Woman Accused of Putting Adopted Girl, 6, Into Box Where She Suffocated, Burying Her in Yard: Police

Crystina Elizabeth Schroer, 50, was arrested on February 3, 2025, alongside her husband Joseph Shane Schroer, 53, after police were contacted regarding a mental health crisis, where they were told of possible human remains buried in the yard. ABC affiliate KAKE reports that police had initially responded to the home after Crystina threatened to kill herself.

That call, which came in at approximately 7:30 p.m. on September 10, 2024, according to a press release from the Rose Hill Police Department at the time, triggered a months-long investigation. It started the very next day, when police secured a search warrant for the property, utilizing cadaver drugs in the overgrown yard and eventually a brush hog.

According to the release, neither of these options netted a definitive result, so they moved on to digging areas of interest to the dogs. It was approximately 23 inches below the soil at one of these sites that "the decomposed remains of a human child were found in a trash bag."

A postmortem and DNA test results confirmed the identity of the decedent as Kennedy Schroer, the adopted name of the little girl born as Natalie Garcia. The press release goes on to discuss a multi-agency investigation into her death, which included canvasing the neighborhood, conducting interviews, and even consulting experts in trauma and abuse.

On November 20, 2024, the Sedgwick County Forensic Science Center completed its forensic report into the remains and determined that the girl's cause of death was "probable suffocation," with the manner homicide.

It was after the conclusion of this investigation that the Schroers were ultimately arrested. Joseph was charged with four counts of child abuse/torture, liability for crimes of another, interference with law enforcement, felony theft, and Medicaid fraud.

His wife, Crystina, was also hit with four counts of child abuse/torture, felony theft and Medicaid fraud, as well as four counts of forgery, aggravated kidnapping, desecration of a corpse, and first degree murder.

Crystina Schroer was sentenced to just shy of 18 years, or 215 months, on Monday in Butler County after she was found guilty of second-degree murder, child abuse, making a false writing, and theft, according to KAKE, back in August.

"She buried her. She double-bagged her in trash bags, dug a hole on her own property, and buried her right outside the master bedroom," Butler Counter Attorney Darrin Devinney said, per the news outlet. "That master bedroom... where they continued to sleep for four years, right next to the corpse of that small child."

Crystina's husband Joseph Schroer is set to be sentenced on child endangerment and Medicaid fraud charges on December 3 after he pleaded no contest.

Natalie Garcia was born on July 14, 2014. After her parents relinquished their rights to the state, she was put up for adoption and taken in by the Schroers, who adopted her in November 2018 and changed her name to Kennedy. Police believe she was dead two years later.

When police first arrived at the Schroer residence on September 10, 2024 after an alleged suicide attempt, they reported that Crystina told them "her life was over and that no one was going to look at her the same."

She went on to detail a version of what she claims happened nearly four years prior, in November or December 2020. According to a probable cause affidavit referenced by Law&Crime, Crystina told authorities that her kids had gotten into a fight and that she was attempting to separate them.

She said that she asked one of her kids outside where Kennedy was and that the girl was looking at a box that had a crib and blankets on top of it. According to the affidavit, Crystina uncovered the box and opened it to find the 6-year-old "unconscious and without a pulse."

She said she tried to conduct CPR and put her daughter into a cold shower, but ultimately realized that Kennedy was deceased. After this, she said she drove around with the girl's body in her vehicle for several hours before ultimately deciding to bury her in the family's back yard.

When asked how the girl got in the box, Crystina told police one of her other children had done it, per the report. Investigators reported that they attempted to interview the aforementioned child but were unable to get her to speak, and so they left the room.

Some time later, per the affidavit, Joseph came out and told them they should review the video from the room because he'd been able to get the girl to talk.

In that video, the girl said that the whole thing happened while her father, Joseph, had been at work. She reportedly said that Crystina would often force the kids into a storage container box and pile objects onto it if they moved, per the report, and alleged that it was her mother who put Kennedy in the box that day.

The girl said she was tasked by her mother that day to listen for Kennedy to hear if she made any movements or noises. When her sister did make a noise, the girl said she "believed her mom heard that and came back into the room, asking 'is she still making noises?'" per the affidavit.

It was after this, according to the girl, that Crystina allegedly put the blankets and crib on top of the box before leaving the room. The girl was later "bawling," per the affidavit, and when her mom allegedly came in and asked why, "she stated she thought Kennedy was dead, because she wasn't making any noise."

The sister reportedly said that Crystina then opened the box and Kennedy fell out, describing the girl as "blue." She said that her mother left with the body and she never saw Kennedy again, according to the probable cause affidavit.

The report additionally alleges that Crystina proceeded to tell her family and her husband that the state had taken custody of Kennedy back, saying that she was unable to be fostered because of behavior issues.

As part of their investigation, police discovered that the Schroers continued receiving Medicaid benefits for Kennedy after her death, totaling some $23,000 in payments.

If you are experiencing or witness 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. If you believe a child is in immediate danger, call 911.