Before the Turpin Family, There was the Collingswood Boys

Before the Turpin Family, there was Jackson brothers aka Collingswood Boys from New Jersey who were in the same positions as them.

By Gladys W. MuturiPublished 2 years ago • 5 min read

Jackson brothers on the Oprah Winfrey show

Fort Worth,Texas 2018

Seventeen-year-old Jordan Turpin, escaped out of the family home flees away from the house, she takes out her phone and calls the police. She tells the police she ran away from her home, her brothers and sisters are chained up, and her parents: David and Louise Turpin are abusive to them.

After a sheriff deputy arrives and sees Jordan waiting for the police while on the phone with the dispatcher. Jordan shows proof to the sheriff that her brothers and sisters are chained up and have been starving them to death.

David and Louie were arrested and charged for torture, 12 counts of false imprisonment, seven counts of abuse of a dependent adult, and six counts of child abuse and were sentenced to life in prison.

Leaving some young children in the foster care system while some of the adult Turpin children went off on her own but still ongoing to work with the system to see their siblings.

But Before there was the Turpin family, there were Four brothers from New Jersey that were in the same positions as the Turpin siblings before they were talked about on the media only this time they were young black boys from Collingswood, New Jersey facing starvation, physical and mental abuse by the hands of their adoptive parents causing their faces to look skinny and their heights to shrink.

Raymond and Vanessa and their adoptive children including with Bruce Jackson, aged 19 years and weighing 45 pounds (20 kg), is standing next to Vanessa Jackson; the other three boys being starved are standing together like a happy family.

Collingswood, New Jersey, 2003

Raymond and Vanessa Jackson are a married church going couple. They were a type of family that looked like you want to invite to family fun events or cookouts. The Jacksons had six adopted children: Bruce; Tre'Shawn, 14; Terrell, 10; Michael, 9; Keziah, 12, and Jacee, 5. They also planned to adopt a 10-year-old foster child, Breanna.

Bruce,19; Keith, 14,Tyrone, 10; and Michael,9 all four brothers weighing under 136 pounds.

They received an annual subsidy of approximately $30,000 to care for their foster and adopted children. Dozens of friends and acquaintances thought that the Jacksons were model parents who adopted troubled children with a host of medical problems – children no one else wanted. They believed that it was their duty and that Jesus would guide them. They would attend church services church picnics and the boys sang gospel on stage. Throughout the Jackson family household, the four boys have dealt with physical and emotional from their adoptive parents. Vanessa Jackson would force fed them a steady diet of raw pancake batter, peanut butter, and cereal. At times, when the boys get hungry they would eat dry paint from the walls and dry wood causing their teeth to rot. They had suffer head lice, bruises, and malnutrition while their adoptive daughters get fed and not suffer any abuse from the Jacksons.

No one including relatives of the Jackson contacted the police. When people asked about the boys why they were getting thin, Raymond would lie and make excuse for them by saying the boys suffered from an eating disorder. On October 19, 2003, Bruce looking disoriented, shoeless, cold, and extremely malnourished escapes from the family home to try to find his brothers some food. He rummaged through the trash can until the neighbors spotted him. They thought he was a little lost boy looking for food. When they asked Bruce how old he was. He told them, "He was 19." They couldn't believe it and contacted the police. When police arrived at the home, they found a lock on the refrigerator and an alarm on the kitchen door. Raymond and Vanessa were arrested and charged for 8 counts of aggravated assault and 20 counts of endangerment for failing to provide adequate nutrition, medical and dental care, and a clean environment for the four boys, who ranged in age from 10 to 19 as of May 2004. Raymond Jackson died of complications from a stroke on November 14, 2004, before the case went to trial. In an interview with a New York magazine shortly before his death, Jackson claimed that 45-pound Bruce Jackson had often gorged himself on food and had lied about conditions in the home.

Bruce Jackson Testimony:

"You yelled at us, cursed at us, hit us with brooms, rulers, sticks, shoes and belt buckles; I still have the marks to prove it. I want to see Ms. Jackson go to jail for life.You were mean to me my whole life so you deserve the same thing you did to me for the rest of your life. You took my childhood."

Vanessa pleaded guilty and was sentenced to seven years in prison.

Bruce Jackson, then 21, heading to court with his lawyer, Michael Critchley, left, and another unidentified man, Friday at the Camden County Hall of Justice in Camden, N.J., before testifying at the sentencing hearing for his adoptive mother.

The brothers would appear on the Oprah Winfrey show, healthy and to share updates on how they are doing since they have been rescued. The only brother who didn’t show up was Bruce.

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Three out of the brothers: Terrell, Keith, and Michael have been adopted into a new family and treated them way better than the Jackson family.

As for Bruce, he has lived in a state-supervised group home for the developmentally disabled in Gloucester County and has no contact with his brothers. According to the Inquirer, his brother Terrell who was 16 at the time told Inquirer said they wouldn't allow them to see him and have guarded like he is the president. No whereabouts on where they are now. They are probably older now and living their private lives.However, I have found Tre'shawn twitter page and hasn't posted anything yet so far.