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Born
David Pelzer was born into a family of 4 on December 29th 1960. His mother is a stay at home mom and his father works at the Fire hall. He has two brothers, one older and a year later has a baby brother. -
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The Good Times
The Good Times - these are the times when Dave and his family was a stable family. They went on day trips together, told each other stories, and went to the cabin. These years weren't many out of Dave's life but they are some of his best memories he has of his family before the abuse started. -
Family Vacation to Russian River
This is the first family trip that Dave goes on with his family to Russian River. This soon becomes a weekend get-away and Davids favorite place to go whith his family. They spend time there playing in the park, down by the river, and the super slide. -
Arm Accident
This is the begining of the serious abuse David faces in the next few years. He was getting in trouble for being a "bad boy" from his mother when she pushed him too hard and grabbed him by the arm. The opposite pulling force pulled David's arm out of place and when she took him to the hospital that night David's mom claims that David simply fell out of the top bunk of the bunk bed to cover up the abuse. -
Stove Burns
Dave comes home from school on May 4th and his mom is standing in the kitchen with a drink in her hand. She says that a friend told her that David came to her house begging for food since his mother wasn't giving him breakfast. David's mother turned on the stove and told David that his punishment for being a bad boy and making her look bad was to lay on top of the hot stove. -
Mirror Punishment
After doing chores one day David was told he was a 'bad boy' and would pay for not doing his chores well enough and talking back to his mother and taking food that wasn't his to take. She went downstairs and David followed her - scared. She took him and rammed his face into a mirror standing in the basement and told him to stay with his face against the mirror until sthe came back and to say that he was a bad boy. This became a daily punishment for David if his mom felt the desire to. -
Starvation
Davids mother begins to starve David daily. She considers it to be a game to see how long he can go without food, and then punished him when he stole food from other kids at school or begged on the way to school at the neighbors houses. David does not get lunch, supper, breakfast or bedtime snack. If he's lucky or sneaks it, he may get the scraps from the others meals while he does chores. -
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Father is Away
David's father leaves the family for a short period of time to get over the abuse he sees his son going through, he doesn't know how to stop it, buc an't just leave his son. While his father is away David gets abused worse and more regularly. Hitting and kicking is a daily happening in these years. -
Parents Fight
Davids mother and father have very different views on how to dissipline David. His mother takes the abusive approach, where as his father takes the loving approach, but can't seem to stop his mother from abusing their son. David Had never seen his parents fight, but his dad had enough of his son looking helpless. He spoke up, but was told not to speak about his mothers ways to discipline their child, and if he had a problem, he could leave. -
Last Trip to Russian River
This is the last trip the family makes to The Russian river. Davids brother goes to the super slide leaving him at the cabin with his mother and baby brother. His mother said he could not go to the super slide because he was bad and used the time to torture David while the others were gone. She took the diaper off of his younger brother and smudged the soiled diaper in David's face. -
Isolated From Family
David is tucked away in his family. He is sent to school with no new clothes and has to wear his old tattered ones to display how much of a failure he is. He is not allowed to eat with the family, but is given food (small amounts) sometimes. He is sent downstairs to sleep on an old, hard, falling apart cott and is not allowed upstairs other than for chores. He is never allowed to play with his brothers, even at school. He's now in grade 2. -
Stabbing
David's mother is more intoxicated than usually one nigh tand in a fit of rage takes a knife to David. She stabs him once on the back and was not properly taken care of. The wound becomes an infection in a few days and there is no care provided for David other than the school nurse. He does not tell the nurse what happened. -
Gas Chamber
David's mother has devised a new 'game' to punish David with. When he's cleaning the bathroom she puts chemical solutions in a bucket that give off toxic fumes. She puts the bucket in the bathroom with david and locks him in the washroom for periods of time so he cannot breath. -
David's Father Leaves
Mr. Pelzer is sick of seeing his son hurt by his wife and David's mother. He is upset because he doesn't know what to do about the abuse or her drinking. The only option he can think of is to leave, just himself. He doesn't take the children with him or try to save them, he's mostly concerned about himself in this moment, so he leaves for his safety and happiness. -
Rescued
On March 5th David shows up to school as usual in the morning in his tattered shoes, clothes and ripped up shirts. He has his books but he's late to class. The teacher sends him to the nurses office and examines him as they do every morning. After he's sent to the staff room where there's a police officer and the principal and a few close teachers of his. They tell him he will not be going home to his mother's abuse anymore and they will find him a better home. He is rescued from his torture.
