew that
the child was 13 1/2 years old,
and I took one look at her,
and she wasn't much bigger
than my daughter, Beverly,
who had just turned seven about 3 months earlier.
And, I really had a hard time
conceiving of the idea that the child
was the age that she was.
The child, uh, obviously,
had been severely mistreated.
She was still in diapers, couldn't walk,
she had no verbal skills at all, at that point.
[Eerie music]
The last time I was on this street
was probably 30 years ago.
Yep, there it is.
Hasn't changed much.
The back yard looks the same.
It's all weeds and dead grass.
Looks the same as it did in 1970.
[Narrator] The house belonged to Clark Wiley.
A loner, Clark had turned his
back on the world,
after his mother had been killed
in a hit and run accident.
After the accident,
things in the Wiley house
would never be the same again.
[Sgt. Linley] The house was completely dark.
All the blinds were drawn.
There were no toys.
No clothes.
Nothing that would ever indicate to you
that a child of any age lived there.
[Eerie music. Passing cars whoosh.]
The child's bedroom was
back in this corner.
That was the bedroom.
The, uh, windows were covered
to about 3 inches from the top,
which was the only natural light
that had ever come in there,
in all the time the child was
in the bedroom.
The entire furnishing to the bedroom
consisted of a cage,
with a, uh, pull-down chicken wire lid,
and some type of -- piece of wire,
securing it, when they closed it down.
There was a potty chair,
with some kind of homemade strapping device.
[Narrator] For thirteen years,
Genie had spent her nights
locked in bed,
her days strapped to a potty chair.
During that time,
Clark had ordered his son John,
and wife Irene,
never to talk to her.
In her darkened room,
she had led a life
or near total isolation.
[Eerie music]
Even close neighbors
were completely unaware
of her presence.
[Neighbor] I came home from work,
and the police was here,
and they came to question us.
That's when we found --
found out what, you know,
happened, and uh, you know,
that they had a little girl.
Nobody knew. Nobody knew before.
And, uh, then we found out
what happened, how she was treated.
I mean, everybody was shocked,
and, just -- unbelievable.
For their whole marriage,
Clark had imposed his will on Irene.
Blind with cataracts,
she had been too scared to resist.
But one day, something broke.
While Clark was out buying groceries,
she seized her chance, and fled.
It was the first glimpse the world would have
of Clark and Irene's dark secret.
[Sgt. Linley] I met Clark and Irene
at Temple City sheriff station,
and they were both under arrest, at the time.
When we interviewed Irene,
she would make no mention
of the family, whatsoever;
particularly, the children.
I attempted, along with my partner,
to interview Clark.
He refused to talk to us.
He wouldn't say a word.
He never even acknowledged
that he understood what we were talking about.
[Reporter] Mr. Wiley?
[Clark] Yes ma'am.
Why did you keep your daughter
in a room --
[Lawyer] Mr. Wiley has no comment.
[Clark] No comment.
[Lawyer] We haven't had time to discuss the charges.
We haven't even seen them.
[Narrator] Unable to face the truth,
Clark took matters into his own hands.
[Eerie music]
[News announcer] This morning,
the authorities reported
that 70 year old Clark Wiley
shot and killed himself,
just before he was to go to court
and be arraigned
for child abuse.
[Narrator] After 13 years,
Genie was, at last, free.
For scientists, she was just the case
they had been waiting for.
For 13 years,
Genie had lived a life
of complete isolation.
Raised in a city bedroom,
Genie was as much a feral child
as if she had been
brought up by wolves.
At 13, she was the size
of a six year old.
Worst of all,
she had never been taught to speak.
The question now:
Could she ever learn?
[Traffic softly whooshes.]
Genie's case was so scientifically important,
the government funded a team of scientists
to help answer the many questions she posed.
[Clomps up the steps.]
Two of the scientists
who would become especially important to Genie
were child psychologist James Kent,
and linguist Susan Curtis.
[Susan] So good to see you.
[Narrator] Neither had ever
encountered a case
as extreme as Genie's.