For the first time, a woman has come forward as a victim of serial child sexual abuser Pete Newman in a lawsuit filed today against Kanakuk Kamps and its leadership.
Plaintiff “Jane Doe” of Dallas filed a petition in Missouri related to child sexual abuse she says she endured in 2008 at the hands of Newman, a former Kanakuk Kamps director and convicted sex offender.
In 2010, Newman was convicted on multiple accounts of statutory sodomy and child enticement and sentenced to two life sentences plus 30 years in prison. He was denied the opportunity for parole in October 2024 and will not be considered again until September 2029.
Today, there are nearly 60 documented cases of child sexual abuse against boys committed by Newman. Prosecutors estimate there could be hundreds of survivors who have yet to come forward.
There are nearly 60 documented cases of child sexual abuse against boys committed by Newman.
Kanakuk and its leadership continue to fend off legal challenges and deny wrongdoing. The nondenominational Christian camp in Missouri continues to operate even though its tactics are the subject of pending legislation in Missouri and Texas that would nullify use of nondisclosure agreements in cases of child sexual abuse.
Historically, Kanakuk has recruited young campers from North Texas, especially from affluent parts of North Dallas. “Trey’s Law,” the bill pending before both Texas and Missouri legislatures, is based on the case on a young man from Dallas who took his own life allegedly due to the pain of an NDA signed with Kanakuk that limited his ability to talk about the abuse he endured.
Until today, all the Kanakuk victims who have come forward have been male. Thus, Jane Doe’s case marks a turning point.
She seeks damages on four counts — negligent retention, negligent supervision, negligent infliction of emotional distress, and vicarious liability for sexual battery — filed against Kanakuk Ministries, CEO Joe White, Kanakuk Heritage Inc., and KUKORP, LLC.
According to her petition, Doe’s memory of Newman’s sexual abuse was repressed until late 2024 — a psychological phenomenon that occurs in some victims whose trauma is “too severe to be kept in conscious memory.”
Repression is an involuntary defense mechanism the mind engages in to protect itself against incredibly traumatic experiences. When memories return, victims typically experience significant amounts of traumatic stress.
Doe’s petition says her memory of the abuse she endured at Kanakuk was repressed during her childhood before she realized Newman’s actions were criminal. She was not yet knowledgeable enough to realize “the need to inquire further” about his behavior, she says.
Current Missouri law allows for tolling, or pausing, time limits relating to child sexual abuse claims where memory of the abuse was repressed. Following delayed discovery of child sexual abuse and subsequent injuries, survivors have five years to bring civil claims against responsible entities.
Doe says her memory of abuse did not return until 2024.
She is represented by Monsees and Mayer, the same law firm currently handling Kanakuk cases from survivors Logan Yandell and Andew Summersett.
Her story
In 2008, Doe attended K-Kountry in Branson, Mo., a Kanakuk camp session for kids ages 6 to 11.
Neither she nor her family could have known that between 1999 and Doe’s arrival at camp, Newman had been accused of sexual misconduct multiple times. And despite K-Kountry director Will Cunningham recommending his termination as early as 2003, this serial child sex abuser continued to rise the ranks of power, securing unfettered access to children.
Between 1999 and Doe’s arrival at camp, Newman had been accused of sexual misconduct multiple times.
Kanakuk CEO Joe White promoted Newman to K-Kountry director after Cunningham moved to a different Kanakuk location in 2005. Newman was still the director of K-Kountry when Doe arrived in 2008.
His responsibilities included being a youth pastor and mentor to children attending camp.
In addition to this, Newman had been promoted multiple times throughout his tenure at Kanakuk, despite the fact that higher members of Kanakuk leadership were aware he was engaging in sexual misconduct with young boys since at least 1999, when a parent reported him. According to court records, these leaders included camp President Doug Goodwin and Director of Personnel Kris Cooper.
Doe was 9 years old when she arrived at camp but was mistakenly placed in the wrong age group and left in a cabin with older girls, leading her to feel scared and homesick. The older girls bullied her and taunted her when she cried, exacerbating her feelings of vulnerability, she says.
Then Doe was introduced to Newman, who she says used his position of leadership and religious authority to earn her trust and isolate her.
On multiple occasions, she alleges, Newman molested her and forced her to perform oral sex on him. According to her petition, Doe “recalls being scared, choking and feeling like she was suffocating” during this forced oral sex.
To ensure he maintained access to her, Newman threatened Doe, who already was being bullied, feeling homesick and afraid, she says. He warned her she would not be able to go home if she refused his sexually aggressive advances or if she told anyone what was happening.
The religious authority inherent in the role of Kanakuk youth pastor “conditioned” Doe “to trust Newman, to comply with his directions, and to respect him as a person of authority,” says the petition.
In evangelical culture, this position made him an ethical compass for campers under his purview.
In evangelical culture, this position made him an ethical compass for campers under his purview — even though camp leadership had known for years he was a sexual danger to children.
Feeling vulnerable and afraid, her religious leader expressed his supposedly nurturing and safe authority in the form of sexual aggression and threats, Doe maintains. And 9-year-old Doe had been conditioned to comply.
“Immediately upon arrival at camp, I felt homesick, vulnerable and afraid. Pete Newman took advantage of that, and I endured unspeakable things,” Doe says in her complaint. “Now that I’ve found my voice, I am speaking out for my 9-year-old self and others who have been harmed by the negligence of Kanakuk.”
Confession and NDAs
In 2009, just a year after Doe says she endured these abuses at camp, Newman wrote a letter confessing to sexual misconduct after being threatened with outside legal action. When confronted by camp leadership, he compiled a list of about 15 boys he claimed to have abused.
That list of 15 was only a fraction of the real number of campers abused by Newman.
After his 2009 confession, many survivors of child sexual abuse at Kanakuk entered settlement agreements with the camp, agreements that often required them not to share details of their abuse publicly.
Now, survivors are speaking out with increasing volume, despite these legal restraints.
For instance, Yandell and Summersett’s lawsuits allege fraudulent behavior by Kanakuk and relevant entities, claiming they intentionally failed to relay pertinent information to survivors and their families regarding camp leadership’s long-held knowledge of Newman’s prolific abuse. They claim this withholding of information was part of a conspiracy to induce settlement agreements and avoid further litigation from survivors.
The charges
Doe’s case is unique not only because she is the first woman to allege abuse at the hands of Newman, but because of the contents of her legal argument.
The first count Doe brings against Kanakuk and related entities is negligent retention, alleging Newman’s employers breached their duty of reasonable care for camp participants by retaining him as an employee after learning that he was a sexual danger to children.
The second count is negligent supervision, alleging Newman’s employers further failed to exercise reasonable care for camp participants by allowing him unsupervised access to children and refraining from taking measures within their power to protect Doe and other children from his criminal activity.
Further, she alleges, knowing Newman was a sexual predator, the defendants went out of their way to hide that fact from campers and their families, sometimes even publicly praising him despite this knowledge.
The third and fourth counts are negligent infliction of emotional distress and vicarious liability for sexual battery. Doe claims Kanakuk leadership’s negligence directly contributed to the traumatic psychological and physical injuries she acquired while enduring Newman’s abuse at camp, which he committed while “wielding the power they bestowed on him.”
The survivor community
Response from the Kanakuk abuse survivor community is positive toward Doe.
Elizabeth Carlock Phillips is the sister of the late Trey Carlock, who was a victim of Newman and namesake of “Trey’s Law” which aims to reform the use of nondisclosure agreements in child sexual abuse cases. She’s also the spokesperson for Facts About Kanakuk, a website dedicated to telling the stories of survivors, and regularly lobbies in Missouri and Texas legislatures in support of laws that make it easier for CSA survivors to seek civil justice.
“We applaud this brave woman for coming forward publicly to hold Kanakuk accountable for Newman’s crimes against her and countless other boys and girls,” Phillips said. “Her story will help so many others to finally feel seen, heard and believed.”
Related articles:
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Notes from the abused at Kamp Kanakuk: ‘You know what Satan is doing, but you still let him in’ | Analysis by Mallory Challis
Pedophilia at Kanakuk: Power, lies and evangelical values that cover up abuse | Analysis by Mallory Challis