A 6-Year-Old Girl Was Found Buried in Kan. Backyard — and Adoptive Parents Knew She Was There for Years By Nicole Acosta and Chris Spargo

A Kansas father has been sentenced after being convicted of charges related to the murder of his 6-year-old adopted daughter, whose remains were found four years after authorities believe she was killed by the man’s wife.

Joseph Schroer was sentenced to 60 days in jail and four years of probation by a Butler County judge on Wednesday, Dec. 3, according to local news outlets KAKE, KWCH and The Wichita Eagle. He will serve a 14-month prison sentence if his probation is violated, the outlets reported.

The sentencing comes after Schroer pleaded no contest to two counts of aggravated endangering a child and one count of Medicaid fraud for allowing his wife’s abuse of their children.

In August, his wife, Crystina Schroer, pleaded no contest to charges including second-degree murder, child abuse, making a false writing and theft, PEOPLE previously reported. She’s currently serving a 17-year prison sentence.

Authorities said the decomposed remains of 6-year-old Natalie Garcia, who had been adopted by the couple in 2019 and renamed Kennedy Schroer, were found buried in their backyard in September 2024, according to a copy of a disclosure order filed in the case and previously obtained by PEOPLE.

The girl had gone missing in 2020, but Rose Hill police were not aware of her disappearance until they arrived at her mother’s home after receiving a report that she was threatening to kill herself. An autopsy report stated Kennedy likely died of suffocation and her death was ruled a homicide.

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While Chystina initially told authorities that one of her other children had killed the girl, the girl’s sister later revealed that Chystina had placed Kennedy in a small box one night in 2020, and when she continued to move, Crystina stacked blankets and later a baby crib on top of her in the box, the order states.

The sister said Crystina would force the children into a small box if they moved too much at night. It wasn’t until after the sister cried out of fear that Kennedy was dead, that Crystina decided to let Kennedy out. The girl’s body then fell out of the box and was “blue,” the sister said.

“She buried her,” Butler County Attorney Darrin Devinney said of Chystina, KAKE reported. “She double-bagged her in trash bags, dug a hole on her own property, and buried her right outside the master bedroom.” He added, “That master bedroom … where they continued to sleep for four years, right next to the corpse of that small child.”

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Authorities said Cryistina told the other children Kennedy was in a mental hospital, per the order.

Later in the investigation, police learned from the couple’s adopted, biological and foster children that Crystina routinely starved and tortured Kennedy and the other young children, and even kept cameras throughout the house to constantly monitor them. Prosecutors argued in court that Crystina viewed the children as nothing more than a paycheck.

Authorities said Joseph told them he was unaware of the killing, but his conviction came after prosecutors deemed that he “actively participated in the continued torture of other children in the home, in concert with his wife,” and accepted Medicaid payments while knowing she was no longer living in the home, The Wichita Eagle reported.

If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.