Julian Youth Academy

[Lillybee]

Does anyone know anything about Julian Youth Academy? I know it is a boarding school for troubled girls. I am asking because Shasta County Sheriff's deputies have arrested a woman suspected of killing her infant.

Investigators found the baby girl's body Sunday afternoon at the Julian Youth Academy on the 12000 block of Tintagel Lane in Whitmore after a school employee alerted authorities.

Deputies Monday arrested the infant's mother, 23-year-old Jessica Bradford, on suspicion of murder and willful harm to a child.

Bradford was a Julian Youth Academy employee, said Phil Ludwig, academy director. He declined to elaborate on her position at the Southern California-based, private Christian boarding school for troubled teens.

"This had nothing to do with the school," Ludwig said. "This was a private residence she rented, it did not directly involve the school in any way."

Julian Youth Academy workers found a "still born" baby in a pile of blankets in the staff dorm room, sheriff's logs said. An employee called authorities Sunday to report the find but the baby was gone when she went to check.

Employees told the caller they had found the baby Friday evening. The baby appeared not to be fully developed and one of its arms was disfigured, sheriff's logs said.

"We're very sad at the possible event that took place," said Ludwig, the academy director. "Other than that we don’t know what happened and we don’t want to guess at it."

This story is very unclear. Was this woman an employee? Some kind of special student?

This story is from the Redding Record Searchlight; a newspaper that is known for it's inferior reporting.

[sugaree]

I know nothing about Julian Youth Academy, but their website makes them out to be pretty mainstream, even emphasizing that a teenager does not have to be Christian or become Christian to be enrolled. They don't use any of the fundy buzzwords.

As far as who the woman was, the story you've pasted says

Bradford was a Julian Youth Academy employee, said Phil Ludwig, academy director. He declined to elaborate on her position at the Southern California-based, private Christian boarding school for troubled teens.

I'm not getting any Hephzibah House vibes off of this.

[emmiedahl]

This sounds a lot like NAWA. Is it the same thing but renamed?

eta: never mind, I googled it and it is NOT the same thing. I know two former employees of NAWA in Shasta County, so I could have gotten an inside scoop if it were.

[Lillybee]

This is an update.

- A young mother is facing murder charges after the mummified body of her baby girl was found dead at a boarding school for troubled teens in eastern Shasta County.

Jessica Nicole Bradford, 23, was arrested Sunday at Julian Youth Academy near Whitmore, east of Redding.

KRCR News Channel 7 has learned Bradford is a current employee of the Julian Youth Academy and lived in a dorm on the 250-acre property on Tintagel Lane.

According to the Shasta County Sheriff's Office, they received a report of a deceased infant around 5:30 p.m. Sunday. Deputies found the mummified body of a infant girl and determined Bradford, the infant's mother, was responsible for the death.

A lengthy interview with Bradford revealed startling details about what transpired over the past few months. The Sheriff's Office says Bradford told them she got pregnant while working at the academy and that she gave birth on or about September 19th. She told investigators she hid the pregnancy from everyone, including her boyfriend of three years. She originally told investigators the baby was stillborn, but later admitted that it lived about four days before dying.

Bradford said she thought about giving the baby up for adoption, but eventually decided against it. She admitted to neglecting the baby by not giving it any food or breast milk. She said she kept the baby in a vacant building on campus for those first four days and would check on it periodically while she still worked, visited her boyfriend and drove to Redding at least two times.

Bradford said she didn't name the baby because she didn't want to become attached to it.

After the baby died, she kept the child hidden in her room in a laundry basket for approximately a month and a half until a co-worker discovered it. When she realized someone had possibly seen the baby, she decided to move it to a utility closet on Friday, November 4th. Sheriff's deputies eventually found the child in that same closet on Sunday, the 6th.

According to the Sheriff's Office, the baby was in a mummified state of decomposition. It was a fully-developed, full-term baby.

Bradford was arrested for an open count of murder and willful harm or injury to a child. She is being held at the Shasta County Jail on $1,000,000 bail. She is expected to be arraigned Wednesday.

The Julian Youth Academy is Christian residential boarding school for troubled teens. According to the organization's website, it was founded in 1993 as a non-profit private residential school for struggling teenagers in need of full-time supervision and redirection. It accepts students ages 12-17 and has another campus in Southern California. The academy has leased a 250-acre ranch formerly known as Shepherd's Ranch and the Cascade School, east of Whitmore.

This story is from KRCR tv.

[BravaAmica]

So she couldn't have taken the baby to a fire station or hospital and surrendered it?!

[doggie]

what a sick puppy. But this is nothing new really. peasants used to leave unwanted infants outside for the animals to munch on.

[sugaree]

WTF THE BABY LIVED FOR FOUR DAYS!!!! My God.

[emmiedahl]

She starved it to death? In California you can abandon a baby at a hospital or fire station with no questions asked and no legal ramifications. I just don't understand this.

[Kitty]

Ugh. Takes me back to when I found out a girl I was in band with was arrested for stabbing her newborn to death.

Seriously, what the fuck. Four fucking days that poor baby starved. Was it really so much hassle to get it to a fucking fire station? Or, you know, a HOSPITAL? Seriously, WHY?!

[doggie]

She starved it to death? In California you can abandon a baby at a hospital or fire station with no questions asked and no legal ramifications. I just don't understand this.

She wanted to hide it from everyone. I bet old boyfriend left her really fast. can you imagine how he feels about what she did? but then again he could have caused part of her attitude. who knows?

[koolmom]

Wow....an employee, at that. Again, one of those sad, sad cases...why, oh why can't some of these young women deal with being pregnant? Maybe she had issues from a past pregnancy scare and her parents, family put the fear of God "If this happens again,

you're toast.." or something like that? And boyfriend detected zip? So she put the baby in a "vacant building" somewhere and checked up on it like some kind of living Pikachou toy, maybe hoping it'd eventually die on one of her trips there. Guess what, it did, honey! Wonder what might have happened if someone found it and took it away...and NOT turned it in? Oh, and you gotta wonder what her interview upon becoming a camp worker went? Plays well with others? Kind and nurturing? Oh, and "thinking about putting it up for adoption", doesn't actually count unless you're taking steps to get some assistance in that manner. Talk is cheap.

[Lillybee]

She went to the school when she was 17 and then began to work there. This school is really in the middle of nowhere. I would think that the bf is also an employee there.

[Angri-la]

So sad, especially when there are hundreds of thpusands of people who would have taken that baby in a second. So many states have no questions asked laws for infants for a reason. Oh, ths breaks my heart. Extra squeezes for my girl tonight!

About 5 years ago, I saw a news story about an abandoned little baby girl nick-named Rose. I was on the phone before the story was over. They had 100+ people in 5 minutes call. I am sure she is a happy 5 year old with a loving family. Too bad this little one wasn't so fortunate.

[Lillybee]

Things are getting a bit strange, here. jessica's boy friend was a staff member,too. I wonder who he is. From what I have been able to find out; there were 13 students there and one teacher.

The web site for Julian Youth Academy has been down for maintenance for a few days as well as the web site for Teen Rescue which is associated with them. Twitter and facebook pages are now blank.

Julian Youth Academy has not been mentioned in the latest newspaper stories about the baby's death. I think that there must be a lot going on behind the scenes.

[GenerationCedarchip]

Oh my goodness. This sounds like such a sad story. I just question how this woman managed to hide her pregnancy from an entire school as everyone claims she did. It seems like someone must have wondered at some point. This story has some more alleged details:

http://www.krcrtv.com/news/29742277/detail.html

Also, I find it very weird that all of the school pages have mysteriously gone down for maintenance. I can't help but wonder what is going on behind the scenes.

[Witsec7]

More info on JYA

http://projects.latimes.com/schools/sch ... h-academy/

"...Some punishments include isolation, where a child is to go without speaking, looking at, or interacting in any way with other people for a period of time ranging from 24 hours to a month. Other punishments include excessive cleaning, shoveling dirt or digging large holes, over-exertion in exercise such as running until sick. The girls are also required to eat excessive amounts of food and many graduate from the program with a BMI that puts them in the percentile of obesity.

Other behavior modification is used such as writing Biblical verses to excess regardless of your religion, "...

[VeraAnne]

What the fuckity fuck?! This whole story is bizarre.

[Austin]

I wonder how much the shame factor played into this. Not trying to excuse what she did, but I do wonder in these cases why these women feel they have to keep it such a secret, if not for shame.

[CanadianHippie]

I wonder how much the shame factor played into this. Not trying to excuse what she did, but I do wonder in these cases why these women feel they have to keep it such a secret, if not for shame.

Fear too, for many the idea of being pregnant out of wed lock is a terrifying thought, so they think if they ignore the problem it will go away. And all of a sudden they give birth in a bathroom or their bedroom, panic, and have no clue what to do with the child. Save Haven laws only work for women and teens who are willing to risk being spotted with a new born in a public place.

[emmiedahl]

I can tell you as a former Northern Cal resident that Whitmore is a tiny town, and everyone would have been talking if she had taken the baby to a fire station.

It's still not a good fucking excuse to starve a newborn to death. I bet she is (ironically) pro-life.

[Lillybee]

My question is who is the baby's father. It is a girl's school with 13 students and one teacher. I doubt that there are many men on staff. Could the baby's daddy be one of the administrators?

I emailed one of the reporters on the local newspaper and asked him to look into this school.

[keeperrox]

And how is this unwanted baby's 4 days on Earth better than an abortion? I have to wonder if there wasn't such a stigma on abortion thanks to the right-wing media, if this baby's suffering could have been spared.

[VeraAnne]

Or the baby could have been dropped off at any firestation or hospital in the city.

[keeperrox]

Or the baby could have been dropped off at any firestation or hospital in the city.

:roll: That's already been said, you insipid anti-choicer. You don't need to get on your soapbox again.

[Lillybee]

Or the baby could have been dropped off at any firestation or hospital in the city.

The problem with that is that Whitmore is in the middle of absolutely nowhere. I wonder how much access this woman had to a car. I think she was suffering from pregnancy denial.