Ex-MMA Fighter Starved Young Daughter to Death and Locked Son in Cage So He Could Play Video Games By Christina Coulter

A Schenectady, N.Y., man admitted he locked his 5-year-old daughter inside a bedroom without food or water for months — leaving her to die while he used drugs and played video games.

Robert S. Buskey Jr., 35, pleaded guilty Jan. 23 to second-degree murder and criminal sale of a controlled substance to a child in Schenectady County Court before Judge Matthew J. Sypniewski. Under the plea agreement, Buskey will receive the maximum sentence allowed by law — 25 years to life for the murder conviction, plus an additional two years for the drug charge — for a total sentence of 27 years to life when he is sentenced March 27, according to a press release from the Schenectady County District Attorney’s Office.

As part of the agreement, Buskey waived his right to appeal and an order of protection will be issued prohibiting him from any contact with his now-5-year-old son.

In pleading guilty, Buskey admitted that “under circumstances evincing a depraved indifference to human life,” he recklessly engaged in conduct that created a grave risk of serious injury or death to his daughter, Charlotte, ultimately causing her death, the DA’s office said.

First responders were called to Buskey’s home on April 14, 2024, for an unresponsive child. Prosecutors said what they found inside was a “house of horrors,” with deplorable conditions that included Charlotte’s emaciated body locked inside a bedroom and a makeshift cage in the dining room where Buskey kept his 3-year-old son.

Authorities said Charlotte had been neglected and malnourished for months. She and her brother had been completely isolated from the outside world — no longer seeing family members, attending medical appointments or enrolled in school.

“Their world shrunk to the confines of Mr. Buskey’s deplorable home, and ultimately, for Charlotte, the confines of her bedroom in which Mr. Buskey kept her locked, and Jackson, in his cage, so Mr. Buskey could do drugs, play video games, and not be bothered by his children,” prosecutors said.

Investigators said Buskey installed a lock on the outside of Charlotte’s bedroom door and reinforced it with tape after discovering she was able to escape by jiggling the handle.

Inside the room, Charlotte did not have a bed — only a pack-and-play so small she was forced to lie in a fetal position. Prosecutors said she was left there without food, water or human contact, even though the home was stocked with food, including boxes located just outside her locked bedroom door.

An autopsy later determined Charlotte died from dehydration and starvation and that her body was completely devoid of food, prosecutors said. Both children also tested positive for cocaine. Along with the murder charge, Buskey pleaded guilty to giving a narcotic drug to his young son.

Buskey, who previously competed as an amateur mixed martial arts fighter in local Cage Wars events according to the Times Union, has remained in custody since his arrest in April 2024. His attorney, Joseph Litz, could not immediately be reached for comment.