Questions remain as Ohio couple faces murder charges 6 years after 8-yr-old special needs son's death
PLATTSBURG, NEW YORK: John Snyder and Katherine Snyder, a couple from Ohio, are now facing murder-related charges after failing to contest an Ohio coroner's findings that their son, Adam Snyder, was killed some years ago. Adam, their eight-year-old special needs son, died in Ohio in October 2016, just a few months after being adopted.
John and Katherine, both 51, were finally arrested in New York while they were visiting their other children. Allison, their daughter, told WCPO that the arrest took her parents by surprise. The couple is being held at the Clinton County Jail in Plattsburgh, New York, 25 minutes south of the Canadian border, according to jail records examined by Law&Crime and local sources.
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Prosecution claimed that Katherine "purposely caused the death" of Adam, reported Law & Crime. Coroners attributed his death to "blunt force trauma to the head," according to court documents obtained by WCPO. The court documents also state the couple did not feed Adam between September 1 and October 5. Records also indicated that "widespread acute bronchopneumonia" contributed to the 8-year-old's death.
The Snyders, however, challenged the coroners' decision and brought two lawsuits in 2019 and 2020. "Three separate experts independently concluded that the manner of death is not homicide," they stated. The couple claimed in 2020 that Adam died naturally, based on the results of the medical investigation. They also asserted that coroners' decisions contained "multiple errors" and claimed that the complaint had "damaged and sullied" their reputation.
The Hamilton County, Ohio Court of Common Pleas has convicted Katherine on a total of fifteen counts, including two counts of aggravated murder, two crimes of murder, two counts of felonious assault, and nine counts of endangering children, according to an online court record. On the other hand, John is accused of 11 crimes, including five counts of harming minors, two counts of murder, two counts of felonious assault, and two counts of aggravated murder.
Adam's foster parents lost custody of their daughter and four other adopted children due to the circumstances of his death. However, it took a while before charges were brought. The local prosecutor's office claimed in a statement to WXIX that the couple was charged with murder after all these years because a number of the couple's children eventually started to discuss their experiences with the Snyders in detail.