Edith Riley
Toronto Daily Star, April 1 1932
(Possible trigger warnings ahead.) A TIME magazine article from January 1932 told the horrible story of Edith Riley. She was a 12-year-old girl who had been kept in a windowless closet for four years and had been regularly beaten. She had been kept so hidden that boarders at the family's residence did not know that she existed. When she was finally rescued, she was so malnourished that her legs could not support her and she weighed only 38 pounds.
Her father and stepmother were sentenced to two years in jail, and Edith was sent to live with her grandmother. According to this article, she was still living with her grandmother and attending high school in 1940. I could find no record of her after that.
My search also turned up a website entry that included a photo of Edith's first Christmas (at the age of 13).
Created October 20, 2025.