BUTLER COUNTY, Kansas — A Kansas father has been sentenced to 60 days in jail and four years of probation for his role in covering up the killing of his 6-year-old adopted daughter and continuing to profit from benefits tied to her care.
Joseph Schroer received the sentence in Butler County District Court after pleading no contest to aggravated endangering a child and Medicaid fraud.
Prosecutors said his actions helped conceal the death of the little girl, identified as Kennedy, for nearly four years.
According to investigators, Kennedy was killed in 2020 by Schroer’s then-wife, Crystina Schroer, and buried in the backyard of their home.
Her remains were not discovered until September 2024, when authorities were alerted and conducted a search of the property.
An autopsy later determined that the child likely died of suffocation, and her death was ruled a homicide.
Despite the girl’s death, prosecutors said Joseph Schroer continued to collect Medicaid payments connected to Kennedy’s care.
They also argued that he contributed to the ongoing abuse of other children living in the home.
In court filings, the state accused him of actively participating “in the continued torture of other children in the home, in concert with his wife.”
Crystina Schroer is serving a 17-year prison sentence after pleading no contest to second-degree murder and child abuse in connection with Kennedy’s death.
Authorities say she buried the child on the family’s property in a shallow grave after double-bagging her body in trash bags.
The grave was located just outside the couple’s master bedroom window.
Butler County Attorney Darrin Devinney described the circumstances as especially disturbing.
He noted that Crystina dug the grave on her own property, then continued to sleep in a bedroom just feet away from where the child’s body lay hidden for years.
Prosecutors said that decision underscored the calculated and callous nature of the crime.
The discovery of Kennedy’s remains in 2024 shocked the local community, as the girl’s disappearance had never been reported to law enforcement at the time she was killed.
The case has raised serious questions about how a child could die and go unnoticed by authorities for so long.
Officials have not publicly detailed how the investigation was initially triggered.
For now, the criminal phase of the case has largely concluded, with Crystina in state prison and Joseph beginning his short jail term followed by probation.
Child welfare advocates, however, say the case highlights gaps in oversight of vulnerable children, especially those in adoptive or foster placements.
Kennedy’s death, they say, is a stark reminder of the need for stronger monitoring and mandatory welfare checks to prevent similar tragedies in the future.
