The former owner of a now-defunct Christian nonprofit for troubled youth has been re-indicted on over two dozen additional counts of cruelty to children in the first degree, bringing her total number of felony charges to 40, per court documents.
Christine “Christy” Marie Owen, 56, was arrested by the Union County Sheriff’s Office in June of 2023 after the Division of Family & Children Services received a credible complaint of child abuse, according to law enforcement at the time.
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In January 2024, a Union County grand jury indicted Owen on 13 counts of cruelty to children, accounting for four children who allegedly suffered abuse in her care.
After the initial indictment, the Enotah Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office uncovered additional abuse allegations, including among four other children, which resulted in a grand jury deciding to hand up 27 more counts of cruelty to children this month, on Oct. 8.
“As law enforcement and our investigator began to interview possible witnesses, essentially more individuals came forward and described things that led to further counts in the indictment regarding additional victims,” District Attorney Jeff Langley said.
The 40 charges in the superseding indictment contain allegations that Owen abused her own children as well as others who were placed in her care as participants in her Respite Retreat youth program, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Specifically, the charges allege that Owen “maliciously” caused “cruel and excessive physical and mental pain” to children on various occasions within a date range spanning January 2012 to June 7, 2023 – the day before she was arrested, per the indictments, which are public records.
Indicted crimes include striking a child with a plastic coat hanger until it broke, then grabbing a second hanger to continue; striking another child with a dog leash; slapping a child in the face with enough force to knock them to the ground; dragging children by the hair; forcing a child to sleep outside while knowing the child was afraid of wildlife and informing the child that bears roamed the property; withholding and limiting food; forcing children to eat only so-called “brain food,” a concoction of oatmeal, fish, tomatoes, collards, milk, water “and other substances for extended periods of time”; forcing a child to eat their own vomit; failing to seek medical care for children injured by a horse; forcing a child to sleep in a horse stall; placing motion sensors with alarms around food containers in a child’s room “for the purpose of enticing the child into taking the food so that the accused could then inflict punishment on said child”; forcing children to remain still in a darkened room equipped with motion sensors for 24-48 hours at a time; forcing children to continue to wear clothing that had been soiled, in one case resulting in a urinary tract infection; telling children they had diminished mental capacities; threatening to cut off fingers and hands; and more.
Owen bonded out of jail in June 2023, and the District Attorney’s Office does not plan to issue another arrest warrant following her latest indictment. She is presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law. Currently, there is no trial timeline available in the case.
According to the Georgia Corporations Division of the Secretary of State’s Office, Owen initially formed Respite Retreat in 2010. She was operating at her farm off Old Gumlog Road at the time of her arrest and reportedly started hosting child participants there in 2014.
Following her arrest, Owen was no longer allowed to have custody of children as a condition of her bond, and the nonprofit’s registration with the Secretary of State’s Office lapsed in 2024.
Her husband, Keith, co-ran Respite Retreat and was arrested in 2023 for being party to the crime for which she was arrested, though he passed away in November of last year.
Law enforcement said after his arrest that, while he did not participate in the alleged physical abuse, he was present when it happened and did not stop a child from being “severely beaten.”
