Fifteen years in prison isn’t nearly long enough.
That’s what the now-grown children who were rescued from an abusive home in Akron say about their tormentors- their mother, Mary Rowles, and her former live-in girlfriend, Alice Jenkins.
She and Rowles, convicted in 2003 of the beating, starving and psychological abuse of Rowles’ six children, have served half of a 30-year sentence.
But the children say they are serving life sentences after years of being whipped with everything from belts to hammers, locked in a closet for months at a time and given so little to eat that their bodies stopped growing.
At 18, Caleb Eging said, he was 5’6? and weighed 140 pounds. At 19, Caleb said, he shot up to 6 feet and put on 90 pounds. Malnutrition robbed a couple of the boys of clear vision, including one whose eyesight is so poor he cannot drive. And Danny Rowles noticed whiskers growing on his face for the first time in his 20s.
Danny and some of the other boys said doctors have told them that malnutrition prevented normal adolescent growth, so they experienced growth spurts and other developmental changes in their 20s. Nothing, however, will bring back their eyesight.
Some of the boys have struggled with drugs and alcohol and post-traumatic stress disorder, too.
Jesse Eging, 24, developed trichotillomania during his months confined to the closet - a condition in which he’s compelled to pull out his eyelashes when stressed. He still does it.
“I could have easily died,” Jesse said in a recent phone interview from his home in Arizona. “Six more months, three more months in the closet with no food … She should serve her whole time.”
The six children - all birthed by Rowles with five different fathers - ranged in age from 6 to 14 when three escaped the closet that had been their prison and were found wandering the streets of the Kenmore neighborhood by Akron police.
Today, the five boys are between 22 and 30 years old. The only girl, Marissa, died in a traffic accident last year at age 26.
Four of the five boys met with or contacted Summit County prosecutors and Summit County Common Pleas Judge Amy Corrigall Jones to make clear their opposition to Jenkins’ request for an early release.
Danny Rowles, 29, said when his mother requested early release last year, the court never notified any of the children in time for them to voice their thoughts. Mary Rowles was denied early release.
He said they only knew about Jenkins’ request because of a story in the Akron Beacon Journal.
While it’s upsetting reliving those memories with prosecutors, the process has reunited some of the siblings. Danny and brother Caleb Eging, for instance, saw each other this month for the first time since being separated into foster homes 15 years ago. Jesse Eging has vowed to organize a reunion for all of them next year.
Caleb, 22, and Danny said they also welcomed the opportunity to tell their story to authorities from an articulate, adult perspective, and not the numb half-explanations of a battered child.
“You can’t say your full piece, what’s on your mind, as a kid,” Caleb said.
Jesse’s father wasn’t in the picture when the children escaped, and Caleb’s father didn’t qualify for custody because of previous criminal convictions.
They spent a year at a foster home in Tallmadge. They can still remember their first full meal there: sloppy Joes and tater tots. They learned to ride a tricycle, went to school and made friends with neighborhood children.
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