Children give key testimony in first week of John and Katherine Snyder's murder trial

KEVIN GRASHA   Cincinnati Enquirer

Between 2014 and 2016, John and Katherine Snyder adopted six children from China, all with serious medical problems.

Katherine Snyder’s attorney described the couple as loving parents who opened their Springfield Township home to children who were orphans.

From the outside, it all seemed perfect. But it wasn’t, prosecutors said. And less than a year after an 8-year-old boy they adopted arrived in the U.S., he was dead.

Last year, the Snyders were charged with murder in their adopted son Adam’s 2016 death. They also face child abuse charges involving their surviving adopted children as well as one of their biological children. Prosecutors say the children were malnourished, and at least some were punished with cold showers or baths.

The couple no longer has custody of any of the children they adopted, who now live out of state.

Here are three key moments from the trial so far, after six days of testimony in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court:

2 children adopted from China testify

A girl the Snyders adopted in 2014 said that on the day Adam died, Oct. 5, 2016, the Snyders struck his head against a wall.

“They were mad," she said, later explaining that Adam had soiled himself.

At times, the girl, now 14, was allowed to write her answers on a legal pad. An interpreter read the answers. Because the girl has hearing problems and sometimes uses sign language, a sign language interpreter also was present.

When asked if she now fears the Snyders, the girl said she is afraid they might kill her.

Why?

“They killed my brother,” the girl responded.

A boy the Snyders adopted, who was 5 years old when Adam died, testified that he didn’t feel safe around the Snyders.

“I don’t want to be around people that killed their own son,” said the boy, who is now 12.

One of the Snyders’ attorneys asked the boy how many people told him to say that the couple killed Adam.

“Nobody,” the boy replied. “I remember it clear as day.”

Parents say Adam had undiagnosed psychological issues

Adam arrived in the U.S. in February 2016. He had a medical condition that caused his joints to constrict, and he had difficulty walking. The Snyders’ attorneys say he also had undiagnosed psychological issues.

While with the Snyders, he began to display self-harming behaviors, including banging his head, according to what Katherine Snyder told a doctor at Cincinnati Children’s.

Snyder also told the doctor that Adam was refusing to eat, was refusing to get out of bed and was “smearing feces.”

Adam was referred to a psychiatrist who prescribed medications.

The day before his death, Katherine Snyder took Adam to Children’s College Hill campus, which has psychiatric services.

Her attorney said she had found him covered in feces.

Rena Sorenson, a Children's Hospital psychologist, was asked if the self-harming behaviors could have caused his death.

“I have never had a case of fatality due to head-banging,” Sorenson testified.

Pathologist says child's head injury was not from self-harm

The forensic pathologist who performed Adam’s autopsy said he was extremely thin and had bed sores on his body.

The head injury that caused his death, Dr. Gretel Stephens testified, was not from self-harm. The bruise was near his neck, on the underside of the skull. Stephens said she believes Adam’s head impacted a flat surface.

The impact caused acute bleeding in his brain, according to testimony, which led to his death.

The Snyders' attorneys say Adam died of natural causes.

What's next

Testimony in the trial is set to resume Monday before Common Pleas Judge Wende Cross. The trial is expected to take three weeks.