Unnamed girl (GW) - 8 yo - / Arrested: Aunt and uncle- Michele Buckner Kraft and Jeffrey Adam Kraft - Kansas City KS

Aunt and uncle 'beat and starved girl, 8, locked her in room full of trash and urine and would not let her shower


PUBLISHED: 11:51 EST, 24 July 2012 | UPDATED: 11:51 EST, 24 July 2012

A couple are accused of beating an eight-year-old girl, locking her inside a dirty, urine-soaked room and starving her.

The girl, known in court documents only as GW, had lived with Jeffrey
'Adam' Kraft, 34, and Michele L. Buckner-Kraft, 28, in Kansas for four
years.

They have been charged with assault and child endangerment.

Police officers went to the couple's home after they received a report of a child being locked in a room and physically abused.




Legal guardians: Jeffrey 'Adam' Kraft, 34, and Michele L. Buckner-Kraft, 28,
have been charged with assault and child endangerment

When they arrived they found the child locked in her room and scrubbing the floor
with bleach to try and disguise that she had urinated in the room.

The girl was at the lightest weight of her age group at only 42 pounds and malnourished.

According to court documents obtained by KCTV,
the girl's five-year-old sister was found by police sitting on two
kitchen chairs pushed together to form a bed in the dining room.

The Krafts are believed to have been looking after the girls since their biological mother moved to Florida four years ago.

She agrees to pass legal guardianship over to her brother Adam and his wife.

In an interview with the Child Protection Center, the older girl told
officials the Krafts had pushed her into things, hit her on the back of
the head and spanked her.

She said she had not been to school since kindergarten but was told to read every day.



Scene: When Kansas City Police arrived at the home, the girl was on the floor
scrubbing with bleach, doing her best to clean up after her latest
accident

She said she had not seen a doctor in the whole for
years she was under their care and was only allowed to take a shower
about once a month.

The victim and other children in the home
-including the couple's biological five-month-old daughter - are in
protective custody today.

According to court records, police found the malnourished girl in a bedroom that was locked from the outside.

She was reportedly forced to eat in her room while her half-sister and others ate at the kitchen table.

That day, the only meal she reportedly had was a small container of Cream of
Wheat in the morning. It was after 4pm when police arrived.

According to the Kansas City Star, the eight-year-old was taken to a hospital and
found to have bruises and marks on her back, thighs, arm, cheek and
knee.

Doctors noted the injuries were not in locations normally injured during play.

The other children at the home did not have medical issues.

When GW was an infant, living with her biological parents in Florida, state
authorities were called to their home often, officials said.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2178352/Aunt-uncle-beat-starved-girl-8-locked-room-trash-urine-allow-shower.html#ixzz21ZxHKIP1

Malnourished girl, 8, allowed to live with grandparents
Representatives say girl "struggling" in foster care

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The 8-year-old girl found locked in a bedroom of her aunt and uncle's house is heading to a relative's house, but some family members said they're not happy about it.

The case was the subject of a hearing in family court Wednesday.

The girl was not at the hearing, but lawyers and caseworkers representing her were. They told a judge that the girl should be removed from her foster care setting because she needs her family.

The girl, known by initials G.W., was found inside a Kansas City home last month. She was locked into a bedroom and weighed just 42 pounds. Police said when she was found, she had been scrubbing the floor with bleach because she had urinated on it.

The girl and her young cousins were removed from the home and placed in foster care. Her legal guardians, Michele and Jeffrey Kraft, were charged in the case and were still in jail Wednesday.

Other relatives came to the hearing to check on the status of the children.

A Children's Division worker told the judge that the girl is struggling in foster care and would be better off in a grandparent's home with her cousins.

The Krafts' attorneys said they didn't want their infant daughter going to live with her grandparents because they have been estranged. The juvenile officer told the court that the estrangement may signify why the grandparents didn't know about any abuse or neglect.

The judge ordered all three children to go to the grandparents' home, effective immediately.

Read more: http://www.kmbc.com/news/kansas-city/Malnourished-girl-8-allowed-to-live-with-grandparents/-/11664182/15932188/-/v6e3adz/-/index.html#ixzz22LFvMDoc

I'd like to know if the grandparents are paternal or maternal.

Will they influence what the children say to authorities and in court?

Good point Twink. Whoever the children live with, I hope that they are checked often and not neglected and abused again. Sounds like GW was abused with her own mother before she went to live with her aunt and uncle. This child is going to have problems and need lots of counseling along with delicate love and care. At least they recognize that she isn't surviving in her current foster home, but if the grandparents are the parents of Kraft, they may have an influence on the child that isn't positive.

It sounds like the abusers don't get along with the grandparents, so that actually could be good? I don't know. I agree with BabyJ... I hope CPS doesn't fail this girl... she needs counseling and lots of love... and quite a big of food.

Clerical error allows aunt accused of abuse to bond out of jail

Posted: 4:56 PM
Last Updated: 19 minutes ago
By: Lindsay Shively

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The Jackson County prosecutor's office filed a motion to get Michele Kraft back behind bars after a clerical error significantly reduced her bond. Kraft and her husband face child endangerment charges after their niece was found locked in a room and underfed.

Somehow, a zero got dropped in her paperwork. On Friday, Kraft was able to post ten percent of her $10,000 bond. That bond was supposed to be $100,000.

Michele Kraft showed up in court a few days ago, sitting with the crowd while her husband, Jeffrey Kraft, remained in custody for his court appearance. The two had previously pleaded not guilty to the charges.

In the motion, the state believes the bond was recorded wrong on paperwork for the grand jury indictment on July 27. Court officials confirm they still don't know who made the mistake, but they spent time this week interviewing court employees to retrace how this happened.

Read the motion to get Kraft behind bars: http://bit.ly/OBVfcC

A tip led police to the couple's home in the 1100 block of Pacific. Police say their 8-year old niece known as only by her initials as 'G.W.' was severely malnourished, weighing 42 pounds when she was found. Court documents say she had normal growth until the Krafts received custody a few years ago. G.W., her sister and the Kraft's five month old child are now in protective custody.

This isn't the first court error involving the Kraft case. Jeffrey Kraft was supposed to be arraigned on July 26 but there was a snafu in the court system.

He was scheduled to appear. He was brought to court from jail. His family came. Journalists came to cover it. However, no public defender had been appointed to him yet, so he had no counsel present.

One public defender explained he would have to have a public defender from a separate office because he and Michele Kraft could not have counsel from the same place.

In the motion to fix the clerical error and return the bond to the original amount, Michele Kraft is asked to turn herself in or a warrant may be issued for her arrest. The Prosecutor's office says they have been communicating with her counsel to arrange her surrender.

Read more: http://www.kshb.com/dpp/news/local_news/clerical-error-lets-aunt-of-gw-out-of-jail#ixzz23kazNtyj