Richard Eberling - Early Life

Early Life

Richard Eberling was born Richard Lenardic in Cleveland, Ohio to Louise Lenardic, an unmarried woman, who identified the baby's father as George Anderson, a Cleveland Heights, Ohio police officer who was also known as an alcoholic. Despite her attempts to keep the baby whom she had named Richard, the child was eventually placed into the Cuyahoga County, Ohio foster care system designated as Ward 1575, where he received the minimum amount care needed to sustain him as he passed from family to family.

On subsequent visits to the Cuyahoga County welfare office, Lenardic herself began to exhibit irregular and eccentric traits. Richard also had behavioral traits that disturbed his foster families including on-going tantrums, compulsive masturbation and an inability to acquire language.

Ultimately Louise Lenardic refused to surrender her rights to her son, meaning that there was no chance for Richard to be adopted into a stable home.

In addition to behavioral problems such as excessive breath holding, an inability to acquire language skills and disassociative tendencies, Richard Lenardic also showed homosexual tendencies at a young age, which coupled with his exhibitionism also caused problems in placing him in private homes, and while housed in county facilities. At one point a potential adoptive home was found, however the family backed out of the adoption after the introduction of another potentially adoptive infant was brought into the home and Richard, age four, began to mimic the infants behaviors.

In 1939 Lenardic was placed with George and Christine Eberling, an older couple who farmed near Bay Village, Ohio. The Eberlings housed numerous foster children, using them as cheap labor for the farm. Richard soon became a favorite of Mrs. Eberling, whose fawning attentions fueled his girlish mannerisms. Cuyahoga County case workers noted that Richard refused to play games with other boys, instead preferring to stay inside and clean, as well wearing clothing belonging to Mrs. Eberling. It was also noted that Richard's mother wanted to establish contact with him, however this posed a problem for Cuyahoga County authorities because he had been told that both of his parents were deceased.

In 1946, while Richard was still with the Eberlings, George Eberling died while suffering from pneumonia, however the official cause of death was listed as a stroke.