Chester County couple who police say tortured and starved a 12-year-old were charged with murder. Prosecutors to seek the death penalty.

A West Caln Township couple prosecutors say tortured and starved 12-year-old Malinda Hoagland, who died after she was found malnourished and confined in her Chester County home in May, have been charged with murder and prosecutors will seek the death penalty for the pair.

Prosecutors from the Chester County District Attorney’s Office say Malinda’s father, Rendell Hoagland, and stepmother, Cindy Warren, subjected the girl to more than two years of relentless physical and psychological abuse, including by chaining the girl to a dresser and forcing her to perform calisthenics, and repeatedly beating her when she would falter in their West Caln Township home.

The couple denied the 12-year-old food as she wasted away to 50 pounds, prosecutors said. When the injuries to her face were too severe to hide, said Chester County District Attorney Christopher de Barrena-Sarobe, the couple would abruptly pull the girl from school.

When medics took Malinda to the hospital in May, she was “broken and barely alive,” authorities said. She had cuts and bruises on her head and chest, and at least six broken bones and significant damage to her liver, authorities said.

Hoagland and Warren were previously charged with attempted murder and related crimes for Malinda’s alleged abuse. Authorities on Thursday announced they would be upgrading charges against Hoagland and Warren to first-, second-, and third-degree murder charges, along with charging them with numerous related crimes.

The abundance of video evidence that catalogued the alleged abuse and medical results that showed the extent of Malinda’s physical torture solidified prosecutors’ decision to charge Hoagland and Warren with murder and to seek the death penalty for both of them, de Barrena-Sarobe said at a Thursday news conference

The case was “truly unimaginable,” said de Barrena-Sarobe. “It’s difficult to hear. It’s trying to process.”

Malinda’s sister Emily Lee told The Inquirer she began to worry about her sister’s safety when her father met Warren through a Facebook dating app in 2019 and her concerns only grew. Warren, 45, had pleaded guilty to endangering the welfare of a child in Monroe County in 2009 after her ex-husband abused and neglected their son. The abuse in that case was similar to what Malinda endured, prosecutors said.

Warren was sentenced to three to seven years in prison in that case, and was released after three years. Her ex-husband also pleaded guilty to killing his 2-year-old daughter from a previous relationship, and is currently serving a 25-to-50-year sentence in state prison.

Hoagland and Warren have been held in custody since their arrests in May. The couple did not receive bail.

Hoagland’s attorney, Stuart Crichton, did not return a request for comment. It was unclear whether Warren had hired an attorney.

Hoagland and Warren initially told police that Malinda had sustained her injuries after falling off a mountain bike and an accident on a water slide, police records show. Hoagland said the couple intended to take Malinda to a doctor in the Pocono Mountains when asked about his daughter’s severe emaciation, records show.

But more than 400 videos laid bare Malinda’s alleged abuse, authorities said. Footage showed Malinda often balancing books on her head for long periods of time, with either Hoagland or Warren beating her if she dropped the books, de Barrena-Sarobe said.

Some of the videos were recorded by Warren’s younger son, who was not abused, he said.

Outside the Chester County Justice Center, lawyers for Malinda’s sisters Emily Lee, Jamie Hoagland, and Abbey Hoagland said Malinda’s alleged torture and eventual death was a systemic failure, starting with Chester County’s Department of Children Youth and Families (CYF).

At least two calls to Childline, Pennyslvania’s child abuse hotline, were made, said de Barrena-Sarobe. But Hoagland and Warren lied to workers who called to check on Malinda about her condition, he said. Malinda’s sisters plan to file a civil suit against Hoagland and Warren, along with CYF, said Tom Bosworth, one of the sisters’ attorneys.

The agency, said Bosworth, should have visited and spoke with Malinda.

“They knew the child was in the home with this individual who had a record in black and white,” he said. “The child was displaying both physical and psychological signs of abuse.”

Representatives for the agency could not immediately be reached.

Malinda’s sisters, who were present at Thursday’s news conference but did not comment, had mixed feelings about prosecutors’ announcement they’d be seeking the death penalty for Hoagland and Warren, said Ally Crauthamel, one of the sisters’ attorneys.

“It’s a torn reaction,” she said. “They are very upset to hear the extreme details released today. But at the same time they want justice for Malinda.”