to never let this happen to him again. Later claiming in life that no abuse had taken place by staff, Bonin confessed to being forced to punch a fence by nuns when he misbehaved. As neither parent visited Bonin or his older brother – whom staff forbade from interacting with one another – at the convent, he became worried his parents had died. Bonin was to remain at the convent until May 31, 1955, when he returned to live with his parents in a home owned by Bonin's maternal grandfather located at 465 Stafford Road in Mansfield, Connecticut. While living in Mansfield, Bonin attended Annie Vinton Elementary School with his younger brother, with whom he was frequently seen roaming town. At school, Bonin was known to classmates as a juvenile delinquent who was often in trouble or absent, poorly dressed and unkempt, aggressive with peers, had no observable friends, and was often bullied for his strange behavior. Ashamed of his sexual attraction to younger children and male teachers, Bonin isolated himself from others to whom he struggled to relate. Neighbors in Mansfield later failed to recollect either parent spending any significant time with their sons, and one neighbor – observing their unkempt, dirty and hungry condition – occasionally provided meals and clean clothes to Bonin and his younger brother out of sympathy after noting that they made their own food, and witnessing Bonin throw sharp darts at his younger brother who had been positioned against a tree. Furthermore, from their early childhood to 1957, Bonin and his brothers were frequently placed in the care of their maternal grandfather, a child molester who had sexually abused Bonin's mother until her adulthood, and whom Bonin's mother suspected of molesting his grandsons during the prolonged instances they were under his care. In addition, Bonin's parents occasionally left Bonin and his younger brother Paul under the care of the eldest brother, Robert Jr., who – receiving the majority of their father's abuse for defending their mother – often beat and belittled his siblings. Largely devoid of consequences and parental supervision, Bonin began stealing hubcaps, license plates, and metal tags off of vehicles in town. After receiving repeated complaints by angry neighbors, Bonin's father merely yelled at his son for stealing. In 1957, Bonin was arrested for stealing metal tags from vehicle license plates; he was placed in a juvenile detention center for these offenses