SCHENECTADY, NY - Inside of a New York home, a five-year-old girl starved to death and her three-year-old brother was locked in a cage as their father played video games.
The father, 35-year-old Robert S. Buskey, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the death of his daughter, Charlotte Buskey, according to a press release from the Schenectady County District Attorney's Office.
Police responded to the home on Elmer Avenue on April 14, 2024, for an unresponsive five-year-old girl. Upon arriving, police entered a "deplorable" home where they found Buskey's three-year-old son locked in a cage in the living room. They then discovered Charlotte's "emaciated" body in her bedroom with her eyes "sunken into her skull," prosecutors said.
After conducting their investigation, police said that the bedroom had been locked from the outside. They also determined that Charlotte had been "neglected and malnourished for months" even though there were "boxes of food" outside her room, Law & Crime reported.
Buskey kept his kids away from family and the outside world. He never took them to the doctor and instead did drugs and played video games so he did not have to "be bothered by his children," prosecutors said.
"I let my daughter die," Buskey later told an officer, according to a courtroom report. Instead of bed, Charlotte had to sleep in the fetal position in an old pack n' play she had outgrown it; this is where she spent her final days. "She had no food, no water, no contact with anyone, in a pack-n-play, left there to die, and she did," prosecutors wrote.
An autopsy showed she was in a state of severe dehydration and "completely devoid of any food." In pleading guilty, Buskey admitted to a "depraved indifferent to human life" and created a "grave risk of injury" that led to the death of his daughter.
"The charge of depraved murder is reserved for those individuals who have an utter disregard for the value of human life," the press release stated. "It reflects a wicked, evil and inhuman state of mind as manifested by brutal, heinous and despicable acts, and it sums up Mr. Buskey's conduct in this case."
Both kids tested positive for cocaine. Buskey also pleaded guilty to criminal sale of a controlled substance to a child. He faces between 27 years and life in prison when he is sentenced on March 27. District Attorney Robert M. Carney pointed out that Charlotte's death was the area's second kid to die in roughly a month under horrific circumstances.
Within the span of 36 days the community dealt with two horrific murders of small children. One, Halo Branton, an 11-year-month-old baby, was dropped into a drainage pit on the GE campus on March 9, 2024, and abandoned to die of hypothermia at the hands of her mother.
A jury found Halo's mother guilty of murder and manslaughter last year. Charlotte's obituary said she loved princesses and "dressing up in beautiful outfits." Adding, "Her favorite thing to do was to blow and pop bubbles. She was a gentle soul with a kind heart that touched so many during her short time here on earth."
The father, 35-year-old Robert S. Buskey, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the death of his daughter, Charlotte Buskey, according to a press release from the Schenectady County District Attorney's Office.
Police responded to the home on Elmer Avenue on April 14, 2024, for an unresponsive five-year-old girl. Upon arriving, police entered a "deplorable" home where they found Buskey's three-year-old son locked in a cage in the living room. They then discovered Charlotte's "emaciated" body in her bedroom with her eyes "sunken into her skull," prosecutors said.
After conducting their investigation, police said that the bedroom had been locked from the outside. They also determined that Charlotte had been "neglected and malnourished for months" even though there were "boxes of food" outside her room, Law & Crime reported.
Buskey kept his kids away from family and the outside world. He never took them to the doctor and instead did drugs and played video games so he did not have to "be bothered by his children," prosecutors said.
"I let my daughter die," Buskey later told an officer, according to a courtroom report. Instead of bed, Charlotte had to sleep in the fetal position in an old pack n' play she had outgrown it; this is where she spent her final days. "She had no food, no water, no contact with anyone, in a pack-n-play, left there to die, and she did," prosecutors wrote.
An autopsy showed she was in a state of severe dehydration and "completely devoid of any food." In pleading guilty, Buskey admitted to a "depraved indifferent to human life" and created a "grave risk of injury" that led to the death of his daughter.
"The charge of depraved murder is reserved for those individuals who have an utter disregard for the value of human life," the press release stated. "It reflects a wicked, evil and inhuman state of mind as manifested by brutal, heinous and despicable acts, and it sums up Mr. Buskey's conduct in this case."
Both kids tested positive for cocaine. Buskey also pleaded guilty to criminal sale of a controlled substance to a child. He faces between 27 years and life in prison when he is sentenced on March 27. District Attorney Robert M. Carney pointed out that Charlotte's death was the area's second kid to die in roughly a month under horrific circumstances.
Within the span of 36 days the community dealt with two horrific murders of small children. One, Halo Branton, an 11-year-month-old baby, was dropped into a drainage pit on the GE campus on March 9, 2024, and abandoned to die of hypothermia at the hands of her mother.
A jury found Halo's mother guilty of murder and manslaughter last year. Charlotte's obituary said she loved princesses and "dressing up in beautiful outfits." Adding, "Her favorite thing to do was to blow and pop bubbles. She was a gentle soul with a kind heart that touched so many during her short time here on earth."
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