Woman gets 18 years in prison in slaying of 6-year-old adopted daughter
By KAKE News
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BUTLER COUNTY, Kansas (KAKE) — A woman has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for killing her 6-year-old adopted daughter, who was found buried in the backyard of a Rose Hill home last year.
Crystina Schroer, the adopted mother of Kennedy Schroer, was sentenced to 215 months in prison in a Butler County courtroom on Monday.
In August, Schroer was found guilty of second-degree murder, child abuse, making a false writing and theft.
In September 2024, law enforcement dug up the backyard of a home in a residential neighborhood. There, they found the remains of Kennedy Schroer, who was born with the name Natalie. Police had initially responded to Schroers’ home after Crystina had threatened to kill herself.
“She buried her. She double-bagged her in trash bags, dug a hole on her own property, and buried her right outside the master bedroom,” said Butler County Attorney Darrin Devinney. “That master bedroom… where they continued to sleep for four years, right next to the corpse of that small child.”
According to a court document, Crystina told police that years before, in December 2020, she found Kennedy in a box with blankets and other objects piled on top. She said she tried to revive Kennedy with CPR and gave her a cold shower. Upon realizing she was dead, Crystina said she wrapped the girl’s body in a sheet and put her in the car.
The document says Crystina didn’t take the girl to the hospital. But, instead, drove around with the body for several hours.
One of Kennedy’s sisters told investigators that Crystina used the box as punishment. The girl said her mother would pile objects onto the box to stop a child inside from moving. She says her mother left with Kennedy’s body and that her sister wasn’t there when Crystina came back.
A report by the Sedgwick County Forensic Science Center stated Kennedy died by suffocation and that her death was likely a homicide.
Crystina’s husband, Joseph Schroer, pleaded no contest to two counts of aggravated endangering a child and Medicaid fraud. He is set to be sentenced on Dec. 3.
Kennedy was born in Natalie Marie Garcia in July 2014. The Schroers named her Kennedy Jean when they adopted her in 2019.
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