1 word SCUM KITTANNING, Pa. (Aug. 8) - A man and woman have been charged with killing a 4-year-old girl whose malnourished body was found in a picnic cooler behind their western Pennsylvania home, authorities said. Kristen Tatar's 11 1/2-pound body was found in the cooler Thursday, after police were alerted by social workers who hadn't seen the child since at least June. The cause of death was not immediately known, but Armstrong County Coroner Robert Bower said at a news conference Friday that the girl suffered from malnutrition, dehydration and neglect. The body had been put in the cooler, wrapped in garbage bags and then placed in a trash can near a shed in the back yard, authorities said. State police filed homicide charges late Thursday against James Tatar, 41, and Janet Crawford, 35, both of Vandergrift, a town about 20 miles northeast of Pittsburgh. Police said the couple was caring for Kristen, but authorities didn't know if either was her biological parent. Officials said they believed the girl had been dead for weeks. The defendants, who did not have attorneys as of Friday afternoon, were being held in the Armstrong County jail. A preliminary hearing was scheduled for Thursday. Authorities said there is some indication the girl was kept in a bedroom away from the rest of the family. Armstrong County District Attorney Scott Andreassi said the many family photos in the home did not include Kristen. ``They were living as a family of three, but they really were a family of four,'' Bower said. The last time a relative saw Kristen alive was six months ago, Andreassi said. A social worker visited the home in June and was introduced to a child presented as Kristen, Andreassi said. Officials now are unsure if the child was actually Kristen, because the worker was unfamiliar with the case, and the child was healthy, unlike the body found in the cooler, he said. Social workers had been trying to contact the child on and off since June, and were told by the couple that Kristen was at a Catholic Charities hospice. When they couldn't find the child at the hospice, the county alerted police. The child's care was being supervised by the Children and Youth Services agency because Kristen had suffered from malnourishment in the past, and a condition known as failure to thrive
the debate over whether the death penalty is ethical is one that has always bothered me. I want to say no it is never right to take someones life, let them live and their demon's will still destroy them. In this case, I say KILL EM ALL
I take this news personally, as I have a 4 year old daughter...along with my 3 year old daughter that means absolutely more than anything else material or otherwise in this world...They really are innocent angels... forgive me Lord for the hate I feel against those who did this!
I couldn't agree more. Those are the absolute worst people in the world. My 3yr old son almost weighed as much as the 4yr old when he was born. 10lbs 5oz Hopefully this poor baby will have a better life above. They deserve a very painful and prolonged death.
I do not believe in the death penalty but sometimes I wish that torture could be a punishment, with the public able to view on TV. Now there's a deterrent.
that literally made me sick to my stomach. These people deserve to be thrown in a dungeon for a month with nothing to eat.
