12-year-old girl dies after months of "evil" abuse, injury by father, his girlfriend, Chester County DA says
WEST CHESTER, Pa. (CBS) -- A father and his girlfriend have been arrested in connection with the death of his 12-year-old daughter who was found "broken and barely alive" in West Caln Township over the weekend, the Chester County district attorney said Tuesday.
Rendell Hoagland and Cindy Warren were arrested Monday and charged with attempted murder, kidnapping and related offenses, District Attorney Chris de Barrena-Sarobe said.
West Caln Township police responded to a 911 call Saturday night for a report of 12-year-old Malinda Hoagland being unconscious.
"Shockingly, they found a 12-year-old girl who was broken and barely alive," said de Barrena-Sarobe, adding Malinda was subjected to "evil and torment that no child should ever have to endure and they did it for months."
Malinda was rushed to Paoli Hospital, where doctors found her to be undernourished, weighing 50 pounds and covered with bruises and broken bones, the district attorney said. Her organs were failing and she later died at the hospital.
"I think we've all asked ourselves over the past few days, 'When was the last time Malinda was ever loved?'" de Barrena-Sarobe said."It's an awful thing to think about."
The investigation found that Hoagland and Warren pulled Malinda out of middle school in late November or early December and enrolled her in an online cyber school. Malinda appeared to have "incredibly limited access to the outside world from the moment she was pulled from school," de Barrena-Sarobe said.
According to the DA, investigators found Warren deleted text messages with Hoagland and dozens of videos on both of their cellphones from Hoagland's in-home camera system that showed the abuse. The videos dated back months.
The videos showed Malinda's ankles were cuffed to furniture and she was "verbally berated" by Hoagland and Warren, the DA said.
"The video showed that they would punish her by demanding strenuous physical exercise such as squats and running in place as she was still shackled," de Barrena-Sarobe said.
Investigators said Malinda would also be denied food for days for perceived slights and the punishments appeared "systematic."
Warren's 9-year-old child also lived at the home, de Barrena-Sarobe said, but the child appeared to be "very well treated and unharmed."
Investigators are still working on a timeline of the abuse.
Hoagland and Warren are being held at Chester County Prison on $1 million cash bail, according to court documents.