A Kansas mother will serve nearly two decades in jail for the murder of her adopted daughter.
Crystina Schroer appeared in a Butler County courtroom this week and was sentenced to 215 months in prison for second-degree murder, child abuse, forgery, and theft.
These convictions are all linked to the death of 6-year-old Natalie Garcia, who was adopted by Crystina and her husband in 2019 and went missing in 2020.
Authorities did not discover she was missing until four years later, when they began looking for the child, whom Crystina had nicknamed “Kennedy” following the adoption.
The child’s decaying bones were discovered just days into the search in a black plastic bag buried two feet below ground in a weed-infested portion of Crystina’s property, according to a copy of a disclosure order issued in the case and obtained by PEOPLE.
The autopsy report identified the method of death as homicide and the cause as “probable suffocation.”
Rose Hill police learned Natalie was missing in September 2024 after responding to a report of Crystina threatening suicide at her house.
When officials arrived at the home and began interviewing with Crystina, she constantly mentioned the children who lived there — several of whom were adopted — and then claimed that one of them had murdered Natalie, according to the order.
Crystina provided this information a few days after being contacted by the Kansas Department for Children and Families (DCF), which had received a report of something occurring to Natalie, according to the order.
Unbeknownst to Crystina, DCF had ended its inquiry after speaking with her via phone.
After investigating one of Natalie’s sisters, police discovered the truth about what transpired. During a pause in the conversation, the girl spoke to her father — unaware she was still being taped — and recounted what had occurred to her sister, claiming that Crystina would put the girls into a small box if they moved too much at night, as per the instruction.
According to the order, Natalie was placed in the box by Crystina one night in 2020, and as Natalie continued to move, Crystina heaped blankets and then a baby cradle on top of her.
Natalie became silent over time, according to her sister, who began to cry because she believed Natalie had died. Subsequently, the sister stated that Crystina chose to let Natalie out per the order.
“Mom took the box off and [Natalie] fell out, she was blue,” the order states, quoting the sister, whose name is deleted. ” [Redacted] told her father she did not want to say anything else. When Joseph asked where [Natalie] was, she said her mother informed her she was at the hospital, but she had no idea where she was. [Redacted] stated that she greatly missed [Natalie] and wanted she would return.”
Joseph informed officers he had no knowledge of the situation. He was first charged with murder, but prosecutors eventually dropped the accusation. He later pleaded no contest to two counts of aggravated endangering a child and one count of Medicaid fraud for permitting his wife to mistreat their children; his sentence is scheduled for early December.
In further interviews, authorities found from the couple’s adopted, biological, and foster children that Crystina habitually starved and tormented Natalie and the other small children, and even installed cameras throughout the house to keep an eye on them.
According to the order, the youngsters were also mostly kept to their rooms and were not permitted to speak with visitors to the residence.
Natalie’s other children were told she was in a psychiatric hospital after she died in 2020.
In September 2024, police uncovered human bones buried on the site. After getting DNA from Natalie’s biological mother, officials determined that the remains belonged to her.
Crystina pled no contest to all charges in August. Despite her attorneys’ requests for leniency during this week’s hearing, the judge imposed the maximum penalty on all counts.
Butler County District Court Judge Satterfield had to pause and collect herself at times, wiping her nose and eyes with a tissue as she recalled the pain Natalie and other young children went through while in Crystina’s care.
Prosecutors claimed during trial and again at sentence that Crystina saw the children as nothing more than a paycheck.
