Dad, stepmom of Pa. girl, 12, charged with murder after years of torture, abuse: DA

A Pennsylvania father and his girlfriend have been charged with murdering the man’s 12-year-old daughter in May following years of abuse and torture, officials announced Thursday.

Rendell Hoagland, 52, and Cindy Warren, 45, both of West Caln Township, were initially arrested on May 6 . They were charged with attempted criminal homicide and related offenses in the death of 12-year-old Malinda Hoagland.

On Thursday, the Chester County District Attorney’s Office announced additional charges — including first-degree murder and involuntary servitude — against the couple.

“Information from the Coroner’s Office and medical experts demonstrates a years-long pattern of extensive torture and abuse, ” Chester County District Attorney Christopher de Barrena-Sarobe, said in a news release.

Additionally, investigators found “text messages and hundreds of videos” and pictures showing Hoagland and Warren, the girl’s “de facto stepmother,” engaging in a “calculated and systematic method of terrorizing, manipulating, and dehumanizing Malinda,” Barrena-Sarobe added.

The images, obtained through search warrants, include videos and still images found in the couple’s cell phones, as well as security camera footage. They show the horrific physical and mental abuse the young victim had to endure for years, officials say.

They include the girl “shackled to furniture … and being subjected to forced stress positions and physical punishment,” according to investigators. Malinda is also seen with her ankle cuffed to the furniture and being verbally berated.

Text messages and conversations exchanged between the two showed the girl was punished “for infractions like forgetting chores or schoolwork, ‘stealing’ food, not smiling during school sessions over Zoom, and urinating herself while cuffed to furniture.”

Malinda died “due to starvation and multiple blunt-force injuries,” officials said. She weighed 50 pounds at the time of her death and sustained approximately 75 individually identified bruises, contusions, ulcers, and pressure sores throughout her body.

Hoagland and Warren are being held without bail at Chester County Prison. The District Attorney’s Office said it intends to pursue the death penalty.