Joel Kohnert, a Fire Rescue lieutenant in Broward County, Florida, and his wife Jennifer had seven children at home. Six of them, biological, slept in furnished rooms without restrictions. The seventh, their 12-year-old adopted daughter, slept on an air mattress in an empty room that they locked from the outside every night.
For nearly three years, according to the investigation, the girl had no access to a bathroom at night. She had to urinate and defecate on the floor, and in the morning clean it up with her own clothes, vinegar, and bleach. She then washed those clothes in a bucket outside and bathed in the yard, regardless of the weather. A noise machine at full volume kept her from hearing the rest of the family, and her bedroom window was blocked: no way out in case of an emergency.
Everything came to light in February 2026, when the minor told a school official. Kohnert and his wife were arrested on March 31. At the hearing, their lawyer described them as ‘devout Christians.’ Judge Frank Ledee did not let it slide: the facts, he said, spoke for themselves.