THE WEIRD WORLD OF TORRY HANSEN: AN INCIDENT

This is cross posted from my Nikto Ne Zabyt (Memoriam for Russian Adoptees Murdered and Abused by their Forever Families) blog

OK. We have officially entered the Weird World of Torry Hansen.

The Tennessean reports that back in 2006, Torry Hansen and a former neighbor Robert Abbott engaged in what it calls a “bizarre feud.”

How bizarre?

The paper doesn’t give us the run-up, but reports that at 4:19 AM October 7, 2006, Hansen called the cops on Abbott complaining he was on her property. He was arrested and charged with criminal trespassing. The charges were dropped later. At the time, Hansen was sharing a home in Chapel Hill with her parents, sister, and a young boy, who I assume is Logan.

Sheriff Randall Boyce, currently investigating Artem’s case, says he has a vague recollection of the feud:

I remember they were putting cameras on each other.

Cameras on each other?

Fredia Smith, who purchased the 4,300-square-foot Chapel Hill home and 30 acres from the Hansens in 2007 remembers visible evidence of the feud well.

She keeps a picture of a trailer Hansen painted neon orange, green and purple and placed near the road, apparently to irritate her neighbors. It was loaded with video equipment and sensor-activated lighting facing the Abbott’s house. The Hansens insisted on keeping the parcel of land it sat on out of the sale.

“It was like — whoo! — football stadium lights all of sudden in front of their house,” Smith said. “I thought it was kind of odd that they would not even think about selling that piece of property to me and they insisted on having that trailer there.”

Smith finally told the Hansens she would not buy the property if the trailer was not painted a solid color or removed. They removed it months later, she said.

Did this show up in the home study?

Oh! I almost forgot. Hansen’s lawyer Trisha Henegar… She was Robert Abbott’s lawyer back then.

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19 Replies to “THE WEIRD WORLD OF TORRY HANSEN: AN INCIDENT”

  1. Send them all straight to Hell. I am getting more and more sick of people sticking up for these beasts and maligning Artem as if this were all his fault for being damaged goods.

    I think CPS should take a really good look at Logan.

  2. Well, Russia hasn’t been impressed by the “inaction” here regarding Torry Hanson and her mother. So, they have frozen adoptions. See the link at the end of my comment.

    We will probably have some Christian outcry over this. Ironically, it is a Christian mother’s blog that first brought to my attention the issue of “adoption disruption”. A Christian couple, who already had 10 bio kids, adopted a sibling group of 3 from an African country. Within a 18 months, they disrupted the adoption of one of the children and placed the child with another family. It was interesting, they homeschooled, of course it was the child’s fault, and what got me was how they put all of their private family dealings all over the internet via their blog! And then they were surprised to be investigated by CPS due to a complaint filed by the respite family taking care of the child! I was also amazed that most of their adoption costs were funded by their church. There were plenty of interesting details on the blog that painted a picture of the family to me that was much different then they thought they were. Read a 1,000 posts by a person over 3 years and you get a good feel of what they are really like! Of course, they had their small following of “Christian lemmings” that encouraged them to continue on their path (and woe to anyone who dared to post a disagreeing comment, they immediately were nipped in the bud. It’s amazing what the “judge not” can do to a lemming that steps out of line!)

    It’s weird, I used to think international adoption seemed like such a “good thing” and after the past 6 months of looking at adoption blogs (not to mention the blogs about parenting a child with RAD that serves to vent about how horrible it is), various research, the Haiti earthquake and discovering the costs of Haitian adoption (which make no sense other than milking the APs), the Silsby incident and now this, I think we (the US) should stop them completely and work to help the children in their own country, as well as the children who languish in our own foster care system. But, I fear that will never happen due to the money involved in the adoption industry. (AnonJ)

    http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/04/15/russian-adoptions-frozen/?test=latestnews

  3. . “But, I fear that will never happen due to the money involved in the adoption industry.”

    My patriotism is standing on spindly, shaky legs right now. I am ashamed of how overtly and coldly this nation has made an industry out of children’s lives. I don’t often shed tears over this…I cried so much with the grief of the loss of my two oldest children to adoption that I thought there were no more tears in me. But standing back in my mind and watching this farce of musical families for money has brought some suspicious moisture to my eyes. This nation is no longer great and I am sure that soon, it will no longer be powerful. We have lost our conscience and our sense of shame as a people. Selfishness, entitlement, covetousness, elitism, arrogance….I hope Russia keeps adoptions to the US frozen.

  4. Robin, I am very sorry for what you went through. During my journey exploring adoption, I found out someone close to me has a similar story to yours but it’s still buried deep. All I can say is, I am sorry for what you went through. (AnonJ)

  5. Got lost in reading the comments on that article from Shelbyville (linked above). Interesting insight into the area.

    For what it’s worth, regarding the Baptist 10, all charges have been dropped for all but Silsby. The judge has sent his report in, and Laura awaits the verdict. Article here

  6. Actually, CNN reports that Haitian officials say that charges for the nine have NOT been dropped. It seems that the previous statements made by Risch and the State Department are incorrect. The judge has not yet decided whether to charge them or drop the charges.

  7. Interesting stuff, there, blueherron. Drug bust and Torry Hansen all in one week. So the Hansens were home schooled, too. If nobody knows you in town THAT size it strikes me you really to want to keep to yourself.I bet there’s some stories.

  8. Yep. In that town, either everyone knows what kind of toothpaste you use, or no one knows you at all. Very black and white. Many Fundamentalist-survivor types are hidden in the nooks and crannies of Trinity County.

    I’ll keep watching the local news to see what surfaces as people come forward for their bit of Hansen-related fame.

  9. Here is a comment from the article about the Hansens in Redding and Hayfork. I can’t vouch for the truth, but it is interesting. Any errors are in the original. Here’s the link to the article/comments: http://www.redding.com/news/2010/apr/16/russian-boy-case-linked-to-redding/?partner=RSS

    southforkmom writes:
    The other part of this story has no one questioning the mother’s role in this picture. The real story here is that Torry is the one with the strange, controlling upbringing. It is known in Hayfork that Erik and Nancy would enroll their children in public school and then pull them out to homeschool after some issue and would do this frequently. Another daughter got pregnant and the parents feigned the disapearance of the girl because they didn’t like the boyfriend. The boyfriend filed a missing person’s report with the sheriff’s department and was very concerned with her whereabouts and safety. It was determined by the d.a.’s office that she actually wasn’t a missing person. A child was born and that father still to this day hasn’t had any contact with that child. I believe that Russian boy isn’t the one with the problem here. The fact that Torry put that boy on a plane to RUSSIA! alone instead of getting help from the appropriate athorities says alot more about her character. Maybe he was just stuck in a horrible situation and that was his only way to retaliate.

  10. An article I haven’t seen referenced anywhere yet. Torry’s co-worker speaks

    Torry wanted to adopt a Russian boy because her sister had adopted a Russian boy. They would grow up like brothers. The source tells about hearing Torry talk about Artem’s behavior problems, but does not explain why the family hid those problems from the adoption agency or didn’t seek support…

  11. Thanks so much for catching the comments on the Hansen family. It’s been removed now. Well we have it here. Good work!

    The Hansens are certainly part of the social isolation pattern we’ve seen in many of these cases.

  12. I am glad Tory Hansen was finally able to have a biological child. I am glad that Artyom was sent back to Russia. That is where he belongs.

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