A Chester County couple tortured and killed a 12-year-old girl after tying her to furniture and denying her food, police said

A Coatesville couple who police say tortured and starved the man’s 12-year-old daughter during months of abuse, ultimately leading to her death, were charged Tuesday with attempted murder.

Rendell Hoagland, 52, and his girlfriend Cindy Warren, 45, chained Melinda Hoagland to an air hockey table and other furniture and forced her to do calisthenics for hours as punishment, according to the probable cause affidavit for their arrests. The couple also withheld food from the girl and kept the pantry locked, police said.

The pair were also charged with kidnapping, aggravated assault and related offenses. They remained in custody Tuesday and were given $1 million bail. There was no evidence that either had hired a lawyer.

According to Chester County District Attorney Chris de Barrena-Sarobe, Melinda was “broken and barely alive” when paramedics called by her father arrived at the couple’s home on Saturday.

“They subjected her to evil and torment that no child should ever have to endure, for months at a time,” he said.

The prosecutor said the investigation was continuing and additional charges, including murder, could be filed.

Melinda weighed just 50 pounds when she was pronounced dead by doctors at Paoli Hospital hours later. She had cuts and bruises on her head and chest, as well as at least six broken bones and significant liver damage, the affidavit said.

Doctors believe these injuries were the result of ongoing child abuse and neglect and say her injuries “should not occur in this country,” the affidavit states.

Hoagland and Warren told investigators that she sustained all of her injuries after she fell off her mountain bike and was accidentally hit by another child on a water slide at a camping resort in Quarryville, the affidavit said. When asked about the girl’s severe weight loss, Hoagland said she had been losing weight steadily over the past two months and that they had planned to see a doctor in the Pocono Mountains in the coming weeks.

But the affidavit said investigators discovered more than 100 videos recorded by the couple’s security system that showed them verbally and physically abusing the girl between January and May.

They also found that Warren had deleted all of the text messages sent by Hoagland before making the first 911 call about his daughter. Some of these were later recovered by detectives and included conversations between the two about Melinda’s deteriorating condition.

In a conversation just before Hoagland called 911, Warren told him to “drive” the girl to the hospital himself instead, the affidavit states.

Hoagland later said in a statement to investigators that he withdrew Melinda from North Brandywine Middle School in January after learning that she had been selling snacks to her classmates, the affidavit said. Since then, the girl attended a cyber charter school and took classes online.

However, prosecutor de Barrena Sarobe said Tuesday that Melinda “had incredibly limited access to the outside world from the moment she was removed from school.” And they believe the couple’s abuse began not long after, he said.

Some of the video footage captured by the home’s security cameras showed Melinda being taunted by her father and Miller, forced to do squats for hours, march in place, hold her hands above her head and perform other exercises while she struggled with the Ankle was tied to furniture. the affidavit says.

In other clips, the girl is seen being forced to sleep on the floor, still chained, without a blanket or pillow. According to the affidavit, they told the girl not to expect to have breakfast, lunch or dinner.

“This is not an easy case and there is certainly still a lot of work to be done,” said de Barrena Sarobe. “But together we will bring justice to Melinda.”

Court records show Warren pleaded guilty in 2009 to endangering the welfare of a child in Monroe County. In that case, Warren’s ex-husband, McKinley Warren Jr., punched the Pocono Record’s then-3-year-old son, according to a report.

Warren was sentenced to three to seven years in prison and released after three years. Her ex-husband also pleaded guilty to killing his 2-year-old daughter from a previous relationship and is currently serving a 25- to 50-year sentence in state prison.