Ohio Couple Allegedly Murders 8-Year-Old Adopted Son and Abuses Four Other Children

Katherine and John Snyder II from Springfield Township are now in custody in upstate New York after allegedly abusing their five children and causing the death of their 8-year-old adopted son, Inside Edition reported. This case stemmed from an incident way back in 2016.

According to court documents, the 51-year-old parents were indicted by the Hamilton County Prosecutor's office on 26 counts of various charges, including aggravated murder, endangering children, and felonious assault. The couple's former neighbor, who was not named, didn't think they were the nicest people, but he never thought they could do such things, especially to kids.

Another former neighbor, also unnamed, said of Katherine that she was just excessive on everything, but she never thought she was capable of doing that to the children. Court documents further stated the couple's four adopted children, including their one biological child, were found severely malnourished and sustained physical abuse at their home on Conrad Drive.

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Blunt force trauma to the head and bronchial pneumonia

The mother of five was charged with causing her son's death as an outcome of blunt force trauma to the head with a contributing factor of bronchial pneumonia. She was arraigned in the City of Plattsburgh Court and was remanded to the Clinton County Correctional Facility. The prosecutor's office stated that the crime was ruled a homicide and determined that the young boy could not have caused that injury himself.

The Snyders challenged the ruling by filing twin civil lawsuits, which sought to remove homicide as the cause of death and asked the judge to review the coroner's report. The couple claimed in 2020 that the boy naturally died, asserted that the coroner's decision contained numerous errors, and claimed that the complaint had damaged their reputation.

However, the court refused those requests in 2020, and the Hamilton County Department of Jobs and Family Services gained permanent custody of the couple's four remaining kids.

John Synder II was charged with causing severe physical harm to their child and failing to feed them for five weeks in 2016. He was also arraigned in the City of Plattsburg Court. The couple was taken into custody in Clinton County, New York, on Monday after a warrant was issued for the said arrest.

The two are expected to be extradited to Hamilton County, WLWT5 reports.

Authorities revealed that the kids are now grown and in a safe environment. They provided information that permitted the office to seek an indictment. 

According to a report from News10, the number of child abuse in New York is 17.1 per 1,000 kids, while the national rate of child abuse, maltreatment, and neglect in the United States is 9.1 per 1,000 children.

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