Case 296: Aaron Bacon

This was horrific. That poor child and his parents. My heart aches for them, what an awful thing to have to live with.

This one made me really angry. Especially hearing some of the people had previous form on this. They should have been locked up and they key thrown away. Thank you Casefile for raising awareness of this awful business

Glad I read the comments before listening. Don’t think my mental headspace can handle this one but appreciate you bringing awareness for the Aaron

Wow. For me, this was definitely one of the most impactful episodes you've ever done. Thank you.

That was a really hard listen. That poor kid. His poor parents. They’ll never forgive themselves

I spent the entire first half horrified and with my heart breaking for poor Aaron, but holding out to hear about the justice I felt SURE must be coming for those who abused him. Needless to say, the denouement here is far from satisfying. I burn with at the individuals who perpetrated this prolonged, disgusting abuse of a vulnerable child.

great episode, the industry is horrible and needs more exposure

I already can’t listen to this

Brutal

I'm 30 minutes in and I don't know if I can listen. I also feel like I need to honor what this poor boy endured.

"Hey the trail of tears looks rad*, let's do it to kids that smoke weed" *The trail of tears was not at all rad.

My heart is breaking as I listen to this.

I had to fast forward through some of what poor Aaron experienced it really affected me .. it breaks my heart that they told his mum he was stealing food and she didn’t see that as a huge red flag and go and pick him up or at least check on him 😞😞

As a medical professional (and human), I’m already sobbing at 31 minutes…. That poor, fragile, child. I wish I could save him and hug him and take him away from them. Those early cries for help, the hypothermia, the weight loss. Oh this one will stick with me

All I can think of is his pain, writing in that journal and knowing he would not make it.

This was absolutely sickening, senseless, heartbreaking and evil.

They torture those children. I work in child safety - and there is no way on this green earth that organisations like this should have access to children in this way. There’s just no way it could be safe. I know I’m bias because I don’t even think kids should be allowed to sleep at other people’s houses - but letting these strangers take your child away is so so so so wild to me

This one is going to bounce around in my head for quite a while. Wow. Absolutely sadistic. So many people failed him.

That would as just awful. That poor kid.

I live in Utah, and actually know the folks who ran North Star. There are still lots of these kinds of programs and one of them is always on the brink of closing for licensing violations

I know their parents loved and cared for them, and were doing what they thought was best. They asked all the right questions and genuinely were worried about their welfare, but hearing the description of this "camp", I would never send one of my kids there. Hiking 8-10 miles everyday, foraging for food. That seems like the type of thing that would push a kid into returning to drugs when they got home.

The gut-wrencher for me is that this child had to know at some point that he was dying. And that he was helpless to stop it happening because everyone who could have helped him would not. In all the hours he lay shivering at night, did he start to believe that his parents didn’t love him anymore and that is why this was happening to him? If I were this young man’s parents - that thought would destroy me.

God this was so sad

This was heartbreaking 💔

There's a multi part deep dive podcast on this very thing called Gooned. Highly recommend.

This is the most harrowing kind of true crime episode for me; i had to skip the first third or so just to get past the worst of it and into the aftermath (and i never skip through casefile). There's something about cases of prolonged group and/or systemic abuse that's so chilling and horrific. The instigators and participants just seem to become so dehumanized and eager to perpetuate the abuse that it's difficult to even comprehend, yet it happens over and over and over, in one horrific case after another. I wish there was more work done on this specific kind of psychology, because the sheer level of glee and relentless sadism that the abusers show just.... it's beyond any other type of violence.

"Violating licensing regulations"?! They repeatedly and consistently violated human rights.

What absolutely foul fucking people could treat a 16 year in such a neglectful, putrid and disgusting behaviour? Fuck this one was a hard listen.