A Kansas father found himself in legal hot water after claiming ignorance of his wife’s heinous crime—murdering their 6-year-old adopted daughter and burying her in the backyard. Joseph Schroer, aged 53, was sentenced for the “torture” of another child, receiving 60 days in jail along with four years of probation. This sentence came after he entered a no-contest plea to charges of aggravated child endangerment and Medicaid fraud.

His wife, Crystina Elizabeth Schroer, 50, was handed a prison sentence exceeding 17 years last month for the tragic demise of Kennedy Schroer. The young girl’s remains were unearthed in September 2024 at the family’s residence in Rose Hill, a modest town southeast of Wichita with a population of about 4,000. Crystina took a plea deal, admitting no contest to second-degree murder, child abuse, falsifying information, and welfare fraud in August. Initially, she faced the more severe charge of first-degree murder.

The charges against Joseph Schroer stem from his involvement in withholding food and imprisoning a 7-year-old child in a basement in 2023. Despite Kennedy’s death, he and his wife continued to receive Medicaid payments meant for her care.

During Joseph’s sentencing hearing, Kennedy’s family expressed their anguish, as reported by a Court TV livestream. They voiced the belief that Joseph deserved a punishment akin to his wife’s. Kennedy, born in 2014 under the name Natalie Garcia, was originally the daughter of Christa Helm.

Kennedy’s family spoke during the sentencing hearing, according to stream from Court TV. They said Joseph Schroer should have met the same fate as his wife. Kennedy was born in 2014 with the name Natalie Garcia to her mother Christa Helm.

“I feel that they are both as guilty as each other. He knows what was going on,” Helm said. “I don’t know why he’s sitting over there crying. I think it’s probably because he’s guilty.”

Helm called her daughter a “good girl.”

“There was no reason for her life to be taken,” the mother said. “She was sweet, she was beautiful, and the things that were done to her were inhumane.”

Butler County Attorney Darrin C. Devinney said Joseph Schroer’s conduct was “inexcusable” whether he knew about Kennedy’s death or not.

“He may not have even known one of his children had been killed by his wife and buried outside, but what we do know is that he actively participated in the continued torture of other children in concert with his wife, and that’s what he stands here today for,” Devinney said.

Joseph Schroer told the court he was sorry for his actions and said he failed his kids. He also stated the children did nothing wrong to be mistreated.

That statement irked Chief Judge David E. Ricke.

“If they didn’t do anything wrong, Mr. Schroer, why were they so severely disciplined?” the judge asked. “And that is something that should haunt everyone that knows anything about this case, Mr. Schroer, including you.”

A 44-page probable cause arrest affidavit details the horrific death Kennedy suffered at the hands of her mother in late 2020. The investigation began in September 2024 when Rose Hill police officers responded to a home after a suicide attempt by Crystina Schroer. When cops arrived, she told them “her life was over and that no one was going to look at her the same.”

She went on to say that one night in November or December of 2020 her kids got into a fight and she was trying to separate them. She went outside and asked one of her kids where was Kennedy. The girl was looking at a box that had a crib and blankets on top of it. Crystina Schroer claimed she took the blankets and cradle off the box and opened it to find Kennedy in the box, “unconscious and without a pulse.”

The mother tried to complete CPR on Kennedy but to no avail, and she realized the girl was dead. She then proceeded to drive around with the girl’s body, and eventually decided to bury her in a 23-inch grave in the backyard of her home. She said it was one of the kids who put her in the box.

The girl said the incident occurred when her dad was at work. She said her mother would force the kids to enter a storage container box if they moved during the night. According to the affidavit, she said her mom forced Kennedy into the box. The girl had to listen for her sister to make any movements or noises. Kennedy made a noise.

“[The sister] believed her mom heard that and came back into the room, asking ‘is she still making noises?’” the affidavit said.

The defendant then placed the blankets and crib on top of the box before leaving the room.

“When mom came back into the room, [the sister] was bawling, and mom asked why and she stated she Kennedy thought was dead, because she wasn’t making any noise,” detectives wrote.

She opened the box and Kennedy fell out. The girl was “blue.” The sister never saw Kennedy again. Detectives wrote that Crystina Schroer told her husband and other family members that the state took back custody of the girl because she was unable to live in a foster home because of behavior issues.

As Law&Crime previously reported, cops began searching the Schroer home in the 1400 block of North Meeker Court after Crystina Schroer’s suicide attempt.

Cops went to the home early the next day and began their search.

They encountered some hurdles right away. The vegetation was so overgrown that they had to take a bush whacker to clear the way so cadaver dogs could search the area. Once completed, the dogs alerted investigators to some areas of interest.

Hours into the forensic dig, cops uncovered the remains of young girl inside a trash bag in a makeshift grave about two feet deep. A couple weeks later a DNA test positively identified the body as Kennedy.

Detectives learned Kennedy was born Natalie Garcia on July 14, 2014, a press release said. Her birth parents relinquished their rights to the state and she was put up for adoption. The Schroers adopted her in November 2018 and changed her name.

“She was a beautiful child, with an infectious smile,” cops said.

Since the discovery of the body, police have spent some 2,000 hours building a case against the Schroers, working with local, state and federal law enforcement, including the FBI, Internal Revenue Service and Wichita’s Exploited and Missing Children’s Unit.

“This case was built through the development of timelines spanning more than four years, which is the primary reason for the length of the investigation,” cops wrote.

Investigators also learned the suspect parents had been receiving some $23,000 in Medicaid payments after Kennedy’s death. The parents had three biological children and two adopted kids. The surviving children all have been placed in custody of the state since the discovery of Kennedy’s body.