When her mother passed away, Beth was left in the care of her father who failed to look after her. He also failed to take care of her brother Jonathan, who was only one month old at the time of his mother’s death.
The two children were rescued from their father by child welfare services and adopted by a Christian couple Tim and Julie. They tried to provide a loving home for the siblings but were shocked when they found out that Beth and Jonathan had been suffering sexual abuse from their father until 19 months of age.
She was diagnosed with RAD, reactive attachment disorder, and started receiving intensive behavioral modification therapy from Connell Watkins. The therapist imposed severe restrictions on Beth in order to teach her empathy and compassion, which led to a significant improvement in her behavior within a year.
She had a lot of behavioural problems when she was young, which is why it came as a shock to the adoptive parents that she wanted to kill them. She had a tendency to attack them and even tried to stab them as she slept.
After being cured, she is now a nurse who is currently living in Flagstaff, Arizona with her husband. She has also co-authored a book called More Than A Thread Of Hope with her second adoptive mother, Nancy.
Her psychopathic behaviour was triggered by her childhood, which is why it became a worldwide sensation when HBO released a documentary on her in 1990. The film included footage of a six-year-old Beth describing in detail and without emotion the abuse she had suffered and that she had subsequently inflicted on others, including sticking pins into her brother and sexually abusing him, killing baby birds, torturing the family dog, and even wishing to kill her parents.
