setting out, if only for a moment, for new possibilities, unaware that in the world she was entering, the innocent could also be pray. >> that is all for decision of dateline, i'm natalie morales, thank you for watching. dateline, i'm natalie i'm craig melvin, and this is dateline. my parents were supposed to help these kids. you would expect this to be a good, christian place. no parent would have sent their child there, knowing what happened. >> what was it like in there? >> it was hell. i was sexually abused. >> there? >> yes, sir. i felt like i was nothing. >> there were numerous concerns about abuse going on at this facility. >> my dad would pick a girl up by her neck, throw to the ground. >> he would trip you and shove

you. >> you knock her out! >> yes, sir. >> i mean it. >> i just posted the tiktok. >> knock her. out >> it just blew. up >> these allegations need to be looked into. >> how could i do this to my child? thinking i was hoping. are >> your parents deny everything, and he said it's not true. >> what was going on was wrong. something needed to be done. >> hello, welcome to dateline. on the surface, circle of hope school appear to be a refuge, or so-called troubled girls can receive a christian education. some students said, behind closed doors, they suffered abuse. their secrets remained in the shadows until an unlikely ally launched a quest to bring it to light. here is keith morrison, with a

broken circle. >> this guy is endless here, at the end of the california desert. it's her heaven, so far from the tree tangled sky, where she grew up. the woods of missouri. and the yellow farmhouse, where the story begins. her father's farmhouse, his school. delivered at? >> i do love my dad. >> are you afraid of him? >> i am scared of my dad. >> what a strange, strange thing. to love the person you're afraid of. the father you are afraid of. >> i one point in time, i wasn't afraid of him. he was in 20 is now. >> but she was in which she is now either, which is why she's come back all these years later, to the woods in the old

farmhouse, at her dad school. but, we begin, years ago, and far away, in a place called faris, texas. teresa tucker, a single mom of three was, no other word for it, desperate. it was about her middle daughter, ashley, spiraling out of control. what were you worried about? >> drugs and rebellion. very mouth-y, and so, i didn't know where to turn. >> how old was she at the time? >> 16. >> on that december weekend of 2014, actually was getting kicked out of the ad another rehab. so, teresa called her best friend, the pastor's wife, for help. >> it was my pastor and his wife that told us about circle of hope. >> circle of hope girls ranch and boarding school. it was in missouri, on a farm.

the students followed a strict regimen of chores, school work and bible study. was it important to you that you go to a place where there was going to be some spiritual help? >> at this point, i didn't really care. i just needed her to have help. >> there are hundreds of private residential facilities across the country, promising to reform trouble teams. they range from wilderness programs to therapeutic voting schools to boot camps. then, there are those whose lessons derived from a very particular religious point of view. circle of hope was run by a married couple. boyd and stephen the household are. at the heart of their program, they said, was a strict importer protection of the king james bible. >> she was going to get schooling, and she was going to get counseling. this householder was a nurse and she was going to facilitate her medications. >> most important of all,

perhaps, they had a free bed and could take ashley for just $100 a month. to teresa, it felt like a miracle of sorts. she signed a contract, committing ashli to 18-month stay and then, she said goodbye. the pastor and his wife drove actually to missouri. >> what was it like for you on the trip to that place? >> i was scared. i was really nervous. i didn't know what to expect. my pastor and his wife kept telling me everything is going to be k. you're going to get the help you need. >> where were you first impressions of the place? >> when we first got there, it was at night. it was really dark. >> and there they were in the dark, she said, waiting. boyd and stephanie householder waiting up for her. >> they were nice, they were sweet, they were laughing, joking. you know, i was like, okay, this is a really good place. i'm actually want to get help here. >> but, as soon as the pastor and his wife left, said actually, the householders changed. >> they went from smiling and

laughing to just straight face. and that was it. they didn't show many emotions or anything. >> ashley didn't exactly know why, but she suddenly felt very afraid. she stepped deeper into the farmhouse, into a world of fear. what was it like in their? >> it was hell. it was scary. you were alone. it was basically, while you're in there, survival. >> what was really happening at that ranch? tales of terror from the girls on the inside. coming up -- >> they had girl scrubbing the floor with toothbrushes. >> unless you are physically laying in bed to sleep, you are standing and you are facing the wall. >> all, day every day? >> all day, every day. >> i was like, what is this? >> when dateline continues. when (coughing) ♪ breeze driftin' on by ♪

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daughter tool religious reform school minute tiny community called, humansville, missouri, run by stephanie and boyd householder. teresa, did you have any idea what was happening in that place? >> no, i had no idea. >> amanda householder, however, did. she knew that very well. boyd and stephanie are her parents. >> was your dad well suited to this kind of work? >> yes, because he was a drill

instructor. it was second nature to him to just put people in their place. >> before he started working in reform schools, would household or had been a marine, a trainer of marines. amanda had idolized her strong, commanding father. >> when i was like two or three, i was daddy's little girl. >> he takeover drives in his jeep, she said. listen to music together. but, things began to change, said amanda, when her mother persuaded the extra sergeant to start going to church. there are many versions of christiane it he, of course. this one -- do you member what the sermons were, like oh with the preaching was? like >> a lot of the sermons i remember were a lot based on fear and burning in hell for eternity. >> and some, she remembers, talked about how to disciplined children. how to beat the scene out of them. >> it was to spare the rod, spoil the child. >> it was through someone he

met a church. amanda that got his first job at a chris reform school. the family later moved to missouri, where boyd worked at a gossipy, a boarding school for rebellious boys. in 2006, when amanda was 15, he decided to open his own school. only this one would be four girls. well is this place like, this physical house, the location? >> it was just a very rundown, homely place. >> dna had drake told us he was she was in there when she was in tenth grade. would you been doing, committing crimes? >> i have never committed a crime. my mom found out that i had become sexually active and that i had tried marijuana for the first time. >> maggie drew arrived in 2007, when she was 15. >> nobody was smiling. i saw the girls and everybody was so quiet. i was like, this is so dismal. what is this?

>> maggie said the girls were afraid from the minute they woke up. >> it was immediately get up, hurry, get dressed, get downstairs. >> for bible starry. and then, chores. bizarre chores. >> they had girl scrubbing the floor with toothbrushes. they had the girls wiping walls down. they had us picking weeds in the middle of the heat, all day. >> they would say, you know, the bible says this, the bible says that. no, that's your interpretation of the bible. that's not with the bible really says. >> you talk back to them like that? >> no. no, no, no. >> why? >> because if we did, we got punished. >> punishment. in fact, it's right here in the handbook. boyd householder promise to help reform especially difficult children by imposing biblical discipline. dna said it didn't seem so

biblical to her. >> he would sit in his chair like this, and say, pushups, and they would start doing pushups. he would kick their hands from underneath them. >> another punishment he called, standing on the wall. >> unless you are physically laying in bed to sleep, you are standing and you are facing a wall. >> all, day every day? >> all day, every day. you have to eat, like, you'd be given one of those old school plastic lunch trays. -- and just hit their trays and their food would go everywhere. >> boyd householder denied that. he said he did not girls down while they did pushups either. but those weren't the only kind of stories we heard. we spoke to more than a dozen former students and three former staff members, whose experience spanned more than a decade. all of them told us that boyd householder did in just a subjective students chores, pushups and other creative

punishments. no, they said, he was physically abusive. >> he would go behind girls and grab them by the base of the neck, behind their neck, like this, like right a behind your ears almost, and he would put a foot out and trip you and shove you, follow down, and shove you with force. >> carpet, gravel. the floor of the chicken pan, it didn't matter, said maggie. >> at that point, he put his fist on the side of your head, and one in the middle of your back so you couldn't get up. >> there was more, said maggie. boyd ordered some of the girls to help to put their weight on the students pressure points. and they did. >> it was up one of those things where it's like a dog eat, where if you fight your way to the top and do what you're told, then it's going to come back at you. >> dna said she found that out the hard way.

just once, when she tried not to press too hard on the girl she was helping restrain. >> he dropped his knee on top of my elbow, and once he did that, and pushes way on top of me, the girl then started screaming and he looked at me and told me, if she wasn't screaming like that, once he let go of me holding her, but i was going to be laying next to her until i peed myself, and said i need to make decisions of who sought i was on. >> the household or they did restrain students when they were violent but never deliberately inflicting pain. and amanda? well, these girls were her age. some of them could've been her friends. except, amanda wasn't a student. and sometimes she was the one handing out discipline. >> i know i had power trips.

i know there were certain girls my dad favored over me and i didn't like them, so i treated them, in the sense, just push, give me 25. >> things she said, think she did, things her father wanted her to do. who's side was amanda on? >> coming up, a stunning new allegation. >> i was sexually abused. >> there? >> yes, sir. >> what happens to you and that's going on? >> i felt disgusting. i felt like i was nothing. i felt like i was never going to be get out of that place. >> when dateline continues. place. place. >> when poise under pressure and poise in her pants. it takes poise.

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see a -- on highway 13 to a church, with a tower and white steeple. marine baptist church. then the girls walked inside, just in their sunday best and church smiles. the smiles were fake said maggie. >> we did whatever we had to make him happy. >> amanda watched it all. she knew what the students were hiding, how her dad treated them behind closed doors. what was it like to see your

dad punishing other kids? >> i think that, to me, is the most traumatizing part because, to me, it was just normal. >> amanda told us, her dad never spare the rod, beating her regularly as a child, using his belt after church. but hearing the girls scream, as they were being punished. >> when you think of souls burning in a lake of fire for eternity, that's with these girls sound like. >> and the screaming is especially hard to forget, she told us. because she helped her dad. >> as a 15 year old, i was forced to restrain the girls, the same way my dad would. >> how did i make you feel? >> i stopped. i refused to go, when they yelled. i would add to make lunch for dinner or had dishes to do. >> did you ever tell you that, just go easy, go on these young's kids? >> i never had the guts. i never had the guts. >> when she was 15, she tried

running away, failed. her diet father did not punishing her, but after that, she said things changed for her. >> i was put on the wall every time my dad walked past, me i was yelled at. i couldn't use the bathroom without permission. i wasn't allowed to eat until my parents brought me food. i could not leave the wall outside of mud as office. >> just standing, facing the wall? >> just ending, facing the wall. >> how long? >> two months. >> amanda was not like the other girls. no one would pick her up and take her away. so, she counted the days until she was old enough to leave. and in 2009, when she was 17, she moved in with her grandma. and then, across the country, to california. a new life, a fresh start. >> i had a really good job. i had my own apartment, i was doing everything a person does. >> even so, she wasn't quite

ready to turn her back on her family. not yet, anyway. in 2011, after her parent posted negative comments about the school online, it might surprise you who it's laos dissed defender was. >> you were online, defending your parents, right? why are you doing that? >> i don't know, other than i kind of felt guilty that it was my family. so, anytime that people would say something, i just felt the need. i didn't want my dad to go to jail. i don't know how to explain it other than that. >> and you have to understand, there were some stories she never heard back then. she never met ashley tucker. the teenager from paris, texas, who arrived at the ranch in 2014. >> behind closed doors, was just as kids, they were monsters. >> actually said it was in that culture of fear that the worst thing happened to her. >> i was sexually abused.

>> there? >> yes, sir. >> the boy was amanda's younger brother, she told us, he was 15 on the time. she said it happened while she was doing chores in one of the buildings on the farm. >> he walked over there, he grabbed me, he pushed me up against one of the walls, and he actually ended up raping me right there. >> what happens to you and that's going on? >> i felt disgusting. i felt like i was nothing. i felt like i was never going to be able to get out of that place. >> she told no one. couldn't tell her mom, she said, because when she got calls from home, someone was always listening. >> they would have their thumb over the little hang-up biden. >> but then, a few months into her stay, actually took a chance. she told her mother that she was losing a lot of weight.

>> -- so i called back, what's going on? well, she's being rebellious, so we put it back on the phone, and that's when ashley finally said, they're starving me. >> and the phone cut out again. teresa had heard enough. as soon as she, could she got in her car and drove from texas to missouri, to see for herself what was going on inside that yellow farmhouse. >> coming up -- >> i'm not going to lie, i hated my mom. i hated her. i couldn't stand. or >> feel guilty? >> yeah. you know, how could i do this to my child? thinking i was helping her. >> when dateline continues. when dateline continues or my money back... i love it! i thought online meant no one to help me, but susan from carvana had all the answers.

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i'm craig melvin. ashli tucker, said she suffered physical and sexual abuse, while attending the circle of hope school. during a call, she believed was monitored, actually informed her mom teresa, that she was being starved. teresa immediately hit the road to bring her daughter home, and alert the authorities. what happens next, we leave

this distraught mother, stunned. back to keith morrison, with a broken circle. >> teresa tucker left her texas home before dawn, to reach her daughter school in missouri. actually she was sure was in trouble. teresa had never laid eyes on a circle of hope girls ranch before. >> when we pulled up, i was kind of just astonished, wow, this is, it really? >> she was so desperate to find actually safe, somewhere healing. she had sent her there on blind faith. she did not like what she saw. >> when ashley came, i seen her. she had lost so much weight, she looked very sick. so i hugged her. and told her we were going home. >> before they left said teresa,

boyd householder handed her this document. >> i had to sign a paper that officially stated that she was not sexually abused and not physically abused there. >> but what a curious thing for a person to have you sign? >> right. >> did ashley tell you on the way home when she had been through? >> it was a very long eight hours. >> i told her basics. i did not go into details. it was too hard. >> the householders son denies ashley's story of rape. and she told us, as awful as it was, she considers him a victim too. of the world he grew up and. she was at the time, less forgiving of her own mother. >> i'm not going to lie, i hated my mom. i hated her. i could not stand her. i could not stand looking at her. >> do you feel guilty? >> yes. you know, how could i do this

to my child. thinking i was helping her? >> teresa did not want it happening to anyone else. ashley begged her, do not report the alleged rape. and so she did not. but teresa did call child protective services, and told them about ashley's other allegations of physical abuse. >> they stated that they were going to go out and check the facility and all that. once they got back with me, they stated that they did not see anything. there was nothing they could do. >> teresa contacted the sheriff's office, to say the same story. nothing happened. >> what teresa did not know, was that she was far from the first or only person to make a complaint to authorities about the circle of hope. a mother told us, she reported the school the year after it opened. as time went on, police records show, more relatives and students told stories of abuse. about a girl covered in

bruises. a runaway, who said she had been choked by boyd household or. in four years later, another runway, who said boyd had grabbed her by the throat. and several times, child protective services went out to visit. except. >> i was told if i said anything negative my life was going to be made miserable. >> boyd coached the girls before they talked to cps investigators and they were sure he was listening she said, eavesdropping from his office on the other side of the wall. >> i remember being asked. are people being starved? and i said no. i was literally terrified about what would happen to me if i was going to be the person that was starved next. because nothing ever came out of these. >> amanda told us her parents had another way of handling the investigators to. >> i was told, when cps came downstairs, to take the girls outside, and basically hide the girls from cps.

>> you hid the girls from the authorities to or check on whether or not they were okay? >> yes. >> do you know your parents said they had an open door policy with cps. that they could come in anytime. is that not the case? >> cps could come in, but like i said, i had to hide them. >> amanda's parents denied that. they said they never hit students from cps. they said they told the girls to be honest with investigators. in any case, none of the reports ever resulted in any action. the school prosper. and parents like teresa, had no way of knowing about the complaints over the years. >> we have no regulations, on any religious facilities. in the state of missouri. >> none? >> none. not at all. this woman is a mystery representative and foreign murder social worker. to these places have to register with the state when they open up? >> no. we have no ability to currently

even know about their existence, i could not even tell you how many of these institutions exist in the state of missouri. >> they are invisible? >> correct. until something that happens. >> it's not just missouri. a 2021 nbc investigation found gaps and investigations around the country. with at least 21 states that did not require religious boarding schools to tell their education departments that they exist. so, who is looking out for these kits? >> currently? >> yes. >> i would say there's been a lot of buck passing. >> systems, once entrenched. cool in especially, can seem unbeatable. impervious to change. but then, one little thing, like the first crack in a damn. >> coming up. fresh allegations from abuse from boys. >> i would watch him grab students, and throw them to a

wall. grab them by a neck and slim them on the rocks outside. get in their face, yell and scream. >> and a desperate move to alert the police. >> i tried to tell them, they're beating. us >> and the cops did not believe? you >> know. >> when dateline continues. >> when dateline continues. when i just love our new alexa. dad, it's a buick. i love that new alexa smell. it's a buick. we need snacks for the team. alexa, take us to the nearest grocery store. getting directions. alexa will get us there in no time. it's a buick. let's be real. don't make me turn this alexa around. oh my. it's painful. the buick enclave, with available alexa built in. ask “alexa, tell me more about buick suvs.” ugh-stipated... feeling weighed down by a backedup gut" with available alexa built in. miralax is different. it works naturally with the water in your body to unblock your gut. ...free your gut. and your mood will follow.

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in the california desert. she had her own babies now. a new family. she was not much interested in her old one. why did you not use your own name and social media for a while? >> because i was constantly getting hit up by girls that left circle of hope, telling me about what was going on. and i did not want to hear it anymore. >> you didn't want to know? >> yeah. >> but there are some things you cannot escape. >> in 2016 or 17, i got a message from a girl, who i never heard of. and in it, in the message, she's telling me my dad raped her. and i'm like no. >> and yet, the message made her think back, to a letter written years before, the words of a no they're angry student. >> i was there when my dad got this letter. and it basically accused my dad, of molesting her. and at that time i was like

that did not happen i know my dad, that did not happen. >> that letter writer was this woman, maggie drew. who came to circle of hope it 15 instate for five years. boyd said it never happened. but now all these years later, amanda needed to know. had maggie been telling the truth? >> she said, i know you have no reason to lie to me, like just be honest. >> maggie, who had never told her story to police, told amanda how boyd had groped her in his private office, after she turned 18. >> and he grabbed my buckets. or he would grab my boo-boo from the side. and then after like the last year so that i was there, he starred trying to kiss me. >> amanda was devastated. she had not always agreed with how her dad ran the school, but this, this was worse than anything she had imagined. she apologized to maggie for

not believing, her all those years ago. >> you are okay. you are okay. >> i am glad you wrote the letter though. i am really, glad because, that letter is how i, started thinking. >> amanda started thinking about all of it. how her parents had raised her. what's she said she saw them due to the children at circle of hope. >> it was not until i had my own kids, that i realized law, what was going on, was happening to other people's kids. >> and she wanted to make things right. she and maggie decided to track down the girls and circle of hope, as many as they could. and to listen to their stories and ask if they were okay. >> it was a big thing for a lot of them to be able to honestly, in a safe space, speak their truth. >> but it was not just kids that circle of hope, who had

serk stories about her father. amanda began hearing from former students of the boys religious reform school where her dad used to work. >> this man remember him very well. >> i watched him grab students and chuck them to a wall, grab them by the neck and slammed them on the rocks outside. get in their face and yell and scream. >> he denied that. but amanda listened, and remembered her childhood at agapa, watching boys being dragged off to a room known as the padded palace. >> when you open the door, it would go into this weird dark carpeted room. and that was the restraining room. all you would see was later, these boys being dragged back down from this room. and they are bloody and bruised. >> we talked to a dozen former agapa students, and former employees, who told us they witnessed staff mistreating kids over a number of years.

agapa did not respond to our request for comments. on its website, it states its staff does not participate in corporal punishment. and they have all been trained and proper restraining techniques. colton, insisted he was be in there, years ago. and tried to reported to a sheriff's deputy, who picked him up after he ran away from the school. >> i tried to tell them, they are beating us. and he did not listen. he cuffed me, put me in the back of the car, and dropped me back off at agapa. that's the last i heard of. it never saw cps. nothing. >> and the cops did not believe? you >> know. >> agapa, like circle of hope, was seen in the community is doing good work. helping troubled kids. amanda said it was not unusual to see deputies hanging out at circle of hope. sometimes doing target practice with her dad. maggie said, boyd boasted about. it >> they had ties with all

the cops in the area. if we ran away or said anything, we would be immediately brought back. and nobody would believe us. >> it was hard for a man gets you a magic if you listen to her now. and hard to understand how her dad school continue to operate. because in 2018, investigators from missouri's department of social services, issued two findings of abuse against amanda stat. one for physical abuse and one for sexual abuse, which boyd is challenging in court. but remember, the religious school was not registered with any state agency. there was no laces to suspends. no agency to go shut it down. >> this facility continue to operate. it flies in the face of everything we know about child welfare policy. >> so girls kept arriving at circle of hope. what could amanda do? and then, a few unguarded

seconds caught on tape. and that damn, with the crack in it, gave way. >> coming up. knock her out. yes, sir i mean. it >> the tiktok video that triggered a firestorm. >> knock her out. >> what's it like to hear, that even? now >> it made me sick to my stomach. >> when dateline continues. to my stomach. >> when dateline continues >> when dateline continues

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the man she once idolized, is now a man she was determined to shut down. if cps in the police weren't going to do it, amanda decided, she'd fight back her way. this softspoken daughter went where she knew people talk the loudest, social media. tiktok. >> if you've ever suffered extreme abuse to despair the, roswell the child. >> a platform known for its johnson jokes, than what she had in mind. >> i want you to know that i see you, survivor. >> she posted interviews with former students, answered strangers questions. >> no, i do not. i absolutely do not regret it. >> a similar case against her

parents, day after day. >> we need to let the whole united states know what's boyd and stephanie are capable of. >> and millions noticed. especially after she posted this. a 21-second video, recorded by a family friend, inside circle of hope on his cell phone. >> knock her out. >> yes, sir. >> i mean it. >> the voice you can hear is boyd householders. he's telling his students to hit one of the other kids. >> knock her out! >> yes, sir. >> that goes for the rest of you. if she clinches or fist, like she's going to hit you, that's a threat. knock her out! >> yes, sir. >> knock her out. what's it like to hear that? even now. >> hearing his voice in that tone made me sick to my stomach. but seeing the video, i felt like i was right back at their house.

that scene is exactly would happens every single time. my mom is in the background like nothing is going on, playing with her dogs. like, oh, you cute little thing. my dad is just going off, like nothing. >> yes, sir. yes, sir. >> all of the little lesser's. if you don't say yes, sir, you can be slapped across the face. you have to say yes, sir. >> wow. >> knock her out. >> 21 seconds. that struck a nerve. >> yes, sir. >> i was floored by the amount of support and sharing and viewing that was from the tiktok video. i was like, they are listening. people are actually listening to us, for once. >> including a sheriff's deputy. after watching the video, he

messaged amanda. there are some people that want to help. >> these girls deserve to have their complaints investigated properly. >> that deputies boss's cedar county sheriff, james mccreary. >> what was it about the tiktok video that struck such a nerve? >> some of the allegations were pretty serious. >> serious enough, the sheriff said, to launch a brand-new investigation. his deputy went back in compiled all those years of complaints that it never gone anywhere. amanda connected him with former students and staff. he put together a case file. is that a fairly thick file? >> yeah, it's about five inches thick, probably. >> are you seeing a pattern of behavior on the part of the people running that particular school? >> well, it seems to be that way, yes. having said that, i think we need to be patient and see where this investigation takes us. >> the sheriff's investigation was just the beginning.

in august, 2020, authorities removed two dozen girls from the school. two weeks later, state investigators descended with their own search warrant. soon after, missouri's attorney general agreed to assist a local prosecutor with his investigation. why did it take so long? >> you know, over the years, we took several of the reports, the complaints to the prosecutors office. >> any idea why didn't proceed with any, you know, any further action? >> my belief and what possibly occurred is, some of the alleged victims may have been afraid to tell us what was going on. >> if anyone thought that the sheriff's department was somehow protecting the schools, when i knew that things were happening in there, that wasn't good for those students, if somebody thought that, would they be wrong? >> they would be wrong. yes, sir. >> finally, in september, 2020,

amanda got the news she had been hoping for. her parents shuttered circle of hope for good. >> how did it feel that girls were being pulled out of that place, and eventually was closed down? >> happy. >> what does it say to you that it takes a tiktok video to finally get authorities to move to protect children? >> it tells me that the system is very flawed. >> something representative carrie angle is trying to fix. she introduced a bill requiring religious schools to register and be held accountable, if they're found abusing kids. in july 2021, missouri governor, mike parsons, signed a bill into law. several of the householders former students sought accountability to. five jane does found civil lawsuits against boyd and stephanie householder. two accused boyd of sexual assault. in a written statement, that householders told us that the great majority of their hundreds of students benefit from what they called, a

christian bass discipline program school. while they denied liability, the couple settled the complaint for an undisclosed amount. in march of 2021, boyd and stephanie householder were both arrested. the missouri attorney generals house found more than 100 criminal charges against them. boy, it himself, faces nearly 80 felony charges, including multiple counts for statutory rape and sought to me. they have both pleaded not guilty, and are awaiting trial. as for one of their most vocal critics, their daughter, amanda, the householders told us they had been estranged from her since 2014. your parents did give an interview to one of the local papers. they said, you are addicted to drugs, that your state and worship are. would you say to things like that? >> when i turned 18, and i was on my own, i did experiment with drugs. i'm not going to lie.

when i had my kids, that changed. >> one of the things in the newspaper article, people who are complaining about the school, they've been failures in their lives, and your failure in your life. and you're blaming them, that you need someone to blame. >> i may not be successful, in the sense that i'm a millionaire, but my kids are happy. my kids don't have to fear me. so, to me, i'm successful. >> and, she told us she is not done speaking out. in the fall of 2020, she led a march to the gates of agapa, the boys school where her dad worked two years ago. >> it's time that we bring awareness to agapa. >> awareness, yes, and maybe accountability to. in fall of 2021, the cedar county prosecutor filed 13 third-degree felony assault charges against five in the

vigils linked to agapa. we reach out to the school and lawyers for the accused for comment, but have not received a response. it's been painful, amanda told us, this reckoning with her father and her own past. but, she said, she hopes in madrid for former students, like ashley tucker. ashley kicked or drug addiction, and plans to become a paramedic. she's a mother herself now, and calls her daughter her angel. now you know how your mom felt about you. >> yeah. [laughs] now, i realize she was just trying to help me. >> amanda does not expect to reconcile with her parents anytime soon. do you miss them at all? >> i miss what i wanted to have happen. i would never go back, but i think what i'm trying to say is, i miss something i never had. >> what's she has, instead, is

a cause to help those kids that she wants new. >> hey, amanda. >> and the other is coming after her, and to forgive herself as well. >> that's all for this edition of dateline. i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. i'm craig melvin thank you for i am natalie morales. and this is dateline. >> they told may that this vehicle had gone off the road, to the street. and that she was face up, in a puddle of water. >> she has severe injuries to her head. >> little did you know the mystery that was about to unfold. >> i went into the living room and i saw blood all over the place. i went into the bathroom, more blood. the whole time we were thinking it was a car wreck. and now, what happened. >> i told