Tyler Schindley, on the left, and Krista Schindley, on the right, appear in court and in mugshots. (Screengrab via WXIA; Spalding County Jail)
A Georgia couple accused of starving and abusing their 10-year-old son have been denied bond after prosecutors made shocking new allegations against them.
During a Monday morning hearing in Spalding County, a judge agreed with state prosecutors and denied pretrial release for Krista Schindley and her husband, Tyler Schindley, who were charged in May with myriad counts related to the alleged starvation and abuse of their child. Prosecutors told the judge that the couple had planned for the boy to be hidden away while he died so that he could perish without anyone ever knowing he even existed, according to a courtroom report by Atlanta-based ABC affiliate WSB-TV.
The court found that the Schindleys posed a significant risk of flight, that the couple was likely to try and intimidate witnesses in the case, and that they were a significant risk to the community at large.
The Schindleys’ son was found in May wandering along a street on the way to a Kroger grocery store, emaciated and allegedly begging to never go home again. The couple was charged with attempted homicide in the second degree, attempted malice murder in the first degree, numerous counts of cruelty to children in the first degree, second degree, and third degree, battery, simple battery, and false imprisonment.
There were several additional children in the home, authorities said. They have since been removed and placed in the custody of the Georgia Department of Family and Children’s Services. The children were all being homeschooled, according to the GPD.
According to warrants in the case obtained by Atlanta-based NBC affiliate WXIA, the couple caused their son “cruel and excessive physical and mental pain” when they “intentionally withheld food from the juvenile for an extended period of time.” They are additionally accused of causing their son “dental injury and disfiguration,” withholding medical attention, and locking the boy inside his bedroom “for extended periods and on multiple occasions, with no access to lights, food, clothing or adult interaction and/or assistance.”
At the time the boy was found by neighbors, who called police, he weighed 36 pounds. A typical, healthy weight for a 10-year-old in the United States would be markedly higher, according to the CDC.
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“This child was, simply put, being starved to death, and it is tragic,” Spalding County District Attorney Marie Broder said during a press conference at the time the defendants were arrested. “I truly believe that if he had not gotten out of that home, this would be a very different case.”
Earlier this month, law enforcement alleged that the 10-year-old boy was also physically abused by his older adult stepbrother. Ethan Washburn, 20, of Franklin, Tennessee, was arrested on two felony counts of aggravated assault. He stands accused of using both of his hands to choke the child around his neck.
The Schindleys have shared children as well as children from prior relationships, officials have previously said. Four other minors were living in the same house as the 10-year-old boy who had nearly wasted away, police said, but nothing appeared to be wrong with – and no abuse appeared to have been present in – those other children.
On Monday, however, in making the state’s case for continuing to hold the couple without bail, a prosecutor argued that the Schindley’s other children were little more than human income devices.
“They gain quite a bit of financial benefit from fostering five children and then adopting them,” the prosecutor said near the end of the bond hearing. “So, they have access to uncounted funds that would give them the ability to flee the jurisdiction.”
When asked if they had anything to say on their own behalf on the stand, or if they had any witnesses to call, the couple – who did not appear to be represented by counsel – replied that they did not.
The defendants remain detained in the Spalding County Jail.
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