By Ken Brown and Mike Schell

CINCINNATI (WXIX) - A neighbor of John and Katherine Snyder testified she once found their son Adam inside their home with a broken arm.

Lynn Hortemiller, who lived across the street from the Snyders, was a witness for the prosecution during the second day of the trial on Monday in Hamilton County court. The Snyders are accused of murdering their 8-year-old son in 2016 and facing multiple charges including four counts of aggravated murder.

Hortemiller said she was close with the couple until she found Adam Snyder with a broken arm.

The prosecutors are building their case around the repeated discipline the Snyders allegedly imposed on their children. After Adam Snyder’s death, they said their other five children were discovered in their home malnourished and showed signs of physical abuse.

By Mike Schell

John Snyder II and Katherine Snyder, both 51, face 26 total charges: four counts of aggravated murder, four counts of murder, four counts of felonious assault and 14 counts of endangering children.

The charges stem from 8-year-old Adam Snyder’s death in October 2016.

The Snyders purposely caused the blunt-force trauma death of 8-year-old Adam Snyder in October 2016, according to Hamilton County court records.

Adam was one of six children with learning disabilities the couple adopted from China, court documents show.

by Christian Hauser, WKRC

CINCINNATI (WKRC) - The trial for a couple accused of causing the death of one of their children and abusing several others began Friday morning.

Friday was mostly spent on opening statements and the prosecution's first witness.

The prosecution says John and Katherine Snyder are the reason their adopted son died.

Katherine is accused of causing the traumatic head injury which led to the eight-year-old's death. John is accused of failing to feed the child for five weeks between September and October of 2016.

KEVIN GRASHA   Cincinnati Enquirer

An attorney for a woman, who along with her husband are charged in the death of a boy they adopted from China, described them as loving parents who took in children with complex medical issues.

"They opened their hearts and home to children who were not wanted," defense attorney Jeremy Evans said in opening statements Friday in the couple's trial in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court.

Evans pointed out that Katherine and John Snyder weren't indicted on murder and child abuse charges until 2022, six years after the death of their 8-year-old son, Adam.

The couple also are charged with abusing four other children they adopted from China as well as one of their biological children, who was a teenager at the time. The abuse is alleged to have happened between 2014 and 2016.

by Troy Myers

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (CBS12) — After about five hours of deliberations, the jury delivered their verdict: guilty on all charges -- false imprisonment, aggravated child abuse and child neglect.

Timothy Ferriter, the father accused of locking his teenage adopted son in an 8x8 box, expressed shock, eyes widening when the judge said he will be booked into the Palm Beach County Jail when the courtroom adjourned. The man could face up to 40 years in prison.

Jury deliberations stalled when the court faced legal technicalities Thursday in Timothy's trial.

Around 10:30 a.m., the jury requested to see the adopted son's sister's testimony played back.

By LAUREN SILVER and GRACE WONG

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (Court TV) — A man is standing trial in Florida on charges he locked his adopted teenage son in a box in his garage for hours at a time.

Timothy Ferriter was indicted, along with his wife, Tracey Ferriter, in March 2022 on charges of aggravated child abuse and false imprisonment.

Though the couple was initially charged together, their cases were severed at Timothy’s request, citing comments his wife made to police when he was not present.

Police in Jupiter, Florida, began investigating the couple after their son was reported missing on Jan. 28, 2022. At the time, Tracey told police that the child, who was missing, had “run away from home on several occasions before” and told officers that her adopted son had several behavioral disorders.

SHEYANNE N ROMERO   Visalia Times-Delta

A Tulare County woman serving a life sentence for the 2000 death of her 5-year-old adopted daughter will remain in prison, according to Tulare County District Attorney's Office.

Last week, prosecutors secured a parole denial for Angela Thompson.

In October 2001, a jury convicted Thompson, 64, of second-degree murder, assault on a child likely to cause great bodily injury or death, and child abuse. She is currently serving a life sentence at the California Institution for Women in Corona in Southern California.

The denial is for five years, according to prosecutors. This was Thompson’s second parole hearing.

by VICTORIA DE CARDENAS | WPEC Staff

EST PALM BEACH, Fla. (WPEC) — “This language is not used out there in front of the baby and the girls, but you’re a tough guy, right?"

The jury in the trial of Timothy Ferriter watched and heard hours of sometimes difficult video involving Ferriter and his adopted teenage son, forced to live in an 8-by-8-foot box in the family's Florida garage.

"If you’re going to break s*** then break s***! Right? I don’t give a s***. Let’s break it! Let’s break all this s***. I don’t need it. Let's rip it off the wall!” Ferriter was heard on video from a camera installed on the ceiling of the structure.

The state rested its case, Friday, after showing a few more hours of exchanges between the boy who was 14 in January 2022, and Ferriter, who is charged with false imprisonment, aggravated child abuse, and child neglect. Wife and adoptive mother Tracy Ferriter will be tried separately.

Jurors watch more Ring camera videos showing Jupiter father's interactions with adopted son in box-like structure in garage

By: Jay Cashmere , Peter Burke

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Prosecutors rested their case Friday in the trial of a Jupiter father accused of locking his adopted son in a box-like structure in the garage, and the defense immediately sought a judgment of acquittal.

Tim Ferriter, 48, is on trial facing charges of child abuse, false imprisonment and child neglect. His wife is facing the same charges in a separate trial that has not yet begun.

The trial resumed Friday with jurors watching several more hours' worth of Ring camera videos showing the Ferriters' interactions with the teenager in the 8x8 enclosure specially constructed for him in the garage of the couple's Egret Landing home.

JULIUS WHIGHAM II   USA TODAY NETWORK

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Was it aggravated child abuse? Or simply bad parenting?

A jury will decide the fate of Timothy Ferriter, whose case went to trial Tuesday, more than a year after police accused him and his wife, Tracy, of confining one of their four children in a box-like structure in the garage of their Jupiter, Florida, home.

The state will try the Ferriters separately in the case, which drew international attention after their arrests in February 2022, with courtroom TV channels covering it for hours at a time. Besides aggravated child abuse, Timothy Ferriter, 48, faces charges of false imprisonment and child neglect.

The teen had a history of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, and a condition known as reactive attachment disorder, Tracy Ferriter told investigators prior to her arrest. The disorder keeps children from forming bonds with their family members, and it can lead them to act out or make it difficult for children to accept love.