Parents accused of torturing their 6-year-old adopted daughter to death and burying her in the backyard

The adoptive parents of Kennedy Schroer, whose birth name was Natalie Garcia, were arrested five months after the little girl's remains were found buried in a backyard in Rose Hill, Kansas - (Rose Hill Police Dept.)

A Kansas couple was arrested in connection to the death of their six-year-old adopted daughter, whose remains were found in their backyard.

In September 2024, authorities were called after receiving a report that human remains were possibly buried in the backyard of a home, according to the Rose Hill Police Department.

The following day, after obtaining a search warrant, officers and cadaver dogs searched the “overgrown” area to find the decomposed remains of a human child in a trash bag buried 23 inches deep in the backyard.

A DNA test revealed the remains belonged to Kennedy Schroer, whose birth name was Natalie Garcia, police said. A November postmortem report found the little girl’s cause of death was probable suffocation — and her manner of death was homicide.

The remains of 6-year-old Kennedy Schroer, whose birth name was Natalie Garcia, were found in the backyard of a Rose Hill home in September 2024 (Rose Hill Police Dept.)

She was believed to have died in 2020, police previously said, making her six years old at the time.

Five months after police discovered the remains, on February 3, the child’s adoptive parents were arrested.

Crystina Elizabeth Schroer, 50, was charged with first-degree murder, aggravated kidnapping, four counts of child abuse (torture) felony theft, four counts of forgery, Medicaid fraud and desecration of a corpse.

Joseph Shane Schroer, 53, was charged with four counts of child abuse (torture), liability for crimes of another, interference with law enforcement, felony theft, and Medicaid fraud.

Joseph Schroer (left), 53, and Crystina Schroer, 50, were arrested on February 3 in connection to the death of their adopted daughter. Crystina faces charges of first-degree murder and desecration of a corpse while Joseph faces charges of liability for crimes of another. They both face child abuse and Medicaid fraud charges (Rose Hill Police Dept.)

“We know that there has been a strong desire in our community for answers, but the specific needs of our investigation would not permit us to provide them in detail before now,” Rose Hill Police said, noting “there was not an ongoing risk to public safety” during the course of the investigation.

The Rose Hill Police detectives dedicated more than 2,000 hours to the case, while other agencies, including the Butler County Attorney’s Office, FBI, and Department of Children and Families, also dedicated hundreds of hours, police said.

“This case was built through the development of timelines spanning more than four years, which is the primary reason for the length of the investigation. Natalie has always been the focus of this investigation, and we believe we can now tell her story accurately.”