Steve Cartisano was behind the wilderness therapy camp The Challenger Foundation, which is at the center of the Netflix documentary Hell Camp: Teen Nightmare. The camp was designed to set wayward teenagers on a new path but used controversial and extreme practices to break the attendees down before building them back up again. Cartisano was married with four children, and the documentary features testimony from his wife, Debbie Cartisano.
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Who is Debbie Cartisano?
Deborah “Debbie” Cartisano was Steve Cartisano’s wife and the mother of his four children. She features heavily in the Hell Camp documentary, providing insight into how Steve’s business endeavors and way of doing things had ramifications on their own family.
After meeting while Steve was in the Air Force and marrying shortly thereafter, Debbie enjoyed the fruits of Steve’s labors, with the family shacked up in a giant house in Utah, though Debbie bristles at suggestions of their lavish lifestyle. In the wake of the scandal following the death of Kristen Chase, the family struggled financially and Debbie was forced to get a retail job at Sears — a far cry from driving around in a Lamborghini.
Despite becoming insistent that Steve stop opening new camps after the terrible outcomes of previous efforts, he nonetheless persisted in reinventing himself and his foundation all over the world, meeting more and more pushback. Debbie remained by his side throughout, with their children struggling with substance abuse and even becoming “guests” at Steve’s overseas camps.
Where is Debbie Cartisano now?
Although Debbie has been open to appearing in the Netflix documentary, she does keep her private life understandably under the radar. There is little information about her current whereabouts, though she is close with her children and grandchildren after Steve’s death.
Debbie is likely living a less lavish life than she was at the Foundation’s peak. In the documentary, Debbie talks about how Steve would set the foundation up and also talks about the benefits that the business would bring to the family, including a big house, and a horse that Debbie would ride.
How did Debbie and Steve Cartisano meet?
Steve Cartisano with wife Debbie | Image via Netflix
Debbie and Steve met while Steve was in the U.S. Air Force. Although the exact details of their meeting are not known, they were married in Provo, Utah, on December 15, 1978. They continued to live in a huge house in Utah during the peak of Steve’s success before the ensuing controversy left him reputationally ruined and bankrupt.
Does Debbie Cartisano have children?
Debbie Cartisano has four children with Steve: Jennifer, David, Daniel, and Catherine.
Debbie explains that after the camp was shut down, she would take a job working in Sears to help make ends meet while dealing with the court case that followed for a year and a half. She speaks of the worry they had, and how it would affect her children, and states that she did not want Steve to pursue more work in this field.
Steve and Debbie’s daughter Catie also explains her anger at her father’s business choices and says she only wanted a normal life. Catie also explains that her brother David would fall into drug use while her father was working. David would return from another of Steve’s camps, and Catie would also become involved in drug use. Debbie explains that the kids were stealing things from the house to pay for heroin. Catie would be arrested and her parents did not bail her out of jail. She decided to turn her own life around, becoming a therapist. David is still in prison.
What happened to Steve’s Samoa camp?
Debbie does her best in the film to give Steve’s side of the story but expresses her frustration over her husband’s insistence to continue with his work in a similar field. While Steve set up a camp under a different name in Samoa, they decided to “kidnap” David and send him there. Although David did seem to do well at that camp, it would not be long before it would also come under scrutiny, with claims being made that the participants were badly treated and forced to stay against their will.
Eventually, a videotape showing the conditions was released, and Steve was once again in the public eye. The camp had been emptied, and the US Embassy would find the children on a beach.
