A Pennsylvania woman was criminally charged on Friday, a day after her 9-year-old adoptive daughter was found dead in a river.
The Daily Courier reported that on Monday, state police charged Sarah Shipley with aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of children, corruption of minors, simple assault, harassment, and conspiracy-aggravated assault.
Fayette County District Attorney Michael Aubele said Shipley and Kourtney Eutsey, 31, will face even more charges after Children and Youth Services removed four other children from the home and discovered a 6-year-old boy who required hospitalization.
The boy remains hospitalized in stable condition. Aubele said he had a body mass of zero.
Regarding Renesmay Eutsey’s death, Shipley is charged with criminal homicide and conspiracy to commit criminal homicide. Kourtney Eutsey is charged with homicide, abuse of a corpse, endangering the welfare of children, aggravated assault, tampering with evidence, and concealing the death of a child.
Aubele previously explained that Shipley was Renesmay Eutsey’s court-ordered custodian and is in a relationship with Kourtney Eutsey.
“Kourtney Eutsey was the live-in caretaker…[She] had adopted at least one of the other children in the household. [Eutsey and Shipley] were in a relationship in which the children referred to Kourtney Eutsey as mom and Sarah Shipley as dad,” he said.
Shipley and Kourtney Eutsey reported the child missing from their Dunbar home on Thursday, shortly before Kourtney Eutsey allegedly led officers 20 miles away to the girl’s body in the Youghiogheny River.
Kourtney Eutsey reportedly led police to the body after a boy and two girls in the home claimed they witnessed her kill the victim. A girl allegedly told police she overheard Kourtney Eutsey and another adult talking about taking Renesmay Eutsey to a river “far, far away.”
She claimed she heard the victim crying before witnessing Kourtney Eutsey and the other adult screaming at her and kicking her in the stomach.
While the girl told police that she saw Renesmay Eutsey being placed in a bag, Kourtney Eutsey stated that she vomited and choked to death. Kourtney Eutsey allegedly also said she did not call for help because the child was skinny and she had burned herself in the tub days earlier.
Renesmay Eutsey reportedly weighed 45 pounds. Her injuries — including cigarette burns — were consistent with other accounts about what happened in the home, according to Aubele.
Shipley remains hospitalized after allegedly overdosing at the family’s home on Friday. She will be formally arraigned following her release.
Officials are expected to file additional charges against Kourtney Eutsey and Shipley on Monday.
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[Feature Photo: Pennsylvania State Police]
