A Kansas woman who pleaded no contest to multiple charges related to the death of her 6-year-old daughter was sentenced on Monday to nearly 18 years in prison.
Crystina Schroer entered her plea — meaning she didn’t admit guilt but also did not contest the allegations — in August, KWCH reported.
Kennedy Schroer’s decomposed remains were found in a trash bag buried in the backyard of her adoptive parents’ home in September 2024, as CrimeOnline reported. A post morten report from the Sedgwick County Forensic Science Center determined the little girl died from homicide by probable suffocation.
Investigators said the girl’s body had been buried for about four years when she was found.
Schroer and her husband, Joseph Schroer, were arrested in February and charged with multiple crimes. Crystina Schroer was charged with murder, aggravated kidnapping, child abuse/torture, theft, forgery, Medicaid fraud, and desecration of a corpse, while Joseph Schroer was charged with child abuse/torture, liability for crimes of another, interference with law enforcement, theft, and Medicaid fraud.
Prosecutors said that Kennedy was put into a small box overnight on the night she died and that she died while stuck inside the box. Crytina Schroer claimed that one of her other children put Kennedy in the box after she separated them for fighting, Law&Crime said.
But the other little girl said that it was her mother who forced Kennedy into the box for moving during the night and that it was a frequent punishment.
The probable cause affidavit said that Crystina Schroer told her husband and other family members that the state took Kennedy back because of behavior issues.
The little girl’s body was found four years later after first responder were called to the home for a suicide attempt by Crystina Schroer. She told police when they arrived that “her life was over and that no one was going to look at her the same.”
Butler County Attorney Darrin Devinney said that Crystina Schroer was abusive to other children in her care and that those children — three biological children and two adopted children — are in state custody, KWCH said.
“They’re receiving anything and everything that they possibly need, not just to get over the trauma of what went on at [the Schroer] home, but also we want them to be safe, stable, productive and give them some permanency as well, so they can lead hopefully a productive life,” he said.
Kennedy’s biological family attending the sentencing on Monday.
Crystina Schroer pleaded no contest to second-degree murder, child abuse, making false information, and welfare fraud.
Joseph Schroer pleaded no contest in October to two counts of endangering child while the other charges against him were dismissed, KSN reported. He is scheduled for sentencing on December 3.
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[Featured image: Crystina Schroer, Kennedy Schroer, and Joseph Schroer/Rose Hill Police Department]
