The adoptive parents of a six-year-old girl found buried in a Kansas backyard five months ago have been arrested.
Crystina Schroer, 50, and 53-year-old Joseph Schroer are facing charges of first-degree murder, child abuse and kidnapping in connection with the death of their daughter Kennedy.
“We believe that these are the only two that are responsible,” Rose Hill police chief Taylor Parlier said, per KAKE. “At this time, we have no evidence that there should be anybody else that’s going to be charged.”
Police began investigating the disappearance of Kennedy on Sept. 10 when officers responded to the 1400 block of North Meeker Court in Rose Hill, about 20 miles southeast of Wichita, after being notified of a resident who had barricaded themselves in a room and was allegedly threatening self-harm with a gun.
Police later learned the person did not have a firearm on them, and later took them to a local hospital. But officers reportedly learned about a past homicide, police said in a statement at the time.
The following day, police found “the possibility of human remains” buried in the backyard, according to a Rose Hill Police Department press release.
Police brought in a “brush hog” to clear overgrown vegetation, the release said, and later deployed cadaver dogs to search the property, though that was initially to no avail.
Later, police began searching another location and hours later, police said, the remains of Kennedy were found inside a trash bag.
A coroner later determined the girl, whose birth name was Natalie Garcia, died of “probable suffocation, and her manner of death was homicide,” according to the release.
Kennedy was adopted by the couple in 2019, the Topeka Capital-Journal reported. Police believe Kennedy died in late 2020, the outlet reports.
Crystina Schroer is also charged with felony theft, four counts of forgery, Medicaid fraud and desecration of a corpse. Joseph Schroer is additionally facing charges of liability for crimes of another, interference with law enforcement, felony theft and Medicaid fraud.
