Prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty for a Pennsylvania couple accused of starving and beating their 12-year-old daughter to death in a “years-long pattern of extensive torture and abuse.”
Malinda Hoagland weighed just 51 pounds and suffered “numerous injuries all over her body” when she died in May of this year, hours after being admitted to the trauma unit of Paoli Hospital.
Father Rendell Hoagland, 52, and stepmother Cindy Warren, 45, were charged with first-degree murder after detectives found videos in their West Caln home showing their “systematic method of terrorizing, manipulating and dehumanizing Malinda.”
Warren has already served a prison sentence for child abuse after her 2-year-old stepdaughter was beaten to death by her former partner in 2000. Chester County District Attorney Christopher L. de Barrena-Sarobe said only the ultimate punishment would bring justice for Malinda.
“I can stand here before you and say that we are seeking the death penalty in this case,” he said at a news conference.
Malinda was found after Hoagland called 911 claiming his daughter had crashed into a tree while riding her bike and lost consciousness
Father Rendell Hoagland and stepmother Cindy Warren are both charged with first-, second- and third-degree murder and forced labor.
Malinda was found “barely alive” by police on May 4 after Hoagland called 911 claiming she had crashed her bicycle into a tree.
Doctors at the hospital were shocked by her condition: she had many bruises, six broken bones and liver damage.
An autopsy found more than 75 individually identifiable “bruises, contusions, ulcers and pressure sores” on her body. The conclusion was that her death was caused by “starvation and multiple blunt force trauma.”
DailyMail.com investigated the couple’s social media and previously revealed that Malinda disappeared from her Hoagland Facebook page in early January, while the couple were still posting photos of Warren’s nine-year-old son Gavin, who police say was not being abused.
In the last photos he posted of his daughter, she looks thin as she shows off what appear to be Christmas presents. In one photo, her hand appears to be bruised.
According to investigators, the couple deleted all videos and text messages in the hours before her death.
But they still managed to recover “hundreds of videos and still images from the suspects’ cellphones and Blink security cameras” after obtaining a search warrant.
Photos allegedly showed Hoagland and Warren tying Malinda’s ankles to furniture, forcing her to sleep in chains on the floor without a pillow or blankets, and telling her not to expect breakfast, lunch or dinner.
The obese couple allegedly forced the little girl to do “endless” strenuous exercises while she was handcuffed as punishment for “perceived insults”.
Those “little things” included stealing food, not smiling during Zoom school sessions, or wetting herself while tied to furniture.
In the last few images Hoagland posted, Malinda looks thin while showing off what appear to be Christmas presents. In one image, her hand appears to be bruised
Hoagland used to post about his daughter often, but stopped doing so altogether in January
They watched her through the video surveillance system, shouting commands and reprimands over the loudspeakers as the girl sat chained and alone in the basement.
Malinda attended North Brandywine Middle School until December 2023, when her parents pulled her out of school and she took classes exclusively online. She was chained under her desk, out of sight of the camera.
Warren previously served time in prison after striking a deal with prosecutors to testify against her ex-husband McKinley Warren Jr. for the murder of his 2-year-old daughter Jessica Bock.
Jessica died in 2000 under eerily similar circumstances to Malinda — after the Warrens took her to the hospital, claiming she had fallen out of a parked car and hit her head, as reported by the Pocono Record.
The toddler was killed after Warren refused to change her diaper because “she had painted her nails.” Instead, Warren called McKinley, who had been drinking at a bar, to come home and change the toddler’s diaper, fatally wounding Jessica.
In her 2009 plea deal with prosecutors, Warren pleaded guilty to allowing her ex-husband to beat their then-3-year-old son, Isaiah. She was sentenced to three to seven years in prison.
Warren was not charged with Jessica’s murder, but Captain William Parrish said she was also partly responsible for Jessica’s death.
“At any time, she could have pointed the finger at her husband as the one who killed her stepdaughter and abused her son, but she refused to do so,” Parrish said at the time.
Warren pleaded guilty in 2009 to allowing her ex-husband to beat their then-3-year-old son Isaiah, and was sentenced to three to seven years in prison. She is pictured the same year
Police say Warren was partly responsible for the death of her stepdaughter Jessica, 2, in 2000 at the hands of her former partner McKinley Warren Jr.
Instead, she lied to her husband about how Jessica had been injured and left it to a neighbor to report Isaiah’s abuse.
“When neighbors complained that she and her husband were drunk, loud and raucous and we came to their home, she was the one who remained loud and disorderly while her husband calmed down. So she was taken away.”
Warren’s ex-husband McKinley Warren Jr. faces 25 to 50 years in prison for assaulting Isaiah and murdering Jessica.
Police said the Warrens’ son Isaiah looked like “a boxer who had been in a title fight” when they found him in January 2007 after a neighbor called authorities.
Isaiah’s three older full siblings were placed in foster care shortly after their birth due to the investigation into Jessica’s death in 2000. However, McKinley was not charged until 2007, when Isaiah was found by authorities and his wife agreed to testify against him.
Malinda’s former classmates at North Brandywine Middle School honored her by decorating her locker when news of her death broke.
Catherine Van Vooren, superintendent of the Coatesville Area School District, said in a statement that school administrators had previously reported signs of abuse involving Malinda.
“Twelve-year-old Malinda Hoagland was enrolled in our school district from the spring of 2022 through December 2023, when her family pulled her from North Brandywine Middle School and enrolled her in another cyber charter school,” she wrote.
“Our staff diligently reported concerns about her well-being to the state agency that receives and manages concerns. She was removed from our schools shortly thereafter.
“Her younger brother remained a student at King’s Highway. He is now in protective custody and is expected to be transferred to another county and school district.
“This news has shocked our entire school community and we are deeply saddened and upset by the horrific details of the abuse this child suffered.
The couple was arrested on May 6 and is currently being held without bail in the Chester County Jail.
They are charged with, among other things, second-degree murder, third-degree murder and forced labor.
Hoagland posted almost exclusively photos of son Gavin on Facebook, sharing a photo of Malinda only once — in December 2020
The last photos he shared of Malinda were posted on January 5, when she appeared to be opening Christmas presents with Gavin
The house where Malinda was reportedly tortured for months is pictured above
“This incredibly resilient young girl, her body couldn’t take it anymore. She started to shut down, in the early morning hours of May 4. And the suspects denied her medical care,” Barrena-Sarobe said.
Information from the coroner’s office and medical experts indicates a years-long pattern of extensive torture and abuse.
In addition, text messages and hundreds of videos show that the suspects terrorized, manipulated and dehumanized Malinda in a calculated and systematic manner.
“We will get justice for Malinda.”