PA - Conner, 8, & Brinley Snyder, 4, found hung, later died, Kempton, MEDIA MAPS TIMELINE NO DISCUSS

“We know that there was a 2014 involvement. So, if there's 2014 involvement, then we have a dead zone of space here. And the public wants to know what happened,” State Rep. Tarah Toohil, (R-Hazleton), said.

...

A trend analysis report, released by the Department of Human Services, which oversees CYS, found that in 2015 alone there were 220 child fatalities or near-fatalities.

64% were known or previously known to CYS at the time of their deaths.

"The deaths that you're seeing, from what I see in my practice, these are all symptoms of the problem,” longtime child law attorney Matthew Kopecki said.

...

Over the past few days, Project PA reached out to Berks County CYS several times asking if anyone referred Snyder to CYS after 2015.

Our team hasn’t heard back and is now in the process of filing a Right to Know request.

"There are other children out there. There must be other children out there in this great state of Pennsylvania. And why are we not catching them before they fall through the cracks,” she wondered.

The state will, however, likely release some information, including Conner and Brinley’s fatality report, after the case is closed.
Project PA | Could Pennsylvania have done more to protect the Snyder children?
 
Snipped
"A report has to be sent to the Department of Health in Harrisburg every 30 days, so we will have to meet and discuss the case and send that report off to Harrisburg," Hess said. "Every 30 days the case will have to be re-reviewed and anything new has to be added to the report and sent."
Albany Township mystery child deaths to be reviewed by special panels
 
In case of Berks County mom accused of killing children by hanging, did the system fail?

Dec 6, 2019

The horrifying deaths of 4-year-old Brinley and 8-year-old Conner Snyder are prompting renewed scrutiny of Pennsylvania’s child welfare system, even as they raise unanswered questions of what would motivate a mother to allegedly kill her children.

[.]


It is one of many aspects of Snyder’s arrest that is stirring public calls for answers. Authorities have not detailed a suspected motive in the killings, in which police charge Snyder used a basement beam and a dog lead to rig two loops that choked away her children’s lives in Albany Township. Experts on family violence described the alleged method of death as rare, saying mothers who kill their children more typically do so through less violent methods such as suffocation, drowning or drug overdoses.



‘Shrouded in secrecy’


On the child welfare front, Snyder’s case is under scrutiny because Berks County Children and Youth had previously been involved with the family. Authorities have not detailed the circumstances that led a judge in 2014 to temporarily remove Conner and an older brother from Snyder’s custody. Within months, the boys were returned to their mother’s care, and the child protection case was closed in November 2015 ― three months after Brinley was born ― ending caseworkers’ supervision of the family.

[..]


Why do parents kill?


In the meantime, police, school officials and residents of northeastern Berks County are grappling with a more immediate question: Why?

Dr. Phillip Resnick, a professor of psychiatry at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, has spent a career studying parents who kill their children. The motivations fall into several general categories, according to Resnick, who said he could not speak to the specifics of Snyder’s case.

Some parents kill out of altruistic motives, however skewed ― the sense that a child would be better off dead than alive, Resnick said. Others want to get rid of unwanted children. Some are acutely psychotic and lose touch with reality. Others kill accidentally through child abuse, or act out of revenge ― a desire to see a romantic partner suffer the loss of their children.

[..]

“Was she overwhelmed? Was she depressed? Did she have any psychotic thoughts about the children, or were they simply in the way for her?” Resnick asked.

[..]


Resnick, a nationally recognized expert on filicide, or the killing of a child by a parent, said his research suggests hanging is a “very unusual method.”



“I don’t remember if I’ve ever seen a case, especially a double-hanging,” said Resnick.



Jack Levin, a criminologist at Northeastern University in Boston who studies family murder, called the allegations against Snyder “strange in so many respects” and said it is difficult to develop a likely profile of her as a result.
 
“Whenever we look at a child fatality, it’s real easy for us to come to conclusions and assume that there’s somebody who did something wrong. And I think we have to take a really careful look at child fatalities and what are those underlying reasons,” Rachael Miller, Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children, said.

“Whenever there is a child fatality, or near-fatality, the county agency is required to convene what is called an Act 33 review team. This team is a broad based group of individuals who have expertise in the field: medical professionals, mental health professionals,” Miller said.

Miller says the team has one goal in mind.

“...try to come to some consensus as to could this have been prevented, or what can we do to prevent cases like this resulting in another child fatality or near-fatality,” she added.
Project PA | Search warrant reveals children were found hanging in Berks County home
 
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In one of the messages, Snyder allegedly asked [this friend] “for a small favor” ― that she take Snyder’s dog, a 5-month-old pitbull and husky mix. Snyder appeared to ask for compensation for the pet, saying she wanted to “charge a small rehoming fee,” but would include his toys, cage and food.

“I’m never home and it’s not fair to him to be in his cage all the time,” the message read, “he’s free if you are.”

That dog appears to be the same pet referenced in one lurid allegation against Snyder: that in the days leading up to her children’s deaths, she sent an unnamed man photos of herself having sex with her dog. Adams, the district attorney, has said that Snyder later “sent the dog away,” but that it has been located by authorities. Adams has not disclosed its whereabouts.

Other Snyder messages repeatedly referenced heartbreak and the police probe, often at the same time. Friends and family were “spreading straight out lies” and had “completely tarnished” her name, the messages complained.

“They will see im innocent once everything is said n done,” Snyder allegedly wrote. “I can’t even imagine how they would think I would ever hurt my sweet children.”

Snyder’s doubters, the messages vowed, will be proven wrong.

The “truth will come out when the investigation is over,” Snyder allegedly wrote, “and my *advertiser censored** is not in jail.”
 
Maigan Sandt said accused murderer Lisa Snyder dated her brother in 2016. She said she had known Snyder for years and although she didn’t see Snyder as much after her brother passed away, she never would have guessed Snyder would harm her own children.

Sandt said she saw Snyder’s two youngest children, Conner and Brinley, many times. The children seemed happy and Snyder appeared to be a caring mother, Sandt said.

I’ve met the kids many times, my brother dated her before he passed away,” Sandt told CrimeOnline. “She didn’t seem like a bad mom, the kids never showed signs of being unhappy when I saw them.”

Snyder also allegedly told Sandt that she took medicine for depression. Sandt said Snyder told her that she was “getting better” and never mentioned anything about wanting to harm her children.

“I NEVER expected this to happen but when I saw the news and realized it was her, I had that gut feeling because it just all seemed impossible for Conner to do.”

Sandt reached out to Snyder, offering her sympathy when she learned the children were in the hospital on life support.

Sandt said she was surprised by Snyder’s emotionless reaction to the situation, even referring to the doctors “pulling the plug” when the children showed no brain activity. Sandt said she surmised that Snyder was likely in shock over the situation.
Friend of mother accused of killing children found hanging in basement says the kids seemed happy while suspect complained of depression [EXCLUSIVE]
 
Woman ordered to trial in case of kids' hanging deaths

Formal arraignment is March 12th.

From the article: "READING, Pa. - A Berks County woman was ordered to stand trial on murder charges in the hanging deaths of two of her children.

Lisa Snyder appeared before a judge at the Berks County Courthouse in downtown Reading for her preliminary hearing on Wednesday."
 
Woman ordered to trial in case of kids' hanging deaths

Feb 12, 2020

Lisa Snyder appeared before Magisterial District Judge Kim Bagenstose at the Berks County Courthouse in downtown Reading for her preliminary hearing on Wednesday.

The hearing for the high-profile case was held there rather than at Bagenstose's office in Hamburg because of heightened security that resulted from online death threats made against Snyder, officials said.

Those entering the courtroom, including WFMZ's Jim Vasil and Holly Harrar, were screened by security staff and forced to surrender their cell phones to sheriff's deputies.

]..]

Several family members were called to testify Wednesday morning about the validity of Snyder's bullying claim.

[..]

After hearing approximately four hours of testimony and reviewing the evidence presented by prosecutors, the judge decided to order Snyder to stand trial on two counts each of first- and third-degree murder as well as two felony charges of endangering the welfare of children.

Her formal arraignment is set for March 12.

Prosecutors have not yet announced whether they will seek the death penalty.
 
Mom accused of killing kids found hanging in Pa. home says she can’t afford lawyer

June 30, 2020

READING, Pa. (AP) — A woman is seeking taxpayer funds to pay for her defense on murder charges in the deaths of two young children found hanging in an eastern Pennsylvania basement last fall.

Defense attorney Dennis Charles told a Berks County judge Monday that Lisa Snyder, 37, cannot afford her defense and filed a motion seeking funding for expert witnesses she will need at trial. The judge took the motion to declare her indigent under advisement.

[..]

Charles has dismissed the case as amounting to only "speculation and guesswork." Assistant District Attorney Margaret McCallum said Snyder was the only adult in the house when the children were found hanging in the basement of the Albany Township house. They died three days later.

Snyder has maintained that the children killed themselves. She had alleged the boy was bullied, but authorities said there was no evidence of that, and he showed no sign of distress on bus security video that day. An occupational therapist said the boy was not physically capable of harming himself or his sister in that way.
[..]

At the hearing, Snyder’s attorney said his client had less than $400 in the bank when she was taken into custody. Her only asset, he said, was a 2017 Ford Fusion that she acquired by trading in a jeep her grandfather gave her, The (Allentown) Morning Call reported.

Snyder’s parents want to sell the car to reimburse their retirement fund, which they used to get their daughter a lawyer. Prosecutors say proceeds from any sale of the vehicle, which they say is worth about $23,000, should be spent on her defense before public funds are used.
 
Lisa Snyder, accused of hanging children in Berks County, wants taxpayers to pay for her defense

June 29, 2020

For at least five years leading up to her arrest in December for allegedly hanging her two children in the basement of her Berks County home, Lisa Snyder didn’t hold down a job, her attorney told a judge Monday.

Snyder, 37, didn’t own any real estate and had less than $400 in the bank when she was taken into custody for the alleged murders of 8-year-old Conner and 4-year-old Brinley Snyder. Her only asset was a 2017 Ford Fusion that she acquired by trading in a Jeep her grandfather gave her.

At a hearing Monday in Berks County Court in Reading to determine whether taxpayers should foot Snyder’s legal defense bills, that vehicle became an issue. Snyder’s parents want to sell the car to reimburse their retirement fund, which they tapped to get Snyder a lawyer.

[..]

According to a search warrant, police are interested in an 8:15 a.m. text Snyder received on the missing phone on the day of the incident.

Judge Paul Yatron said he will rule on the defense motion to declare Snyder indigent at a later date.

Snyder is awaiting trial on charges of first-degree murder, third-degree murder, tampering with evidence, endangering the welfare of children, animal cruelty and sexual intercourse with a dog. She was arrested in December, following a lengthy investigation.

Snyder has denied the charges. Court records say she told investigators that she believed Conner killed his sister and himself. A 911 recording shows that Snyder told the paramedics that her son said he wanted to die because he was being bullied at school but was “afraid to go alone.”
 
Could Lisa Snyder’s car hold evidence in Berks County hanged children investigation?

May 8, 2020

State police investigating the deaths of two children found hanging in the basement of their Berks County home last year have zeroed in on the mother’s car, hoping to find evidence within the vehicle’s “infotainment” system.

Newly released court records show that investigators believe the car’s Bluetooth system may have been connected to a cellphone Lisa R. Snyder allegedly hid from police after using it to order the dog lead that was found wrapped around the necks of her children, Conner, 8, and Brinley, 4.

Police have not located the phone, a Samsung Galaxy Note 9, and court records show Snyder told investigators that she lost it on the day her children were discovered hanging.

The court records say police believe Snyder “intentionally destroyed or discarded” the Note 9, and “joked” to a friend “about the cops looking for her phone.”

Snyder, 37, of Albany Township is awaiting trial on charges of first-degree murder, third-degree murder, tampering with evidence, endangering the welfare of children, animal cruelty and sexual intercourse with a dog. She was arrested in December, following a lengthy investigation.

[..]

In a search warrant return filed this week, State Trooper Daniel Womer wrote that investigators learned in recent months that Snyder often used Bluetooth to connect her cellphone to her car while driving. The trooper wrote that he wanted to have the car’s infotainment system analyzed for current and deleted information about calls and texts Snyder made or received around the time of her children’s deaths, as well as her internet searches.

Police previously said that Snyder used Conner’s Google profile to search information on death by hanging, as well as true crime television shows about getting away with murder.

According to the warrant, police are interested in an 8:15 a.m. text Snyder received on the missing phone on day of the incident.

Berks County Assistant District Attorney Meg McCallum declined to comment on the search warrants Friday. Snyder’s attorney, Dennis Charles, did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment.
 

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