Duane Owen experienced “one of the more horrific childhoods,” a 1999 trial court had seen. Duane grew up with his older brother, older half-brother, and his alcoholic parents. Duane was exposed to sexual and physical violence on an almost daily basis from his infancy until his teenage years.
At nine years old, Owen “began to experience sexual abuse” and “continued to witness and/or hear his mother being physically abused and raped by his father.” Owen’s mother died of cancer when he was 11 years old. His older brother went to live with his maternal grandparents, where he received years of therapy and counseling before succumbing to AIDS in 1995. When Owen was 13, his father committed suicide in the garage of their home. Shortly after, Owen was sent to a VFW orphanage in Michigan.
At the VFW home, sexual abuse was carried on between the adult caretakers and children. Owen was forced to have sex with a 35-year-old caretaker. The home was so bad that an eventual investigation years later required it to be closed. At age 17, while at the VFW home, Owen attempted suicide and needed to be hospitalized. Owen stayed at the home until he became an adult.
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