Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Florida 'Christian' Couple Locked Girl in Room for Years: Police

Episode Date: April 6, 2026

Joel Kohnert and his wife, Jennifer Kohnert, are accused of locking a 12-year-old girl in a room for two to three years and forcing her to write Bible verses as punishment. Joel is a fire lieutenant in Broward County, Florida. A probable cause affidavit lay out the abuse the girl claimed she endured including being forced to urinate and defecate in the bedroom. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy goes through the allegations in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code CRIMEFIX at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/crimefixHost:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5Guest: Dr. Daniel Bober https://www.instagram.com/drdanielbober/CRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The allegations here are difficult to say the least. A fire lieutenant, his wife, a child and a very dark secret. But it states that locking a child in the room from the outside, he knew was wrong. Did religious extremism play a role in the alleged abuse of a 12-year-old girl? I'm Ann Chinat Levy. And this is Crime Fix. You know, being online can be really scary, maybe as scary as some of the cases we cover here on Crime Fix. just Google yourself. Things like your name, your phone number, even your address. All of that information is floating around the internet for data brokers to sell or scammers to steal. Our sponsor in Cogni lets you take back control. They find which data brokers have your info and demand they remove it. When I signed up, they actually found more than 50 brokers with my data and within days, it started disappearing. Setup takes just minutes, create an account, authorizing Cogni to act for you and they do the rest. And with their new, Unlimited Plans custom removals feature. You can submit custom links where your data shows up,

and a team of privacy experts will remove it for you. So if you care about your online safety, and you really should, take your data back with Incogni. Use code crime fix for 60% off, an annual plan. If you look at Jennifer and Joel Conert's photos on social media, they look like the picture perfect couple, two parents surrounded by their children. But investigators say they describe themselves as religious, but prosecutors in Florida say one of their children in the group was not treated well at all. And the Connerts are now facing criminal charges related to the girl who they've had in their custody since she was two months old. The child is now around 12 years old. The case takes us to Broward County, Florida, north of Miami, where Fort Lauderdale is located.

Joel Conert is a lieutenant with the Broward Sheriff's Fire Rescue. He and his wife, Jennifer, have six children and one of them as a child they started fostering when she was just a baby. But the state attorney in Broward County says that the conerts are accused of subjecting that girl to very cruel treatment. A probable cause affidavit states on February 11th of 2026, a department of children and families investigator responded to the resource officer regarding allegations that the child was locked in her bedroom at night due to claims that she wandered the house and took items from family members. The intake further indicated that during this period, the child did not have access to a bathroom resulting in her urinating on the floor and being forced to clean it

the following morning. The intake also noted that the child was required to write Bible verses as a form of punishment. These claims were obviously concerning, so the girl was interviewed twice over two days, and the TCF investigator tried to gather more information, and what they say that girl revealed was concerning to say the very least. The affidavit states, during these interviews, the child disclosed that for approximately two to three years she had been locked in her bedroom overnight, and at times during the day, she stated that while confined overnight, she urinates on herself, and at times defecates on herself due to a lack of access to a bathroom. The child, The child reported that in the morning she is required to bathe outside in the backyard while wearing a bathing suit despite inadequate weather conditions.

Now, if this claim wasn't bad enough, it only gets worse while the girl was going to school. What investigators said she described sounded like she was a prisoner in her own home. The child further advised that her bedroom door is secured with a lock from the outside and that her window is also restricted, leaving no means of escape. She stated that she sleeps on an air mattress, has minimal furniture, and has no toys or personal items in her room. She reported that a sound machine is kept at a high volume in her room to prevent her from hearing others in the home. The child advised that she has only allowed approximately three outfits at a time, which are kept in her room, and then any additional clothing or money she receives is taken by Jennifer. The child described inhumane living conditions,

She reported that she is forced to use her clothing to clean urine and feces using vinegar and bleach. After cleaning, she is required to wash the same clothing outside in a small bucket and then dry it in her room. The child further states that she is subsequently required to wear the same clothing. Clothing collected from the victim's residence had stains consistent with the victim's statement upon the child's removal. She was outfitted in size 2T underwear, which is standard sizing for a top. toddler. The child stated she brushes her teeth in her room. It is required that she swallow the toothpaste as she has limited to no access to the bathroom located nearby. Now, the investigators wrote in the affidavit that the child also described physical abuse that had happened recently.

We'll get into that in more detail when Dr. Daniel Bober joins me in just a bit. But I think you should know that this girl was not the biological child of the Connerts. They had custody of her since she was a baby, and investigators say the other children actually backed up her claims. I interviewed all of the children residing in the home, who are the biological children of Jennifer and Joel. These children confirmed that the child is locked in her room overnight, urinates and defecates on herself, and is required to bathe outside and wash her clothing. All siblings advised that they are not subjected to that type of punishment. They reported that the child spent a majority of her time isolated in her room.

room writing proverbs and is rarely allowed to participate in normal family activities such as eating meals and playing with siblings. The investigators said they interviewed both of the conerts, Joel and Jennifer, and they admitted to the treatment the girl described. The affidavit states, Jennifer agreed to speak with me and was advised of the DCF allegations. Jennifer admitted to locking the child in her room overnight and acknowledged that the child has been urinating and defecating on herself for approximately two to three years. Jennifer confirmed that the child is required to write proverbs as punishment and that she is required to bathe and wash her clothing outside with limited access to indoor facilities. Jennifer acknowledged that these practices were unusual. Jennifer also

stated that the victim would not thrive in her care and is willing to turn her back over to the state of Florida, although Jennifer and Joel have been her caretaker since she was two months old. And then investigators said they spoke with Joel. The detective wrote in the affidavit during the interview, Joel acknowledged that there were safety concerns associated with the victim's bedroom door and window being secured in a manner that restricted her ability to exit. This practice is particularly concerning and given Joel's professional background, where he would be reasonably expected to recognize the inherent safety risk associated with restricting a child's ability to exit a room during an emergency. What is very sad about this, the investigator said the girl could see that her behavior was worsening and she was suffering.

They also said she described having to tread water in the swimming pool for up to 45 minutes at a time as punishment. The conorts each face one count of abuse of a child without great bodily harm. Both appeared in court where a judge set their bail. Needless to say, the judge was incredibly concerned. When you allegedly got a 12-year-old child who is locked in a room for upward, of three years and is forced to urinate and defecate in the room and then clean it up with her clothes, that is not a religious issue. That's something else. Well, let me, let me, let me back up because it makes reference, well, I mean, both the PCs are pretty much the same, but it talks about,

it says based on the husband's, uh, it doesn't say specifically what he is, but it states that locking a child in the room from the outside, he knew was wrong. I do understand she is an until proven guilty, but the allegations here are difficult to say the least. But the state is extremely concerned and frankly bothered, extremely bothered by the allegations, the level of what was used to, quote, unquote, discipline this child. Okay, so we want to break down this case and the allegations that are being made here by prosecutors against the Connerts. I want to bring in Dr. Daniel Bober. He's a forensic psychiatrist and he actually practices in the area where this case is unfolding down there in the Broward

County area. So Dr. Bober, thanks for coming on. Thank you, Janice. This case to me is reminiscent, at least the allegations are reminiscent of so many other cases we've seen, where you have these parents, Joel and Jennifer Conert, who, you know, he's a fire lieutenant, my God, and his wife, and they've got children. And according to the affidavit, The affidavit is claiming that the biological children are treated fine and treated well. But then they've got this girl that they took in as a baby, and she's been with the family for a really long time. But she's mistreated, even though she's part of the family. From what does that stem?

So, Anjanet, first of all, I've never examined either of the parents. I've obviously never examined the little girl, so I can't give a... a direct assessment or diagnosis. But that being said, in similar cases that I've seen in these types of situations, this environment seemed less about discipline and more about coercive control, humiliation, isolation, and scapegoating, where the child was treated differently than the other kids. And a lot of times this happens when the parents project their own internal dysfunction onto the child. All their anger becomes displaced. All the unhappy things that happen to them in their own lives and all their trauma gets projected onto that child. And it suggests an escalating

pattern of punishment that was normalized, that was personalized, and really had no connection to any reasonable degree of caregiving. We have so many examples here of dehumanization through degradation, having the child clean up their own waste, and doing it in a way that was really in secret. The child was originally homeschooled. So this is something we see in a lot of cases of abuse. Abusers project their own dysfunction,

and they have it a very authoritarian way of disciplining the children where they break the will of the child in really, in this case, if it's true, a very sadistic way that gives psychological gratification to the abusers themselves. And then on top of it, they use the Bible, they weaponize the language of the Bible to in some way morally justify their actions. and tell the child that their parents were substance abusers, that they were bipolar, almost in a way to let the child know that they're damaged and they're defective. And this abuse is something that they have coming to them because of their biological parents. Just really awful allegations being made here.

And that's one thing that I really can't wrap my head around. And we do see this from time to time. we see people who claim to be Christians and they're claiming to be religious and, you know, Christians are supposed to be loving and carrying and your sister like care for the children. But she's being forced to write proverbs as punishment. And then this is supposed to be some type of like discipline, as you said. But the other children aren't subjected to this. So why are, why is religion being kind of, it's like perverted to justify this? Is it just so that these people can, you know, potentially justify what they're doing in their own minds like, oh, we're going to have you write

proverbs. We're going to have you do this. And it just seems insane to me. Absolutely. It's almost as if God is signing off on it. It's morally justified. We use the Bible to absolve ourselves of any guilt if they're capable of feeling any guilt. And there's another interesting element here, If it's true, this father is a fire lieutenant whose job is to save lives and protect the public, right? So you have someone who is accused of committing this horrific abuse who serves the public. So their public persona almost becomes a defense for their own behavior. It's a form of compartmentalization. So I thought that was interesting as well.

I want to put one of these paragraphs from the affidavit up on the screen because there's more to this. I mean, there's actual physical abuse involved in this, too. It's not just the mental abuse. At least these are the allegations. The child disclosed that within the week, prior to law enforcement involvement, Jennifer pulled her hair, slapped her, causing her lip to bleed, and kicked her while she was on the ground. the child further reported being called derogatory names, including little, you know, talking about her urinating and defecating, and being told she is bipolar, like her biological mother. The child stated that the defendant provided her with distressing information regarding her biological parents, including details of substance abuse and death, which she believed was done intentionally to upset her.

That is some extreme psychological abuse. I mean, if you're taking it a child who came from parents, who was born to parents with substance abuse issues, you may have actually, as the child, been born with some issues. You know, you may have been born with drugs in your system. And so, I mean, this is a child who may have some issues anyway, and you're supposed to be taking this child in and carrying for the child. and yet we're reading things like this that you're verbally abusing, that's the allegation, verbally abusing this child and then telling her these awful things about her biological parents. It's like I don't understand the goal.

So it's really a form of emotional annihilation, right? If we tell you that you're defective in some way and that your parents were substance abusers and they were bipolar and they were damaged in some way, it justifies. your abuse because it takes away your self-worth, you're damaged, you're defective. And so in some way, this abuse is coming to you. And furthermore, this does not just spontaneously come out of nowhere. There are a number of things that I'm sure are operating here. And again, I can't say for certain because I've never examined them. But they are probably repeating the pattern of their own traumatic abuse in some way. They are probably drawn.

from their own playbook, their own internal blueprint, and projecting this onto the child. I doubt that these parents had a, quote-unquote, normal upbringing. There had to be some abuse in the past, and it's most likely that they are projecting this back onto the child. And if they were abused as children, was religion used and weaponized against them as children? Is that a possibility? It may have very well been. But when trauma doesn't get processed, when it doesn't get resolved, it plays out again.

You repeat the same theme to try to achieve mastery over it. There was actually a term for this. It's called repetition compulsion. It's replaying the same trauma over and over again to try to achieve mastery over it. So it's an interesting phenomenon where it leads to intergenerational abuse. Really, really awful. One of the things, too, that's really upsetting about this case, you know, this child was forced to bathe outside. She was wearing, you know, underwear and stuff that was, like, far too small for her.

I mean, I think it said two T is what she was wearing, and this is a 12-year-old girl. Another thing that comes into play here that I noticed in the photographs of the family, this child is African-American. and she's in a family, you know, with all Caucasian people. I don't know if that's playing a part here, but it certainly stood out to me. I'm wondering if that's some part of this too. And maybe they're not even aware that they're taking this out on her or doing something. I don't know if that's a factor. It's an interesting observation, and it may just be one more thing that made her feel

or had them made her field to be different, to be defective, to be not the same as the rest of us, which, again, in their mind, justifies that she becomes the scapegoat and the target of abuse. I haven't heard any racial elements mentioned in the case, but it's an interesting observation. Yeah, it's just something I happen to notice. It's not obviously mentioned in the documents. What is mentioned in the documents, though, and I do want to state that Jennifer and Joel Cohnert are of course, innocent until proven guilty. These are allegations. Every criminal defendant is innocent until proven guilty.

So they enjoy the presumption of innocence. But the other children seem to confirm much of what this little girl was telling the investigators. Yeah, I mean, it's certainly something that the prosecution is going to have to look at using them as witnesses and also the emotional toll that it's going to take on them. It has to be done very artfully, very skillfully to get the information and do it in a way that it doesn't traumatize the other children. But it is something that, again, this is not an impulsive act that happened one time. This was a chronic, systematic pattern of abuse that went on for years, and it became normal to them. It sort of changed their psychological thermostat, and it just became part of everyday life.

and that's what's so disturbing about it. Yeah, they're saying two to three years that this girl was locked in her bedroom at night, sound machine turned up so the other kids aren't hearing her. She's having to defecate and urinate in her room. Just really awful stuff. And what was interesting to me was pointed out is that this little girl couldn't get out of the room.

And they point out that this is a fire lieutenant who rescues people potentially from burning homes for a living. So you know putting a child in a room and locking the door so that they can't get out. And the safety hazard. That's incredibly dangerous. Right. Right. It goes back to what I said about sort of this Jekyll and Hyde, where he's out there,

you know, supposedly serving the public, protecting public safety, saving lives, protecting other children. And then you have this stark contrast of what's going on under his own roof. That's really what's amazing about it. Yeah, really awful stuff. Well, I hope, this is my hope. My hope is that this little girl, well, she's 12, so she's not so little anymore, but this started when she was much smaller. I hope now that she's been removed that she's getting the help that she so badly needs, the psychological help that she needs.

This type of trauma that she's been exposed to definitely increases her risk of developing depression, anxiety, PTSD, substance use disorder. low self-esteem, disturbances, and attachment. These are all things that she's going to be potentially exposed to, and this is why the work that she does now with therapists and trauma counselors is going to be so important. Yeah, very much so. Just a really sad and awful case. Dr. Daniel Lober, thank you as always appreciate it. Thank you, Angela. Joel and Jennifer Conert both posted a $100,000 bond. Again, this girl was removed from the home and investigators said Jennifer admitted the child would not thrive in their care. That's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Annette Levy. Thanks so much for being with me.

I'll see you back here next time.