From the outside, a Schenectady, New York residence appeared unremarkable. However, inside, investigators discovered what they described as a “house of horrors,” where a 5-year-old girl tragically succumbed to starvation and her 3-year-old brother was found confined in a cage.

On Friday, Robert S. Buskey, Jr., aged 35, confessed to second-degree murder in the case of his daughter, Charlotte Buskey, as stated by the Schenectady County District Attorney’s Office in an official announcement.

On April 14, 2024, law enforcement officers arrived at the Elmer Avenue house following reports of an unresponsive 5-year-old. Inside, they encountered appalling conditions, with Buskey’s 3-year-old son confined in a cage within the living room. In the bedroom, they found Charlotte’s frail body, her eyes sunken, a haunting testament to her condition, as outlined by prosecutors.

The bedroom door had been secured from the outside. Investigations revealed that Charlotte endured prolonged neglect and malnutrition, despite the presence of food just beyond her reach. According to the prosecution, Buskey isolated his children from family and the community, neglecting their health care while indulging in drugs and video games to avoid any parental responsibilities.

In a poignant moment, Buskey admitted to a police officer, “I let my daughter die,” as reported in courtroom coverage by the Daily Gazette of Schenectady.

Instead of a bed, Charlotte had to sleep in the fetal position in an old pack ‘n play she had outgrown. It was where she spent her final days.

“She had no food, no water, no contact with anyone, in a pack-n-play, left there to die, and she did,” prosecutors wrote.

An autopsy showed she was in a state of severe dehydration and “completely devoid of any food.”

In pleading guilty, Buskey admitted to a “depraved indifference to human life” and created a “grave risk of injury” that led to the death of his daughter.

“The charge of depraved murder is reserved for those individuals who have an utter disregard for the value of human life,” the press release stated. “It reflects a wicked, evil and inhuman state of mind as manifested by brutal, heinous and despicable acts, and it sums up Mr. Buskey’s conduct in this case.”

Both kids tested positive for cocaine. Buskey also pleaded guilty to criminal sale of a controlled substance to a child. He faces between 27 years and life in prison when he is sentenced on March 27.

District Attorney Robert M. Carney pointed out that Charlotte’s death was the area’s second kid to die in roughly a month under horrific circumstances.

Within the span of 36 days the community dealt with two horrific murders of small children. One, Halo Branton, an 11-month-old baby, was dropped into a drainage pit on the GE campus on March 9, 2024, and abandoned to die of hypothermia at the hands of her mother. On April, 14, 2024, police were called to the Elmer Avenue home of Robert Buskey to find his 5 year old child, Charlotte, whom he had entombed in her bedroom until she died of dehydration and starvation.  Neither of these parents may have intended to cause the death of their child, but both exhibited the utter indifference and wickedness necessary to be convicted of depraved mind murder. Like all children, these two innocents undoubtedly loved a parent who, in each case, couldn’t have cared less about them.

A jury found Halo’s mother guilty of murder and manslaughter last year.

Charlotte’s obituary said she loved princesses and “dressing up in beautiful outfits.”

“Her favorite thing to do was to blow and pop bubbles,” the obituary said. “She was a gentle soul with a kind heart that touched so many during her short time here on earth.”