A year later, Malinda Hoagland's family faces "uphill battle" but believes change in Pennsylvania is possible
The month of May marks one year of pain and loss for the family of 12-year-old Malinda Hoagland. Prosecutors in Chester County, Pennsylvania, announced Malinda's death on May 12, 2024.
Prosecutors said Malinda was tortured and starved for months, murdered at the hands of her father and his girlfriend. The horrifying case drew national attention, and CBS News Philadelphia quickly began looking at the system and missed warning signs.
"We don't want this to happen to anyone else"
Malinda Hoagland's half-sisters say they were told the wait for information would be lengthy. The first-degree murder case against Malinda's father, Rendell Hoagland, and his girlfriend, Cindy Warren, won't go to trial for several more months.
While family says their pain is terrible, their work focuses on doing what can be done to prevent a gruesome case like this from happening again.
Jamie Hoagland and Emily Lee have been patient. They've also been busy, challenging a system they say should have done more to prevent the prolonged torture and murder of Malinda.
"Now that this has happened to our sister, we don't want this to happen to anyone else," Jamie Hoagland said.
Lawsuit argues that what happened to Malinda was preventable
Prosecutors allege that after the 12-year-old was removed from school in late 2023, she was subjected to cruel punishment, beatings, bizarre exercises and starved for weeks on end inside a home in West Caln Township.
"It's clear the child was being starved and abused over a period of time that could have been prevented," attorney Alexandria Crouthamel, who represents Malinda's half-sisters, said.
Crouthamel is suing Chester County Children, Youth and Families, the Coatesville Area School District and other government agencies.
They allege that after the school district reported its own concerns to the county in late 2023, CYF dropped the ball. They say Malinda, who then enrolled in a cyber school program, was permitted to live with Warren despite the fact that Warren did three to seven years in prison after pleading guilty to child endangerment. Warren was convicted in Monroe County before moving with Malinda to Chester County.
Crouthamel said no one physically checked in on Malinda, as she was being tortured and starved.
"It didn't occur," Crouthamel said. "Now, we have a deceased child. That's the issue here."
"Riding the same roller coaster"
Malinda's family has been pressing Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and state lawmakers to create a public database that would track those convicted of child abuse and endangerment, as they move from county to county. Numerous requests to the governor's office for comment for this report were not returned.
"Here we are with the year anniversary, so we are riding the same roller coaster," Lee said.
"Obviously, there was someone in Malinda's home who had previously harmed another child, so to what degree was that disclosed?" Cathleen Palm, founder of the Center for Children's Justice, said.
Palm has worked for decades to make changes and improvements to how Pennsylvania investigates instances of child abuse.
"First, I would say that we should be approaching these instances in a more timely way when reviewing them," Palm said.
Palm said the delays like this often discourage meaningful change.
A spokesperson for Chester County declined to comment on the status of its internal review of Children, Youth and Families, writing, "Given that this is an ongoing legal matter, and due to the confidential nature of child protection cases such as this, we cannot comment or share information on any aspects of the Malinda Hoagland case at this time."
"It's an uphill battle"
Child welfare experts told CBS News Philadelphia it's possible the right laws and protections are in place, but were unfortunately used improperly or not at all.
"There is another Malinda out there today," Palm said, "and so, are we sure today, for the next Malinda we have the right tools in the toolbox?"
"This is a problem we have, and whether it's changing the laws or changing the system, changing the database where these flags are raised, educating people to what to look for, it's an uphill battle," Lee said.
Malinda's sisters have also started a nonprofit in her honor.
Attorneys for the family said their lawsuit won't move forward until the criminal trial is over. That may not be until next year.
CBS News Philadelphia reached out to the Chester County District Attorney's Office for comment, but did not hear back.
Attorneys for Rendell Hoagland and Cindy Warren declined to comment. Both have pleaded not guilty.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
34 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Brickbat: Failure To Report
Seven police officers in West Palm Beach, Florida, face charges related to an unauthorized high-speed chase that ended in a fatal crash in Boynton Beach, killing Marcia Pochette and her pregnant daughter, Jenice Woods. The officers pursued suspect Neoni Copeland at speeds up to 119 mph, despite it being against department policy because they only wanted to conduct a routine interview. Copeland crashed into the victims' car, but the officers did not aid or even check on the victims, and they left without notifying authorities in Boynton Beach. The officers also failed to activate their body cameras, notify supervisors, or file paperwork. Three of the officers face two counts of leaving the scene of a crash involving death—a first-degree felony—while all seven face one count of official misconduct, a third-degree felony. The post Brickbat: Failure To Report appeared first on
Yahoo
35 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Ohio's innovative approach to protecting domestic violence survivors
A domestic violence awareness ribbon. (Stock photo from Getty Images.) People who are convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic abuse or subject to a qualifying protective order aren't allowed to have firearms according to federal law, but actually separating them from their guns is another matter. Often, abusers can deny having or refuse to surrender their firearms, and in states that have not passed their own versions of the federal ban — which, among other limitations, does not itself mandate how or when subjects should relinquish guns they already have in their possession — the process can be even more precarious. Ohio is one of the states that hang in the balance. Judges in Ohio have the discretion to require the surrender of firearms because of a civil protection order — a temporary order to remove guns from a potentially dangerous person — but there is no legal statute requiring the relinquishment of firearms following an order. In Ohio, more than 188,000 people are victims of intimate partner violence annually, and the state loses $1.2 billion every year because of the pervasive violence, according to a 2025 report by the Ohio Domestic Violence Network. But Ohio is not unique; access to firearms is a key factor in the lethality of intimate partner violence. Research studies estimate that, in instances where a domestic abuser has access to a gun, a victim is five times more likely to die, and the rate of intimate partner firearm homicides in the United States is substantially higher than in other similar-income countries. The Advisory Committee on Domestic Violence through the Supreme Court of Ohio noticed that because of the disconnect in federal and state law, there was a gap in potential abusers surrendering their firearms. The committee came up with an unusual solution: paperwork. Members argued that the lack of legal follow-up after the issuance of protection orders could be remedied by the state's 10-F Form, implemented in 2021. When law enforcement goes to serve a protection order, they use the form to ask a subject if they have access to firearms, securing them if so, keeping them in storage, or noting whether they deny having access to weapons at all. Then the form gets placed in a court's docket, leaving a paper trail if there's a violation later. 'This really is a tool that can be used as a way to clarify, does someone have weapons, and if this person is lying, it could be the basis of another charge or a violation of that protection order,' said Alexandria Ruden, a member of the advisory committee and a supervising attorney with Legal Aid Society of Cleveland. Ruden, who has worked in domestic violence law for four decades, emphasized that shootings are among the most common ways victims are killed. She and her colleagues have participated in training sessions on the 10-F Form across Ohio. But she explained that there are roadblocks to successful implementation, like having a place to store weapons after they have been seized. Though Ruden emphasized the practicality of the form, she said the need for a state statute is crucial to truly protect victims. 'If we were able to codify federal law regarding qualifying protection orders, and the qualifying misdemeanor crimes of domestic violence, then the implementation of this form would be much easier to work with,' Ruden said. The difference in state approaches can have significant consequences for victims. 'The place you live, not only the state but the county that you live in, can dictate what protections under the law that you have, and how safe you will be,' said Dr. April Zeoli, a professor at the University of Michigan School of Public Health who has researched the relationship between firearm access and intimate partner violence. 'We see these differences when it comes to domestic violence protection order firearm restrictions,' Zeoli told me. 'States that have these restrictions see decreases in domestic violence partner homicide compared to states that don't, and that is very frustrating.' Different states are implementing strategies to address intimate partner gun violence. In 2017, Washington became the first state to alert domestic violence survivors when an abuser tries to buy a gun. Other recent efforts have focused on securing financial support for those at risk, like Colorado's voter-approved gun tax to fund services for domestic violence victims. Earlier this year, Illinois passed a law clarifying the surrender process, requiring law enforcement to quickly seize firearms from people with protection orders against them. In Louisiana, even as federal laws have weakened, local leaders are still committed to keeping firearms out of the hands of abusers. Lafourche Parish Sheriff's Lieutenant Valerie Martinez-Jordan spearheaded an innovative firearm divestiture program that has since spread across the deep-red state. (Read my colleague Alma Beauvais's story for more.) These varied approaches are innovative, but as in Ohio, they are not being implemented without challenges. Some of the Trump administration's recent budget cuts have targeted domestic violence services. The actions on the federal level will have residual effects for organizations throughout the country. Still, the state actions show momentum for addressing the relationship between firearm violence and domestic violence. The 10-F form is just one example of recent efforts that are focused on less punitive approaches. Ruden, who has worked in intimate partner violence law since the Domestic Violence Act was enacted in 1979, told me that she looks forward to the day that she's 'out of a job,' but that there's a lot of work left to do. Often, she said, creating policies to counter intimate partner violence is a process that takes two steps back after taking a step forward. Still, these innovations represent hope. 'I am hopeful even now that what we are able to do with this particular piece is to focus on getting law enforcement to ask' about guns when a protection order is served, Ruden said. ''Do you have weapons?' or 'Let me take your weapons.'' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
35 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Deputies seeks owner of malnourished horse found in Maricopa County
The Brief A visibly malnourished horse was found wandering in Maricopa County near 66th Avenue and Ellis Drive. The sheriff's office would like to find its owner so that it can figure out why the horse wasn't receiving proper care. MARICOPA COUNTY, Ariz. - The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office is hoping someone can come forward so it can figure out how a wandering horse ended up in the condition it's in. What we know The brown and white horse was found in a neighborhood near 66th Avenue and Ellis Drive in the south Phoenix area. "The horse is now safe and receiving care, but we need help identifying the owner or how the horse ended up in this condition," the sheriff's office said in a Facebook post on June 12. What we don't know If you have information, contact MCSO at 602-876-TIPS (8477).
