12-05-2025
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.
