Choneska, Philbert, jr.

Born hearing; deafened about age 1 from fever. Physically abused by his mother. Attended the New Mexico School for the Deaf; he was unofficially adopted at that time by another couple. While attending McKinley middle school, the adoptive couple divorced, and eventually his adoptive mother threw him out of the house. He went to live with his adoptive father and the father's second wife, who became his second adoptive mother. Graduated high school in 2000 and went to work in an auto repair shop.