Over 50 years ago, a 13-year-old girl walked into a welfare office in Los Angeles, but she was unlike any child anyone had encountered before.

Delicate and with hands curled up like a scared rabbit, she was unable to speak and could hardly walk. She was named Genie — a name chosen to safeguard her identity — yet her story would astonish the country and question everything we believed about language, the brain, and human relationships.

Who was Genie Wiley?

Genie Wiley was born in 1957 in Arcadia, California. She could have been just like any other child — yet her name will always be associated with torture and abuse.