Catherine Roerva

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"You made my life a living hell! Now you're gonna know how that feels like!" -Before throwing Dave on the stove.

Catherine Roerva-Pelzer (1929-1992) was an American child abuser, mainly to one of her sons, Dave, in the 1960s and 70s. According to the history of California, this case of child abuse was the most severe in the state. It is all mentioned in adult Dave's autobiography novel, A Child Called "It," first published in 1995.

Early Life

Catherine grew up in Daly City, California. She was married to Stephen Joseph Pelzer, whom she disgracefully divorced sometime around 1973. She gave birth to a couple of kids, including Dave Pelzer, whom she chose to assault on a daily basis at a very young age, which will be spoken about later on. Before she started her life of abuse, she lived a nice and happy life with the Pelzer family. She even tried painting the backdoor steps to surprise her husband; it backfired when she placed mats on them, while the paint was still in the process of drying.

Sudden Life of Crime

Catherine started to become a drunk and forced her kids to find something she had lost. If one of them forgot what it was, specifically Dave, she'd slap his face, tell him that he knew what it was, and to continue searching for it.

One night, in a drunken rampage, she got up in little Dave's face, pushed his arm, and broke it. When the doctors asked what happened, she claimed that Dave fell out of his bed in the middle of the night.

Increased Abuse

As time went on, Catherine started disliking Dave even more. She would always call him a "bad boy," even though his behavior had been perfectly fine. She put him back in the first grade claiming that his grades were bad, so he was held back, despite his academic achievements.

One day, she kept him home from a Boy Scout meeting, turned on the stove, and held his arm up to the flame. Saying that he was the reason for her daily issues, she claimed that she read about the punishment in the newspaper. After burning his arm, she forced him to get naked and lie on the burning stove. However, he fought back until his brothers got home, as soon as they returned from the boy scout meeting, she told him to put his clothes back on.

Chores and Stab

Meanwhile, she forced Dave to do certain jobs around the house, such as doing the dishes. She would usually grab a steak knife and threaten to kill him if he didn't get the jobs done on time. But she never would. But one day, the youngest toddler (also known as Mother's Little Nazi) grabbed Catherine's leg, as she had a knife in one hand. Unstable, she "accidentally" threw the knife at Dave's belly, which stabbed him. As Dave woke up from unconsciousness, Catherine mended his wound with gauze, but told him to pull his own weight anyhow.

The Diaper Incident

On vacation, Stephen and the other kids went out to the waterpark, while Dave stayed at the motel with Catherine and the baby. At usual, Catherine had another trick up her sleeve. She sat Dave down at the table, put a loaded diaper in front of him, and forced him to eat it. He didn't because he cried, thinking that was a way to stop her. Unfortunately, it didn't because she forced him to eat another one. Crying again, Dave's face was planted down onto the diaper by Catherine and smeared it around. When Stephen and the kids came back, Catherine threw Dave a towel, telling him to clean his face up. With a bloody nose, Dave had a tissue rammed up his nostril.

Ammonia and Clorox

Another form of punishment was by throwing Dave into the bathroom and locking him in there with a bucket of a mixture of ammonia and Clorox, which made a horrible smell. Dave thought one way to avoid the smell was by covering his face up by the air vent. As soon as Catherine found out about that, she forced him to drink the stuff.

More Punishments and Issues

One night, Catherine came to Dave and apologized for everything she'd done to him and asked to start over. They did, until a social worker came to the house a few days later. Dave told her that sometimes, Catherine beats him if he's a bad boy (which is, in fact, what he said), and after the woman left, Catherine instantly yelled at him and beat him up even harder, breaking the "oath" they had. Then, Dave had to resume his chores.

Catherine's child abuse towards Dave was so massive, she even went as far as to starve him. This caused Dave to steal from his classmate's lunchboxes, the market (during school hours), and the truck delivering frozen hot dogs to the school's cafeteria. When that happened, she punched Dave very hard in the stomach, making him puke the half-digested hot dogs into the toilet. When she told Stephen, he said that she should at least give him ONE thing to eat. Hearing that, she forced Dave to eat the hot dogs she pulled out of the toilet. Sometimes, Dave was so famished, he'd even steal food from the refrigerator. That caused Catherine to put spoiled ham in the fridge, to fool him into thinking it was good food, until he got sick.

Soon, Catherine gave him some leftovers to eat, but for a limited time to eat. She'd even snatch the dish away before Dave had a chance to even touch one of the morsels. Then, Catherine told Dave to start taking baths in the dark, in frigid water. She'd let him sleep in Stephen's bed, though, even though he slept in the basement/garage on an army cot.

One day, in the market, Catherine told Dave to lie down on the floor so she could run over him with the shopping cart, but Dave refused. Due to this, she had her other kids kick their dirty shoes on him, who would lie on the ground, for "mouthing off."

The Mother Confrontation

When Catherine's mother came to visit one day, she told her that she should show more respect for her son. But Catherine yelled at her, saying that it's her house and she'll do what she wants. From that moment forward, the Pelzer family was totally separated from their grandmother and their Uncle Dan.

Dave Leaves

At school one day, Dave is confronted by the school nurse about his health and body. Dave tells her everything and the police give him a box of cookies and take him away from the school. Dave, scared, believes he's been arrested, but the officer told him that he didn't have to live there with Catherine anymore.

Catherine died in 1992 of unknown circumstances, and her son, Dave Pelzer, wrote about the abuse he put up with in 1995, along with some follow-up stories. When Catherine died, only six people attended her funeral.