Guilty pleas entered in fatal Paradise child beating

OROVILLE — A Paradise couple accused of beating one adopted daughter to death and injuring another to the point she required hospitalization, entered unexpected guilty pleas in Butte County Superior Court this afternoon.

Elizabeth and Kevin Schatz were expected to go to trial Monday for the Feb. 4 and 5, 2010, beating of adopted daughters Lydia Schatz, 7, and her then 11-year-old sister.

Lydia died of her injuries; the older girl required hospitalization but recovered.

In the plea bargain reached today Kevin Schatz pled guilty to one count each of second-degree murder, torture, and misdemeanor cruelty to a child. He will serve at least 22 years of a 22-to-life prison sentence.

Elizabeth Schatz pled guilty to single counts of voluntary manslaughter, infliction of unlawful corporal punishment on a child, and misdemeanor cruelty to a child. She will be sentenced to 13 years, four months in prison.

Both also face a six-month county jail sentence, and $20,000 fines each.