Tag: Michael and Debi Pearl

According to authorities, she was beaten for several hours with a quarter-inch plumbing supply line as her parents took turns holding her down and using the instrument. The blows reportedly cause Rhabdomyolysis, which is a breakdown of muscle tissue which fatally damaged her vital organs.

According to local authorities, Lydia’s “biblical chastisement” leading to her death may have been for mispronouncing a word during a home-school reading lesson.

A preliminary hearing has been set for May 25 to determine if there is enough evidence to try Kevin and Elizabeth Schatz for the alleged murder and torture of two adopted children.

Authorities allege the couple used a quarter-inch plumber’s supply line during a “biblical chastisement” that went too far, resulting in medical complications that caused the death Feb. 5 of 7-year-old Lydia Schatz and left her sister, Zariah, 11, hospitalized with serious injuries.

Kevin and Elizabeth Schatz are expected to enter a plea today. They are accused of killing Lydia Schatz and severely beating their 11-year-old adopted daughter, Zariah Schatz.

Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey said he has a direct connection between the Schatz case and No Greater Joy Ministry, a fundamentalist religious organization founded by Michael and Debi Pearl.

Police found, on the Schatzes’ bed, a 15-inch section of PVC tube, a quarter-inch thick. They believe it to be the murder weapon, as both Lydia and Zariah had “whip-like” marks that matched the length and width of the pipe. It lay beside a children’s book.

The PVC tube may seem like a strange punishment tool, but for those familiar with the teachings of Christian fundamentalists and authors Michael and Debi Pearl, it is nothing new.

Despite woman’s arrest, some swear by author’s methods PLEASANTVILLE, TENN. — From a hollow where some residents still drive horse-drawn carts to church, Pastor Michael Pearl teaches hundreds of thousands of parents strategies for rearing submissive, obedient children. In this small, rural community, Pearl tends a modest flock. It’s through a satellite Internet connection and a traveling road show that Pearl captures a following he pegs at more than a half-million people. From military bases in Europe to a Pentecostal church in Smithfield, N.C., parents spank their children with rods, “switching” out their bad attitudes, just as Pearl advises. His