Former MO boarding school owner facing trial on 78 child abuse felonies died Tuesday
Boyd Householder, set to stand trial on dozens of child abuse felonies allegedly committed at his now-closed Circle of Hope boarding school, died Tuesday, his attorney told The Star.
Adam Woody, who represents Householder and his wife Stephanie, said Tuesday evening that Boyd “went into cardiac arrest this morning” and died.
“He had been ill for quite some time related to his service for our country in the Vietnam War,” Woody said in a text message to The Star. “He had lung and heart damage from agent orange exposure and had been suffering for several years.”
Recently, Householder, 75, had been using two tanks of oxygen per day, Woody said.
Rebecca Randles, a Kansas City attorney who has filed more than 15 lawsuits against Circle of Hope and the Householders, said her office learned about the death from women they’ve represented. Another source confirmed the death to The Star and one former student heard the news from Householder’s daughter.
“Two clients called and said Boyd Householder died today,” Randles said.
Boyd and Stephanie Householder, 59, operated Circle of Hope Girls Ranch in Cedar County for 14 years. They were charged in March 2021 with 99 felony counts of child abuse and neglect, including statutory rape, sodomy and physical abuse. Their trial, which has been delayed multiple times, was scheduled for late October and expected to last three weeks.
The Missouri Attorney General’s Office filed the case. A call and email sent to the AG’s Office was not immediately returned Tuesday evening. When former AG Eric Schmitt filed the charges three years ago, he said the abuse that students suffered was “extensive and horrific.”
Boyd Householder faced 78 felony charges, including six counts of second-degree statutory rape, nine counts of second-degree statutory sodomy, six counts of sexual contact with a student and 55 counts of abuse or neglect of a child.
The charges allege that Boyd Householder slammed girls’ heads or bodies against walls, slapped or struck them with his hands, a belt or other objects, shoved one girl’s face into horse manure and poured hot sauce down a girl’s throat.
One of the alleged victims whom Randles has represented is Amanda Householder, the couple’s estranged daughter. She sued her parents for forced labor, beating her for their own sexual gratification and making her punish other students at the boarding school near Humansville, which closed in August 2020.
Randles’ office called Amanda “right after she learned of her father’s death,” the attorney said.
“Some of the victims learned before she did,” Randles said. “She’s very, very upset. This is one of those situations where no one can celebrate because he caused so much pain, so there is no closure for the victims.
“But also he was still a father to Amanda. The only father she knew. And so the pain to the family is very great.”
‘Kind of shocked’
Maggie Drew, a former Circle of Hope student who sued the Householders in 2022, received a message from Amanda on Tuesday afternoon about Boyd’s death.
“Honestly, I’m just kind of shocked at the moment,” Drew told The Star. “Right now, I just found out and I’m still processing.”
In September, the Missouri Attorney General’s Office offered a plea deal to Stephanie Householder to testify against her husband in their upcoming trial. The offer was not accepted.
It is not clear how the AG’s Office will proceed with the case against Stephanie Householder.
She is charged with 21 felonies, including 11 counts of abuse or neglect of a child and 10 counts of endangering the welfare of a child. The two were held without bond until July 2021, when David R. Munton, presiding judge of the 28th Judicial Circuit, unexpectedly set a $10,000 bond after Boyd Householder said he had COVID-19.
At that time, Stephanie Householder said she had a serious blood clot in her foot that if not properly treated could result in amputation. Munton placed restrictions on them that included wearing ankle monitors.
The Householders later asked the court to remove the monitors. Both said they’d had no violations since being released from jail on July 23, 2021, and that the GPS monitors are “not in furtherance of the safety of the community or of the alleged crime victims” and are too costly.
“They are paying nearly $700/month for the monitors, an unnecessary expense that has now exceeded its necessity,” their motions said. Boyd Householder further said that his health is “slowly failing” and he “is now on two tanks of oxygen per day.”
The judge granted Boyd Householder’s request to remove the monitor, but not his wife’s.
About two dozen former students have filed civil lawsuits in state and federal court since late 2020 alleging physical and sexual abuse. Former students said in those suits they were subjected to extreme physical and psychological abuse. They said they were routinely assaulted, manhandled by being thrown against walls and to the ground and hit and slapped.
Others described painful restraints and some said if they didn’t finish their meals they were forced to eat until they vomited.
Some lawsuits are ongoing.
Randles said Tuesday that “the lawsuits won’t be impacted terribly by his death.”
