12-Year-Old Killed by 'Evil' Parents' Horrifying Torture and Abuse: Cops

it is a deeply troubling story out of Pennsylvania authorities say a 12-year-old girl was repeatedly tortured and then killed and her father and his fiance are now facing charges we're going to break down this new case of alleged child abuse with former Pennsylvania prosecutor Matthew mangino welcome to sidebar presented by law on crime I'm Jesse Weber Melinda hogland 12 years old Chester County Pennsylvania she is dead and authorities say her death comes after this little girl was repeatedly tortured and abused by her father 52-year-old renel Hogan and his fiance 25-year-old Cindy Warren both have been charged with multiple counts including attempted criminal homicide assault and kidnapping and murder charges could be on the table too so what happened here well this is where it gets incredibly disturbing I'm going to read to you the statement from the Chester County district attorney Christopher l d barena sarob quote doctors found a child who was emaciated she weighed 50 lbs she was covered in bruises she had a half dozen broken bones at least her organs were failing and ultimately she died while she was being treated at the hospital so how did authorities discover this well it turns out Mr hogland called 911 saying his daughter was knocked out after hitting a tree when she was riding her bicycle however her injuries clearly showed there was something more here and so an a probe was launched and what did they find well according to the da police discovered that Melinda had been pulled out of middle school back in late November early December and that she was attending online cyber classes but while she was showing up on camera for the classes they say she was actually tied up Shackled below the camera couldn't pick it up and usually she was Shackled in the basement of this home when authorities confiscated the couple's phones authorities said they discovered all of these deleted videos videos where Melinda was ankle cuffed to Furniture where she was allegedly screamed at berated apparently over a camera's speaking system the couple forced her to do squats run in place forced her to sleep on the floor with no pillows or blankets they didn't even feed her at times these are the allegations these are the heinous allegations of abuse that allegedly were happening for months and in terms of of evidence it seems to only get worse because the couple reportedly deleted their text messages which you and I both know can be evidence of consciousness of guilt you know you're in trouble and trying to get rid of proof that's something prosecutors will argue and in an arrest affidavit Warren allegedly instructs hogland to quote run this little girl to the hospital instead of calling 911 and now they have an interesting defense and so clearly there's a lot to break down and for that I want to bring in crial defense attorney Matthew mangino former da of Lawrence County Pennsylvania uh Matt good to see you overall thoughts good to see you overall thoughts on this case have you ever prosecuted a case like this before well Jesse this is a horrific case and as as you went over it you know the malnourishment uh the broken bones the bruises you know being uh cuffed to to the table or or other objects in the basement certainly a sad case and I I have dealt with unfortunately when I was a prosecutor uh cases of malnourishment and obviously cases of child abuse that resulted in death uh primarily with regard to younger children than a 12-year-old so this 12-year-old weighed 50 pounds uh you know it's very um a very sad case and a very very sad existence for this poor uh young girl who had to endure this up to her death why do you think they haven't been charged with murder yet what do you think prosecutors are looking into to understand well I think they're waiting to see the results of an autopsy uh because you know in any case you have to prove the cause and manner of death and so we know that there's bruising we know that there's broken bones we know there's malnourishment but you need a a pathologist piece those things together uh if you're going to try to prove that there was an intentional uh killing here or at least a killing uh that Rose to a reckless uh disregard for for life so uh you know it's important that the prosecutor's office has that information in hand before they file any additional charges could you charge murder if it someone dies during the course of child abuse almost like a felony murder type situation and by that I mean when someone commits a felony and someone dies during the commission of the felony you can charge them with murder you don't necessarily have to prove that they intended to to kill someone but that the uh The Killing happens as a result could they be charged and you know I mean you know the law in Pennsylvania better than I is it possible to charge them with murder as a result of child abuse well that's an interesting question Jesse and and I think what you need to be able to to do is is prove an ongoing uh series of abuses so if you can show that these bone fractures you know six broken bones you know occurred over a period of time that these are the kind of fractur spiral uh fractures maybe where you intentionally Twisted the the child's arm or leg and you can show that consistent series of felonies you know that might be something that prosecutors could do so in Pennsylvania that would be second deegree murder uh felony murder and what's interesting about second deegree murder in Pennsylvania is it's life without parole just like being convicted of first degree murder and let me tell you this if they are really guilty of these allegations that's exactly what they should get this is a horrible horrible story and whenever I hear stuff like this I'm always saying to myself how well do you really know the people in your life how well do you know them it's a scary thing to think about right what are people up to but let me talk to you about our incredible SP sponsor 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provide peace of mind when you do these unlimited public record searches also you know what's really useful from within the report you can search an address like a home address to see registered sex offenders that may live in that area too to and that's the point unless you use truthfinder you may never know the reality about the people around you also truthfinder incredible resource and tool to use when reconnecting with people long lost friends family members you haven't spoken to in a while you can use truthfinder to help track down these people's information for you it's a great tool well right now here's the kicker you can get 50% off of your first month of confidential background reports just go to truthfinder.com LC sidebar I want to talk to you about the defense though because what's being reported is eerily reminiscent of other defenses that I've heard before in child abuse cases so my understanding the reporting indicates that this couple says that her injuries were from the bike accident and getting hurt on a water slide we've seen that defense before it's from the child falling it's from the child's activities they also say that she was emaciated because she was losing weight for a while and they were planning on getting her medical help thoughts on that defense and if you've ever seen it work well I mean that's going to be an interesting defense because in this case uh there are other issues uh that are going to come up that are going to refute that defense and that is a series of emails and videotapes okay so let's say for instance uh you know a child is is not thriving they're losing weight and you know maybe they're injured in some other way you know on a bicycle or on a slide uh why do you have that child Shackled to uh Furniture in the basement okay why did you delete your text uh you know why did essentially you know this this young uh girl you know kind of fall off of the the face of the Earth in terms of their you know there's nothing on Facebook after a period of time although the the the male child in the home is out with the father and going different places uh you know we we see a child that looks healthy around Christmas and then boom we never see anything else on social media about her again so so that defense you know could it work possibly I don't think it would work in this case uh you know plus the other thing here you know is is strange as it sounds you have a history here uh you know with uh you know Cindy Warren she apparently she spent uh you know a 3 to sevene prison term for the death or or harm of another child in which the father of that child is doing 25 years to 50 years or something like that so so it's it's an a really eerie kind of situation where you have a woman in the household who's once again facing similar charges to what she faced in the past yeah do you think it's possible that one would turn on the other one would blame the abuse on the other said I had no idea what was going on you know I was leaving the child in the care of her or I was leaving the child in the care of him and um you know again I always find that to be kind of a weaker defense um because you both are responsible you both are there and particularly if they're both deleting messages or if that's what we're dealing with but talk to me if you think that's a possibility that one might turn on the other well anytime you have two people charged in a case you know sometimes it's the one who gets to the district attorney's office quicker to start talking about EX actly what happened here uh you know what might be a more likely defense again uh you know look you have to look at their text which they try to delete and all those sort of things it was was there some abuse domestic abuse as well so there were were some threats that you you have to keep your mouth shut you can't bring the child to the doctor I mean we we've uh seen cases like that as well Jesse where where you suggest that there's there's some influence that that you know you're under whether it's violence or whatever that forces you not to take any action to protect this child again it's a weak defense based on what we know about this the death of this child you know what's really chilling is that this couple had posted pictures in social media of Melinda and then they stopped doing it over the last few months I think the last post of her was in January but then you even go to July 4th 2023 rendle Hogan her father posted happy 12th birthday Melinda hope you have many many more we love you very chilling knowing the allegations now no oh certainly I mean h how did this evolve I mean this is a 12-year-old who as I said a moment ago just kind of disappears from social media with regard to her to her father you know right after Christmas I mean there's photographs of her you know getting a bike and trying on clothes and then all of a sudden she disappears and we find out now you know months later that that she's severely malnourished she has broken bones uh it's really that that whole H how this whole thing happened is really strange and and and I'm sure prosecutors will look closely how that process began you know who apparently they did post pictures of consistently Warren's 9-year-old son he was apparently in the home reportedly not abused and we've seen that too some sometimes one child in a home is abused and the other's not do we know why that happens you know I I don't that's that's an interesting question because you don't know what would cause a parent or a caregiver to turn on a child like that and and and you know provide nourishment and safety and shelter to one child and not to the other you know is it some sort of disciplinary situation that's gone ay uh is it a defiant what what a parent perceives is a a defiant child that somehow you're going to Reign them in and then and it just spins out of control I don't know I can't imagine what would go through a parent's mind to take care of one child and neglect the other and and by the way a potential eyewitness to this no even though N9 years old I'm sure this child could provide information to police about something all right I mean if this is essentially you know your playmate or somebody that you look up to or somebody that you you you commonly spend time with who all of a sudden is chained to Furniture in the basement even a nine-year-old is going to wonder why is that happening you know what did she do why would uh you know my dad do that I mean there's so many unanswered questions here and so many issues that you that that you know we and most people can't comprehend but somehow these parents thought was a legitimate course of action or was it just an intentional killing let's talk about that because the superintendent for the local school district Dr Katherine van veren uh released this statement it is with an extremely heavy heart that I share with you the devastating and tragic news that one of our former students 12-year-old Melinda hogland was found dead over the weekend a victim of inhumane abuse by her father and his girlfriend while this horrific news was shared in a press conference and is making headlines in the media today the district just learned of this child's death late this morning and we have been working to get details understand and process this information and communicate with our entire School Community Melinda hogland was enrolled at Kings Highway Elementary in April of 2022 continued on to Scott Middle School and then North Brandywine Middle School our staff diligently reported concerns about Melinda's care to child line the state agency that receives and manages concerns regarding child abuse shortly thereafter her family withdrew her from our schools in December 2023 and enrolled her in another Cyber Charter School her younger brother remained a student at King's Highway he is now in protective custody expected to be relocated to another County and School District Do they have any responsibility here they seem to say that we knew something was going on they know the child's taken out of um custody excuse me they know that the child's taken out of school should the school have done more well you know if the school uh did what what what we heard there uh did a child line report so in Pennsylvania what that means is teachers are mandated reporters so if they suspect that something's going on uh that a child's being abused or neglected they have a responsibility to report that to the child line through the child line process that case is then referred to the local children and youth services who must do an investigation at that child line uh report and then there's a finding uh of whether you know it's founded abuse or unfounded abuse so it's going to be interesting to see you know where that leads because ultimately the the teacher or the school did what they're supposed to do at least initially as a mandated reporter did Children's Services in Chester County follow through with that investigation uh you know they could have come in and taken the child out of the home if there was some alleged abuse or neglect so that's really a whole another issue that's going to have to be examined by in Chester County and like you talked about I mean there's a criminal history here back in 2009 Warren pleaded guilty connection to her husband beating their three-year-old son she ended up serving seven years in prison um you know I imagine if she's convicted that would hurt her at sentencing her ex-husband by the way serving 25 to 50 years in prison for his role and that also killing his 2-year-old daughter it's just I don't know what's going on but it's really really sad to see it's heartbreaking to see and um let me just leave everybody with this uh if you have concerns that about the safety of a child um even of a child that you don't really know that well um you should do something you should say something you can call 911 and you could also call child line which we mentioned before at 800 93231 3 mattman Gino thank you so much for coming on thank you Jesse all right everybody that is all we have for you right now here on sidebar thank you so much for joining us as always please subscribe on Apple pod Spotify YouTube wherever you get your podcast I'm Jesse Weber we'll speak to you next time [Music]

Channel: Law&Crime Network

Views: 232,871

Keywords: law and crime, law and crime network, true crime, truecrime, true crime videos, court, trials, law&crime

Id: p327VJq5QO4

Length: 18min 15sec (1095 seconds)

Published: Wed May 15 2024