0:00:01.040,0:00:01.883
[News announcer] Officials in the [br]

0:00:01.883,0:00:03.549
Los Angeles suburb of Arcadia

0:00:03.549,0:00:05.952
have taken custody of a 13 year old girl,

0:00:05.952,0:00:08.950
who they say, was kept in such isolation[br]by her parents,

0:00:08.950,0:00:11.181
that she never even learned to talk.

0:00:11.181,0:00:12.612
The girl still wore diapers,

0:00:12.612,0:00:14.241
and was uttering infantile noises,

0:00:14.241,0:00:15.959
when a social worker discovered the case

0:00:15.959,0:00:17.214
two weeks ago.

0:00:17.214,0:00:18.479
The authorities are hoping

0:00:18.479,0:00:20.949
she still may have a normal[br]learning capacity.

0:00:20.949,0:00:23.811
Among the first to see the child

0:00:23.811,0:00:25.292
was Temple City detective,

0:00:25.292,0:00:26.811
Sergeant Frank Linley.

0:00:26.811,0:00:35.110
[Eerie music]

0:00:35.110,0:00:36.499
[Sgt. Linley] I already knew that

0:00:36.499,0:00:39.233
the child was 13 1/2 years old,

0:00:39.233,0:00:41.360
and I took one look at her,

0:00:41.360,0:00:43.163
and she wasn't much bigger

0:00:43.163,0:00:44.984
than my daughter, Beverly,

0:00:44.984,0:00:48.812
who had just turned seven[br]about 3 months earlier.

0:00:48.812,0:00:50.976
And, I really had a hard time

0:00:50.976,0:00:53.836
conceiving of the idea that the child

0:00:53.836,0:00:56.196
was the age that she was.

0:00:56.196,0:00:58.191
The child, uh, obviously,

0:00:58.191,0:01:00.475
had been severely mistreated.

0:01:00.475,0:01:02.561
She was still in diapers, couldn't walk,

0:01:02.561,0:01:05.391
she had no verbal skills at all,[br]at that point.

0:01:05.391,0:01:09.032
[Eerie music]

0:01:09.032,0:01:11.321
The last time I was on this street

0:01:11.321,0:01:16.721
was probably 30 years ago.

0:01:16.721,0:01:19.132
Yep, there it is.

0:01:19.132,0:01:20.851
Hasn't changed much.

0:01:20.851,0:01:22.210
The back yard looks the same.

0:01:22.210,0:01:24.427
It's all weeds and dead grass.

0:01:24.427,0:01:30.840
Looks the same as it did in 1970.

0:01:30.840,0:01:33.161
[Narrator] The house belonged[br]to Clark Wiley.

0:01:33.161,0:01:34.788
A loner, Clark had turned his

0:01:34.788,0:01:35.910
back on the world,

0:01:35.910,0:01:37.142
after his mother had been killed

0:01:37.142,0:01:39.250
in a hit and run accident.

0:01:39.250,0:01:40.890
After the accident,

0:01:40.890,0:01:42.060
things in the Wiley house

0:01:42.060,0:01:47.231
would never be the same again.

0:01:47.231,0:01:50.060
[Sgt. Linley] The house was[br]completely dark.

0:01:50.060,0:01:52.610
All the blinds were drawn.

0:01:52.610,0:01:54.515
There were no toys.

0:01:54.515,0:01:55.999
No clothes.

0:01:55.999,0:01:57.711
Nothing that would ever[br]indicate to you

0:01:57.711,0:02:00.347
that a child of any age[br]lived there.

0:02:00.347,0:02:04.590
[Eerie music. Passing cars whoosh.]

0:02:04.590,0:02:06.979
The child's bedroom was

0:02:06.979,0:02:10.610
back in this corner.

0:02:10.610,0:02:12.609
That was the bedroom.

0:02:12.609,0:02:14.690
The, uh, windows were covered

0:02:14.690,0:02:17.120
to about 3 inches from the top,

0:02:17.120,0:02:18.998
which was the only natural light

0:02:18.998,0:02:20.291
that had ever come in there,

0:02:20.291,0:02:21.292
in all the time the child was

0:02:21.292,0:02:23.101
in the bedroom.

0:02:23.101,0:02:24.831
The entire furnishing to the bedroom

0:02:24.831,0:02:26.150
consisted of a cage,

0:02:26.150,0:02:29.979
with a, uh, pull-down chicken wire lid,

0:02:29.979,0:02:33.566
and some type of -- piece of wire,

0:02:33.566,0:02:35.660
securing it, when they closed it down.

0:02:35.660,0:02:37.861
There was a potty chair,

0:02:37.861,0:02:41.033
with some kind of homemade[br]strapping device.

0:02:41.033,0:02:42.605
[Narrator] For thirteen years,

0:02:42.605,0:02:43.970
Genie had spent her nights

0:02:43.970,0:02:45.932
locked in bed,

0:02:45.932,0:02:49.130
her days strapped [br]to a potty chair.

0:02:49.130,0:02:50.231
During that time,

0:02:50.231,0:02:51.771
Clark had ordered his son John,

0:02:51.771,0:02:52.941
and wife Irene,

0:02:52.941,0:02:55.679
never to talk to her.

0:02:55.679,0:02:57.460
In her darkened room,

0:02:57.460,0:02:58.668
she had led a life

0:02:58.668,0:03:00.659
or near total isolation.

0:03:00.659,0:03:03.743
[Eerie music]

0:03:03.743,0:03:04.762
Even close neighbors

0:03:04.762,0:03:05.987
were completely unaware

0:03:05.987,0:03:07.812
of her presence.

0:03:07.812,0:03:09.618
[Neighbor] I came home from work,

0:03:09.618,0:03:10.842
and the police was here,

0:03:10.842,0:03:12.170
and they came to question us.

0:03:12.170,0:03:13.167
That's when we found --

0:03:13.167,0:03:14.618
found out what, you know,

0:03:14.618,0:03:15.918
happened, and uh, you know,

0:03:15.918,0:03:17.750
that they had a little girl.

0:03:17.750,0:03:20.918
Nobody knew. Nobody knew before.

0:03:20.918,0:03:23.041
And, uh, then we found out

0:03:23.041,0:03:24.770
what happened, how she was treated.

0:03:24.770,0:03:27.031
I mean, everybody was shocked,

0:03:27.031,0:03:29.421
and, just -- unbelievable.

0:03:29.421,0:03:31.350
For their whole marriage,

0:03:31.350,0:03:34.480
Clark had imposed his will on Irene.

0:03:34.480,0:03:35.915
Blind with cataracts,

0:03:35.915,0:03:38.184
she had been too scared to resist.

0:03:38.184,0:03:40.485
But one day, something broke.

0:03:40.485,0:03:42.570
While Clark was out buying groceries,

0:03:42.570,0:03:44.711
she seized her chance, and fled.

0:03:44.711,0:03:46.489
It was the first glimpse[br]the world would have

0:03:46.489,0:03:49.084
of Clark and Irene's dark secret.

0:03:49.084,0:03:50.712
[Sgt. Linley] I met Clark and Irene

0:03:50.712,0:03:52.611
at Temple City sheriff station,

0:03:52.611,0:03:54.960
and they were both [br]under arrest, at the time.

0:03:54.960,0:03:56.598
When we interviewed Irene,

0:03:56.598,0:03:58.123
she would make no mention

0:03:58.123,0:03:59.676
of the family, whatsoever;

0:03:59.676,0:04:01.415
particularly, the children.

0:04:01.415,0:04:03.690
I attempted, along with my partner,

0:04:03.690,0:04:05.061
to interview Clark.

0:04:05.061,0:04:06.511
He refused to talk to us.

0:04:06.511,0:04:07.741
He wouldn't say a word.

0:04:07.741,0:04:08.621
He never even acknowledged

0:04:08.621,0:04:10.277
that he understood[br]what we were talking about.

0:04:10.277,0:04:11.180
[Reporter] Mr. Wiley?

0:04:11.180,0:04:12.019
[Clark] Yes ma'am.

0:04:12.019,0:04:13.241
Why did you keep your daughter

0:04:13.241,0:04:14.639
in a room --

0:04:14.639,0:04:15.934
[Lawyer] Mr. Wiley has no comment.

0:04:15.934,0:04:16.900
[Clark] No comment.

0:04:16.900,0:04:18.719
[Lawyer] We haven't had time to discuss[br]the charges.

0:04:18.719,0:04:20.229
We haven't even seen them.

0:04:20.229,0:04:22.168
[Narrator] Unable to face the truth,

0:04:22.168,0:04:24.961
Clark took matters into his own hands.

0:04:24.961,0:04:27.641
[Eerie music]

0:04:27.641,0:04:28.678
[News announcer] This morning,

0:04:28.678,0:04:29.741
the authorities reported

0:04:29.741,0:04:31.480
that 70 year old Clark Wiley

0:04:31.480,0:04:32.910
shot and killed himself,

0:04:32.910,0:04:34.279
just before he was to go to court

0:04:34.279,0:04:35.089
and be arraigned

0:04:35.089,0:04:36.832
for child abuse.

0:04:36.832,0:04:39.130
[Narrator] After 13 years,

0:04:39.130,0:04:41.271
Genie was, at last, free.

0:04:41.271,0:04:43.682
For scientists, she was just the case

0:04:43.682,0:04:46.531
they had been waiting for.

0:04:46.531,0:04:49.278
For 13 years,

0:04:49.278,0:04:50.761
Genie had lived a life

0:04:50.761,0:04:52.989
of complete isolation.

0:04:52.989,0:04:55.030
Raised in a city bedroom,

0:04:55.030,0:04:57.222
Genie was as much a feral child

0:04:57.222,0:04:58.210
as if she had been

0:04:58.210,0:05:00.340
brought up by wolves.

0:05:00.340,0:05:02.360
At 13, she was the size

0:05:02.360,0:05:04.161
of a six year old.

0:05:04.161,0:05:05.221
Worst of all,

0:05:05.221,0:05:07.203
she had never been taught to speak.

0:05:07.203,0:05:08.415
The question now:

0:05:08.415,0:05:12.300
Could she ever learn?

0:05:12.300,0:05:14.663
[Traffic softly whooshes.]

0:05:14.663,0:05:17.417
Genie's case was so [br]scientifically important,

0:05:17.417,0:05:19.900
the government funded[br]a team of scientists

0:05:19.900,0:05:22.315
to help answer the many questions[br]she posed.

0:05:22.315,0:05:23.799
[Clomps up the steps.]

0:05:23.799,0:05:26.630
Two of the scientists

0:05:26.630,0:05:29.220
who would become especially important[br]to Genie

0:05:29.220,0:05:31.621
were child psychologist James Kent,

0:05:31.621,0:05:33.369
and linguist Susan Curtiss.

0:05:33.369,0:05:35.570
[Susan] So good to see you.

0:05:35.570,0:05:37.590
[Narrator] Neither had ever

0:05:37.590,0:05:38.721
encountered a case

0:05:38.721,0:05:40.921
as extreme as Genie's.

0:05:40.921,0:05:47.510
[James Kent] We looked at her

0:05:47.510,0:05:50.599
as a newborn, in a way,

0:05:50.599,0:05:51.841
even though we know she hadn't.

0:05:51.841,0:05:53.184
She came with 13 years

0:05:53.184,0:05:54.899
of memories and experiences,

0:05:54.899,0:05:56.202
not all of them wonderful.

0:05:56.202,0:05:57.780
Most of them not, I think.

0:05:57.780,0:05:59.090
And so, we thought we needed

0:05:59.090,0:06:00.950
to start to expose her

0:06:00.950,0:06:02.762
to what the would was going to

0:06:02.762,0:06:03.770
be like for her,

0:06:03.770,0:06:05.251
outside the hospital bed.

0:06:05.251,0:06:06.581
[Narrator] To Genie,

0:06:06.581,0:06:08.991
everything was a new experience.

0:06:08.991,0:06:11.321
[James Kent] We did what you would do

0:06:11.321,0:06:13.501
with your own kids,

0:06:13.501,0:06:15.110
if you were introducing them[br]to the world.

0:06:15.110,0:06:16.369
Take them out,

0:06:16.369,0:06:18.303
hold them up, and show them. [Chuckles]

0:06:18.303,0:06:19.711
Sort of judge, from how they reacted,

0:06:19.711,0:06:20.630
whether this was too much,

0:06:20.630,0:06:21.549
or not enough.

0:06:21.549,0:06:22.301
And you could move on,

0:06:22.301,0:06:23.458
and do the next thing.

0:06:23.458,0:06:24.416
[Narrator] Genie was making

0:06:24.416,0:06:25.632
amazing progress.

0:06:25.632,0:06:27.290
As the experts looked on,

0:06:27.290,0:06:29.332
they realized that she might[br]be the answer

0:06:29.332,0:06:31.176
to the question that

0:06:31.176,0:06:33.740
had troubled science for so long.

0:06:33.740,0:06:35.361
[Susan Curtiss] So, we

0:06:35.361,0:06:37.426
seized this wonderful opportunity

0:06:37.426,0:06:39.020
that she provided us,

0:06:39.020,0:06:41.111
in as loving a way as we could,

0:06:41.111,0:06:44.571
but, using it to...

0:06:44.571,0:06:46.940
finally get our chance to

0:06:46.940,0:06:48.449
address, head on,

0:06:48.449,0:06:50.338
specific hypotheses,

0:06:50.338,0:06:51.324
and notions about

0:06:51.324,0:06:52.426
human language,

0:06:52.426,0:06:53.979
and the human mind.

0:06:53.979,0:06:56.411
[Narrator] These hypotheses

0:06:56.411,0:06:58.361
were based on the latest ideas

0:06:58.361,0:07:01.050
about how children's brains developed.

0:07:01.050,0:07:02.435
According to the theory,

0:07:02.435,0:07:03.300
young children

0:07:03.300,0:07:04.790
could only learn certain things

0:07:04.790,0:07:06.174
at certain times,

0:07:06.174,0:07:08.152
called 'critical periods.'

0:07:08.152,0:07:09.665
Language was one of these

0:07:09.665,0:07:11.081
'critical periods.'

0:07:11.081,0:07:12.412
According to the theory,

0:07:12.412,0:07:14.401
Genie, who was now a teenager,

0:07:14.401,0:07:16.941
had missed her chance forever.

0:07:16.941,0:07:19.543
But, incredibly,

0:07:19.543,0:07:20.678
Genie seemed to be

0:07:20.678,0:07:22.451
proving the theory wrong.

0:07:22.451,0:07:23.847
As this footage shows,

0:07:23.847,0:07:25.555
Genie was blossoming.

0:07:25.555,0:07:26.660
Not only was she delighted

0:07:26.660,0:07:28.131
by the world around her,

0:07:28.131,0:07:29.380
but she was learning the words

0:07:29.380,0:07:31.533
for the new things she was seeing.

0:07:31.533,0:07:37.011
[Susan Curtiss] She was extremely

0:07:37.011,0:07:39.340
interested in everything around her.

0:07:39.340,0:07:40.850
She wanted to know the word

0:07:40.850,0:07:42.060
for everything around her.

0:07:42.060,0:07:44.127
She wanted to engage people

0:07:44.127,0:07:45.490
all around her.

0:07:45.490,0:07:47.310
She was not mentally deficient.

0:07:47.310,0:07:48.400
Her lights were on,

0:07:48.400,0:07:50.009
and everyone who worked with her,

0:07:50.009,0:07:53.110
from teachers, to therapists,

0:07:53.110,0:07:54.949
to me, knew

0:07:54.949,0:07:56.680
that she was not retarded.

0:07:56.680,0:07:58.520
It was clear as day.

0:07:58.520,0:08:01.771
And, as she began to learn

0:08:01.771,0:08:02.949
more and more words,

0:08:02.949,0:08:04.090
hundreds of words,

0:08:04.090,0:08:05.109
much more rapidly

0:08:05.109,0:08:07.149
than they ever imagined,

0:08:07.149,0:08:09.079
and stringing them together,

0:08:09.079,0:08:10.916
I began to think that maybe

0:08:10.916,0:08:12.415
I will be wrong.

0:08:12.415,0:08:13.791
Maybe she will be the one

0:08:13.791,0:08:15.269
who will prove

0:08:15.269,0:08:18.200
that this hypothesis is incorrect.

0:08:18.200,0:08:19.929
[Narrator] But Genie could not escape

0:08:19.929,0:08:22.109
the effects of her past so easily.

0:08:22.109,0:08:23.359
She was still haunted

0:08:23.359,0:08:25.420
by her traumatic upbringing,

0:08:25.420,0:08:26.561
trapped by the memories

0:08:26.561,0:08:28.801
of the awful fate she had suffered.

0:08:28.801,0:08:32.251
Linguistically, she had stopped[br]making progress.

0:08:32.251,0:08:33.843
[Susan Curtiss] She learned tons of words.

0:08:33.843,0:08:35.799
She has an enormous vocabulary.

0:08:35.799,0:08:37.490
But language is not words.

0:08:37.490,0:08:39.737
Language is grammar.

0:08:39.737,0:08:42.497
Language is sentences.

0:08:42.497,0:08:44.191
How do you make a sentence?

0:08:44.191,0:08:45.819
What can be a sentence?

0:08:45.819,0:08:47.060
What is a sentence?

0:08:47.060,0:08:48.250
How do you automatically know

0:08:48.250,0:08:49.999
something is a sentence?

0:08:49.999,0:08:54.058
So, it wasn't because she was[br]cognitively deficient,

0:08:54.058,0:08:55.841
in other respects.

0:08:55.841,0:08:59.215
It was because she was[br]cognitively deficient

0:08:59.215,0:09:02.691
in this island of human mind,

0:09:02.691,0:09:05.242
the mental faculty that we call[br]'grammar.'

0:09:05.242,0:09:06.930
[Narrator] At the time[br]Genie was found,

0:09:06.930,0:09:09.079
brain science was in its infancy.

0:09:09.079,0:09:11.030
Today, we have a much clearer picture

0:09:11.030,0:09:12.469
of what actually happens

0:09:12.469,0:09:16.820
in cases of extreme neglect,[br]like Genie's.

0:09:16.820,0:09:17.882
[Dr. Bruce Perry] In Genie's brain,

0:09:17.882,0:09:20.990
the left part of her brain, her cortex,

0:09:20.990,0:09:23.289
that has those neural systems

0:09:23.289,0:09:25.621
responsible for speech and language,

0:09:25.621,0:09:27.548
because she never heard any words,

0:09:27.548,0:09:29.610
and because she was never talked --

0:09:29.610,0:09:31.736
spoken to very often,

0:09:31.736,0:09:33.369
they didn't get stimulated.

0:09:33.369,0:09:34.959
And, because they weren't stimulated,

0:09:34.959,0:09:38.875
they got smaller, and less functional,

0:09:38.875,0:09:41.257
and got disconnected, and ultimately,

0:09:41.257,0:09:44.618
that part of the brain literally,[br]physically changes.

0:09:44.618,0:09:45.558
[Narrator] Today,

0:09:45.558,0:09:47.431
with modern imaging technology,

0:09:47.431,0:09:49.278
we can actually see what happens

0:09:49.278,0:09:51.588
in the brains of feral children.

0:09:51.588,0:09:54.029
The effects are shocking.

0:09:54.029,0:09:56.116
Without normal stimulation,

0:09:56.116,0:09:58.730
their brains are smaller, and malformed.

0:09:58.730,0:10:00.748
The earlier this neglect begins,

0:10:00.748,0:10:02.590
and the longer it carries on,

0:10:02.590,0:10:04.966
the worse the damage will be.

0:10:04.966,0:10:06.500
Starved of stimulation,

0:10:06.500,0:10:07.990
Genie's brain had simply

0:10:07.990,0:10:10.540
not developed the capacity[br]for language.

0:10:10.540,0:10:12.349
And, now that she was [br]a teenager,

0:10:12.349,0:10:14.771
she would never be able to learn.

0:10:14.771,0:10:15.912
Despite this,

0:10:15.912,0:10:17.471
Genie continued to be a close part

0:10:17.471,0:10:19.030
of everyone's life.

0:10:19.030,0:10:24.709
But, there was more trouble ahead.

0:10:24.709,0:10:25.468
[James Kent] Children have to

0:10:25.468,0:10:26.801
belong to somebody when they grow up,

0:10:26.801,0:10:28.120
and she was still a child,

0:10:28.120,0:10:30.021
and she needed a family to belong to.

0:10:30.021,0:10:31.511
So, that's what we would've liked.

0:10:31.511,0:10:33.789
A family that she could belong to.

0:10:33.789,0:10:38.008
And, that's not what happened,[br]unfortunately.

0:10:38.008,0:10:39.067
What did happen

0:10:39.067,0:10:40.739
um, is about, I think,

0:10:40.739,0:10:43.751
the worst outcome[br]we would've envisioned.

0:10:43.751,0:10:45.709
On her 18th birthday,

0:10:45.709,0:10:47.809
Genie moved back [br]with her mother Irene,

0:10:47.809,0:10:49.149
into the house in which

0:10:49.149,0:10:51.441
she had been so terribly abused.

0:10:51.441,0:10:52.832
But after only a few weeks,

0:10:52.832,0:10:55.450
it was clear that Irene couldn't cope.

0:10:55.450,0:10:58.070
From here, Genie was moved[br]into state care,

0:10:58.070,0:11:01.179
with terrible consequences.

0:11:01.179,0:11:03.444
[Susan Curtiss] I was a student,

0:11:03.444,0:11:05.067
and people wouldn't listen to me.

0:11:05.067,0:11:06.830
People who needed to intervene

0:11:06.830,0:11:08.467
did not listen to me.

0:11:08.467,0:11:10.933
And, so, I spent lots and lots of time

0:11:10.933,0:11:13.258
on the phone, pleading with people

0:11:13.258,0:11:15.328
to intervene, and save this person

0:11:15.328,0:11:19.720
who had had the worst experience[br]of deprivation,

0:11:19.720,0:11:23.423
and isolation, in all recorded[br]medical history.

0:11:23.423,0:11:24.291
[Narrator] Genie moved

0:11:24.291,0:11:25.542
from home to home,

0:11:25.542,0:11:26.851
sometimes with the very people

0:11:26.851,0:11:28.930
who served as her therapists.

0:11:28.930,0:11:31.218
This potential conflict of interests

0:11:31.218,0:11:33.111
raised tensions among the many people

0:11:33.111,0:11:34.929
involved in her life.

0:11:34.929,0:11:37.969
A tug of war erupted over the child.

0:11:37.969,0:11:40.177
As Genie's condition deteriorated,

0:11:40.177,0:11:42.027
Irene decided that Susan Curtiss

0:11:42.027,0:11:45.339
and the other academics had become[br]too close to Genie.

0:11:45.339,0:11:47.971
A lawsuit followed.

0:11:47.971,0:11:51.210
[Susan Curtiss] I went from being asked

0:11:51.210,0:11:52.637
to be her guardian,

0:11:52.637,0:11:54.178
to, one week later,

0:11:54.178,0:11:56.120
being prevented from seeing her,

0:11:56.120,0:11:57.330
or phoning her.

0:11:57.330,0:11:58.849
Ever since then, I've been prevented

0:11:58.849,0:12:01.218
from having any contact, at all.

0:12:01.218,0:12:03.469
So, although I have lots of,

0:12:03.469,0:12:05.709
you know, I'm still a scientist,

0:12:05.709,0:12:07.729
I'm still interested in knowing things

0:12:07.729,0:12:09.940
about her language now, and

0:12:09.940,0:12:12.094
all kinds of interesting things

0:12:12.094,0:12:14.159
I would like to pursue academically,

0:12:14.159,0:12:17.779
primarily I would just like to see her.

0:12:17.779,0:12:19.709
[Narrator] Now a ward of the court,

0:12:19.709,0:12:21.700
Genie lives in an adult care home

0:12:21.700,0:12:23.432
somewhere in Los Angeles,

0:12:23.432,0:12:24.930
prevented from seeing the people

0:12:24.930,0:12:26.842
who once meant so much to her.