The custodial guardian of a 9-year-old Pennsylvania girl allegedly overdosed on Friday, a day after the girl’s body was recovered from a river.
District Attorney Michael Aubele told WTAE that Renesmay Eutsey’s custodial parent is alive after overdosing in the Dunbar Township home where the girl vanished on Thursday. The custodial parent and their partner, Kourtney Eutsey, 31, reported the child missing before Kourtney Eutsey allegedly led officers 20 miles away to her body in the Youghiogheny River.
It is worth noting that Renesmay Eutsey’s legal guardian has not been criminally charged in connection with her disappearance and death. However, Aubele said additional charges are likely forthcoming as they believe the slain child was regularly abused.
Aubele previously explained that the woman — who Crime Online is not naming because she has not been criminally charged — was Renesmay Eutsey’s court-ordered custodian and is in a relationship with Kourtney Eutsey.
“Kourtney Eutsey was the live-in caretaker…[She] had adopted at least one of the other children in the household. [Eutsey and the custodian] were in a relationship in which the children referred to Kourtney Eutsey as Mom and Sarah Shipley as Dad,” the prosecutor said.
Kourtney Eutsey reportedly led police to her adoptive daughter’s body after a boy and two girls in the home claimed they witnessed her kill the victim. A girl allegedly told police she overheard Kourtney Eutsey and another adult talking about taking Renesmay Eutsey to a river “far, far away.” She claimed she heard the victim crying before witnessing Kourtney Eutsey and the other adult screaming at her and kicking her in the stomach.
Renesmay Eutsey allegedly weighed 45 pounds and her body showed signs of abuse or neglect. Her injuries — including cigarette burns — were consistent with other accounts about what happened in the home, according to Aubele.
Kourtney Eutsey was charged with homicide, abuse of a corpse, endangering the welfare of children, aggravated assault, tampering with evidence, and concealing the death of a child.
Aubele said the other three children were removed from the home amid the ongoing criminal investigation.
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[Feature Photo: Pennsylvania State Police]
