“Didn’t want to get in trouble;” Woman claimed her adoptive 9-year-old daughter choked to death but was scared to call 911 so she stuffed the body in a bag and dumped it “far away;” charged
Pennsylvania – In a disturbing case that has shaken the state of Pennsylvania, a 31-year-old woman, identified as K. Eutsey, has been charged with criminal homicide and several related offenses after the body of her adoptive 9-year-old daughter was found discarded “far, far away” from their home, emaciated, and partially submerged. Eutsey is facing charges including abuse of a corpse, aggravated assault, child endangerment, and concealing the death of a child.
Authorities say that the 9-year-old girl, a child with special needs, had been in Eutsey’s custody since 2019. On Wednesday afternoon, Eutsey and her female partner reported the girl missing from their home, prompting a rapid response from Pennsylvania State Police and local investigators. What followed was a harrowing unraveling of lies. As officers prepared to search the home, a child who lived there approached them and apologized for “not telling the truth” earlier. The child revealed that their sister was already dead and that they had witnessed Eutsey put her into a bag the night before. One sibling heartbreakingly told police, “I’m never going to see my baby sister again because she’s in heaven.”
According to the children, the night before the 9-year-old girl was reported missing, they heard her screaming and crying, followed by Eutsey and her partner yelling at and kicking the child in the stomach. One child said she came out of her room because she thought her sister needed help. That’s when she saw Eutsey and another adult abusing the victim. The affidavit further alleges that Eutsey later told investigators she panicked after her adoptive daughter “choked” and died, and that she was “scared to call 911” because she “did not want to get in trouble” for how badly the girl looked—“how skinny she was” and the visible burns on her body, including one from a cigarette that “might have become infected.” So instead of seeking help, Eutsey allegedly placed the girl’s body into a black bag, then into a plastic tote, and loaded it into her vehicle.
Eutsey then drove nearly 20 miles away, eventually finding a “pull-off” near the riverbank. It was there she left the tote containing the girl’s body. Hours later, under pressure from mounting evidence and child witness accounts, she led investigators to the location in the early morning hours of Thursday, where they found the girl’s lifeless body—partially submerged, weighing just 45 pounds, and showing signs of prolonged abuse. An autopsy is still pending, but District Attorney M. Aubele has stated publicly that it is “very apparent that this girl suffered.” Investigators found bruises, cigarette burns, and signs of extreme malnourishment. Charging documents described the girl dying “due to physical abuse and lack of seeking medical treatment.”
The victim’s biological mother, C. Benedetto, expressed heartbreak in an interview with local news sources. She questioned why her daughter’s body was dumped in such a degrading way, asking, “Why put her in a tote, in a garbage bag, and throw her away like she didn’t mean anything?” She added, “She meant something, at least to us. She meant everything.”
Eutsey has been denied bond and is being held in the county prison, deemed a threat to herself and others. Her partner has not been charged. The other children living in the home—aged 7, 4, and 2—have since been removed by Children & Youth Services and placed with a relative. As authorities await the final autopsy report from the county coroner, the community mourns a child whose short life ended not only in tragedy—but in silence, fear, and cruelty.
