Police: Abusive Dad Ruled House of Horrors
by Ed Hayward and Franci Richardson
Originally published in the Boston Herald, June 15, 2001
SALISBURY — Isolated from the outside world by their tyrannical father, the six McMullen children lived anonymously in a Route 1 compound ruled by beatings, verbal tirades and child rape, police and prosecutors charge.
Patrick S. McMullen, 37, confined his children, ages 8 through 17, to the yard behind the ordinary storefront on Lafayette Road and when his wife went grocery shopping, she risked a beating if she didn't meet her time limit, Salisbury investigators said yesterday.
"The children had been totally isolated from everyone," said Salisbury Police Investigator Ann Champagne. "They've not been to school. They've not been to doctors. They've not ridden their bikes in the front yard. They were in the compound 24 hours a day."
Beyond confinement and intimidation, Patrick McMullen also sexually abused at least two of his daughters, prosecutors charged, with the abuse of the 17-year-old daughter taking place as often as three times a week since she was four.
McMullen is being held on $105,000 cash bail on four rape charges, two counts of indecent assault and battery, assault with a dangerous weapon, disseminating obscene material to a child and possession of a stun gun.
The latest charges were filed on Thursday and Salisbury police are still probing additional allegations of child sex abuse. The children and their mother are living at an undisclosed location. Efforts to reach them yesterday were unsuccessful.
Born at home with the aid of midwives, the children were homeschooled with lessons downloaded from the Internet, but never registered with their local school system.
The story of the hidden horrors only emerged when Christine McMullen, 36, managed to grab her children and flee a life of pain she said started when she married her husband 17 years ago.
On May 9, she told police the chilling story of a family few people realized existed behind the wood and chainlink fences that circled 258 Lafayette Road.
"He has physically hurt us repeatedly, with painful blows to the head, abdomen and chest, causing bruising, abrasions and headaches," Christine McMullen said in her application for a restraining order, which was granted. "He has kicked the children, spanked them with a belt, causing severe bruising and issued tight squeezes with one hand upon the neck, either front or back, leaving red marks and soreness. I have suffered numerous black eyes and fat split lips."
The woman alleged Patrick McMullen would bite, punch and deliver neck-crunching squeezes to the children and pummel her face with his fists or the nearest object, including a two-by-four, flashlight or rock.
Court records show Christine McMullen said she only recently became aware of the sexual abuse that stretched back to the infancy of her children. She accused her husband of "fondling, oral sex, both received and given, and attempts at penetration," records show.
A source close to the family said relatives were aware of the physical abuse, but kept at such a distance from the home that they were unable to help.
"I think he needs to be where he is and there is enough to put him there," the source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Herald.
The source was not aware of sexual abuse until after McMullen's arrest.
Christine McMullen climbed out of the black hole that was her life after a year of urging from relatives and, finally, with the aid of a local church, said the source. Ultimately, it was up to her to save her own children.
"The process has taken a year, after she began to talk to her relatives about her problems. Until then, nobody knew," said the source. "Once she began to talk about what she was dealing with, people helped her make the decisions she needed to make and she made them. She basically did this herself."
The property is surrounded mostly by other commercial buildings and the few residents on the section of the busy state route said the family appeared only when they ran the swap meets that accounted for Patrick McMullen's income.
Frank Crivello, who lives two lots away, bought some lobster traps from McMullen five years ago. "I just knew there were kids selling stuff," said Crivello. "But I never knew they lived there. It's very surprising."
Carl Hutchinson runs a business that sells used equipment and his address was listed by his wife in court documents as a location where Patrick McMullen could be found. Yesterday, he said he was shocked by the allegations.
"I had no clue," said Hutchinson. "Do you think he would have set foot on this driveway if I knew? I have four daughters."
