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WEST CHESTER, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — Charges have been upgraded to murder for a Chester County man and his girlfriend who are accused of torturing and killing his 12-year-old daughter.
Chester County District Attorney Christopher de Barrena-Sarobe on Thursday announced the new charges against Rendell Hoagland, 52, and Cindy Warren, 45. Arrested in May on charges including attempted homicide, aggravated assault of a child and kidnapping, they now face charges of first-degree, second-degree, and third-degree murder, as well as hundreds of related charges.
Authorities responded to Hoagland’s West Caln home on May 6 after he placed a call to 911. First responders found 12-year-old Malinda Hoagland emaciated, malnourished, and badly beaten, covered in bruises.
The girl was rushed to a nearby hospital, where doctors found she had at least a half-dozen broken bones and her organs were failing, said de Barrena-Sarobe. Despite efforts to treat her, Malinda, weighing only 50 pounds, died at the hospital.
The cause of death was determined to be starvation and blunt force trauma. Officials say Malinda suffered injury to every organ system in her body, including her brain.
The district attorney says detectives uncovered hundreds of pieces of evidence in this case.
“They found over 450 videos of evidentiary value, hundreds of still images of evidentiary value, and text messages of evidentiary value that spanned two and a half years,” said de Barrena-Sarobe. “The evidence shows that these defendants communicated regularly about how they were going to terrorize Malinda. She was subjected to physical and psychological torture.”
The district attorney said Hoagland and Warren used a home security camera system through which they berated the girl, forcing her to perform strenuous exercise, such as running in place or doing squats, while shackled to furniture.
De Barrena-Sarobe described one video showing Malinda crying, carrying a stack of books above her head. The books fall, and she asks to be forgiven. Then Warren beats the girl with a metal spatula and tells her that her father will beat her worse later, de Barrena-Sarobe said.
“And they showed that she would be punished for perceived slights by being denied food, sometimes for days,” he said.
After Hoagland’s and Warren’s arrests, a Coatesville Area School District spokeswoman said the district had reported concerns of mistreatment to Child Line last fall, before her father pulled her out of her middle school and shifted her to cyber-schooling.
After that, the district attorney said, Malinda had little to no contact with the outside world.
He said Malinda’s biological mother suffers from a severe medical condition and can barely care for herself. She is not being blamed for any wrongdoing in this case.
Although he needs to have additional conversations with the girl’s family, and the investigation continues, the DA says he intends to pursue the death penalty. The couple remain in prison with no bail available to them.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect the correct spelling of the victim’s name.